Today started out innocently enough. I arrived with my (semi) healthy sack lunch in hand. I didn’t even make it to my desk before the sweet aroma of doughnuts hits me. There is a small crowd gathered around a bookcase. I go in for a look. Oh dear! There are a few dozen large doughnuts. I’m quickly informed that these are not doughnuts; these are pączki (pronounced ponch-key).

Well, I’d never heard of such a thing! I learn that in Poland, pączki are generally eaten on Fat Thursday – the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday. But Polish Americans today celebrate Pączki Day on Fat Tuesday.

Traditionally, pączki were made to use up all of  the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house before the Catholic fasting practice during Lent. Lard, sugar, eggs and fruit? Sounds fabulous! Half a pączki would do for me and boy was it delicious! Soft and sugary, puffier than a doughnut, my pączki was filled with a sweet vanilla cream.

I (falsely) believe that my Fat Tuesday is complete. That is until the King Cake arrives via Fed Ex fresh from New Orleans. These are traditional rings of twisted bread (think doughnut) topped with purple, green, and gold icing filled with cream cheese, praline, cinnamon, or strawberry.

Each cake has a small trinket (aka plastic baby) inside of it. The person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket baked inside of it can be declared the King or Queen of the day; however it is also widely believed that the person who gets the trinket or baby will soon have a baby. (EEK!)

As the line quickly formed for the King Cake, I grabbed a slice of the cream cheese variety somewhat hoping I would get the trinket. Tasting much like coffee cake, it only took me a few bites to find the (somewhat creepy) baby!

Whether this means I’m the queen for the day or I’m the next to have a baby, I don’t know. What I do know is this: my Fat Tuesday will be followed by Workout Wednesday.

 

***Update***
Since originally posting this I have learned, “Today in New Orleans, the King Cake is an oval-shaped braided coffee cake which is decorated with cinnamon sugar in the official Mardi Gras colors – gold (for power), green (faith), and purple (justice) – and contains a tiny plastic baby that has replaced the coin used in medieval times. The person who gets the slice of cake with the baby in it must host the next party; at some parties, they are crowned king or queen.”