Liberal Talk Radio

You know you’ve been out of the loop when …

You wake up on a Tuesday and realize that it’s actually Fat Tuesday. (Or, as we non-Latin Catholics like to put it “Shrove Tuesday”).

So let’s give a holla for the little Polish treat that puts the “fat” in Fat Tuesday: paczki. (Pronounced sort of like PUNCH-ki … at least by my mostly-anglicized family).

Many folks will be thinking of places like New Orleans today with its parades, partying and bead tossing for Mardi Gras.

But … in metro Detroit, Fat Tuesday just isn’t Fat Tuesday unless we are rolling in the dough.

Paczki dough, that is.

Call it a rite of passage. But the calorie-laden, sweet treat of spongy dough filled with all manner of custards, fruits and creams is THE gotta-have Fat Tuesday treat.

And the place to be each year to purchase the pre-Lenten treat is Hamtramck.

Imagine the best jelly doughnut you’ve ever had, and then imagine something better, and that’s basically paczki.  Yeah, it’s all about the lard.

One of the few things that makes me homesick for Michigan.