Good Morning Speakies:
Well Monday is here again, grab your coffee, give that last yawn and start your day off with a little enthusiasm if you can. Hope you all had a great weekend. NOW TO MAKE THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: TODAY IS “PACZKI DAY.”
Paczki are a traditional Polish pastry or to me similar to a cream filled or jelly donut. By the way when I was real little I called them “Punchski.” The Polish pronunciation could also be “Paczek.” A paczki is a deep fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere. They are made from rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and milk. They can be filled with cream, various jellies, fruit fillings, even glazed or as my grandmother did just covered in powder sugar. They were light and airy and I would attack them as soon as they cooled a little. They were great for breakfast or a snack with coffee or milk. I really do miss granny’s cooking and baking. Most of her recipes went with her to heaven so she must be cooking up a storm there. In the US cities that have large Polish communities like Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and Cleveland “Paczki Day”, is celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday, some cities even hold parades. I can see it now just like Mardi Gras paczki being tossed off of floats into the crowds who are screaming for more. I can just see the cream, jelly and fruit filling all over the faces of the adoring fans of paczki. I’m proud to be Polish and write about the things I remember growing up, the food, the traditions and the love of my family. So if you are Polish or not go out and find a paczki and treat yourself to something really tasty.
Here’s something that starts to frost me and say “What’s the matter with people these days.” I read a news article about some guy in San Francisco that wants to ban circumcisions on baby boys. First banning French Fries in Frisco and now circumcisions aren’t there more important things in this world and life to be concerned about. This is going to bring on a JoeyZ tirade on the issues we should face instead of the ones some village idiots come up with. BEWARE GUYS AND DOLLS, GET’S MY GANDER IS RETURNING SOON. Have a great day.
Well Monday is here again, grab your coffee, give that last yawn and start your day off with a little enthusiasm if you can. Hope you all had a great weekend. NOW TO MAKE THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: TODAY IS “PACZKI DAY.”
Paczki are a traditional Polish pastry or to me similar to a cream filled or jelly donut. By the way when I was real little I called them “Punchski.” The Polish pronunciation could also be “Paczek.” A paczki is a deep fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere. They are made from rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and milk. They can be filled with cream, various jellies, fruit fillings, even glazed or as my grandmother did just covered in powder sugar. They were light and airy and I would attack them as soon as they cooled a little. They were great for breakfast or a snack with coffee or milk. I really do miss granny’s cooking and baking. Most of her recipes went with her to heaven so she must be cooking up a storm there. In the US cities that have large Polish communities like Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and Cleveland “Paczki Day”, is celebrated on the day before Ash Wednesday, some cities even hold parades. I can see it now just like Mardi Gras paczki being tossed off of floats into the crowds who are screaming for more. I can just see the cream, jelly and fruit filling all over the faces of the adoring fans of paczki. I’m proud to be Polish and write about the things I remember growing up, the food, the traditions and the love of my family. So if you are Polish or not go out and find a paczki and treat yourself to something really tasty.
Here’s something that starts to frost me and say “What’s the matter with people these days.” I read a news article about some guy in San Francisco that wants to ban circumcisions on baby boys. First banning French Fries in Frisco and now circumcisions aren’t there more important things in this world and life to be concerned about. This is going to bring on a JoeyZ tirade on the issues we should face instead of the ones some village idiots come up with. BEWARE GUYS AND DOLLS, GET’S MY GANDER IS RETURNING SOON. Have a great day.
5 comments:
As Polish as our old neighborhood was, I can only remember two bakeries and neither made a paczki. The Servus and the Eagle made regular old dougnuts cream or jelly very light with powdered sugar.
Today I can clearly see what you call paczki and never ran into them till I hit the Polish neighborhood and store (Piast), in Garfield and now it Trenton at what was City Line Appliance across from Saint Hedwig's and another place down the street.
The paczki I see now are more well done with a heavy glaze. My grandmother (Babci), never made desserts come to think of it. I can't remember a single one. I had lunch and dinner there every Saturday and it was wonderful, except for the soup with rice, but never a single sweet. We were too full to care I guess.
Skip
Joe, reading your post again the comment on taking the recipes to the grave hit close to home. I used to badger my Mom for her recipes. A few were extra special with a few twists like her chocolate icing for this cake that weighed a ton. I remember the icing having butter and coffee in it but nothing else. I often helped her sift the sugar for it.
Her walnut cake too and her polish dishes like kapusta galushka (cabbage sour cream and noodles), are gone forever.
I think that gave the old folks value in a fast moving world. Were they so afraid if they wrote them down they would be set off on an ice floe? I say that because my wife's Norwegian "Nini" was of Sami (northern Lapland), stock. When her mom got her to write down the recipes after years of begging she did. However, the old gal wrote them in "Sami" and unlike conventional Norsk, no one can read them.
Skip
Skip: I agree the good Polish recipes are gone forever. My granny made a wicked salmon cake, Roe makes them good but granny had something else in there and we can't figure it out. She made a good kapusta with cabbage, barley, served with mashed potatoes to die for. Lots of gas though.
Hi JoeZ:)
Folks who want to ban Happy Meals need something... its called a life LOLOL
I am Slovak but dont remember Paczki's and often we shared food traditions similar to the Poles.
They look great:)
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