Tuesday, March 4, 2014

King Cakes On Fat Tuesday

Woke up to a couple more inches of snow this morning. I started shoveling early but I'm running out of places to put it. At least it warmed up to the lower 20's. Krissy is heading north next weekend to see the ice caves on Lake Superior with some of her family. You actually have to walk across the lake to get to them and it's only possible during a real frigid winter like this year's. It could be years again before people can make the trek.

It's Paczki Day in Milwaukee. A paczki is basically a delicious pastry of Polish cuisine that fly out of the National Bakery on Fat Tuesday. They've been around Poland since the middle ages. Traditionally, it's purpose was to use up all of the sugar, flour and lard in one's household before the start of lent. It leads off the morning news in Milwaukee with customers lining up outside the bakery to buy them.

Radio Shack (RSH) is closing 1100 stores and revamping their remaining stores. It's been reported that the store closings are due to dismal holiday sales when it's actually been a dismal century for this retailer so far. Their stock is barely over 2 bucks and they even made fun of themselves with a Super Bowl commercial this year. Their stores are like a time warp from the 80's but they were just plain annoying asking for your zip code every time you bought batteries.

It is Fat Tuesday today. In the French language the word is Mardi Gras and derives from the last night of eating fatty rich food before the fasting of the Lenten season which begins tomorrow as Ash Wednesday.

Naturally, people in the U.S. associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans because of their enduring French culture. When I worked for a major insurance company all of our Louisiana vendors would send us King Cakes from the Randazzo bakery. Some other bakeries also but the Randazzo King Cakes were the best ever!

Later

No comments:

Post a Comment