St. Patrick’s Day is my favorite holiday. But, if I have to be honest, Fat Tuesday is my favorite day for celebrating. Ah, yes, Mardi Gras you say. I’m definitely aware of the fact that millions of people love Mardi Gras. Heck, St. Louis has the second largest Mardi Gras celebration in the country. Shockingly, though, I’m not a big fan of Mardi Gras. I am, however, a huge fan of Fat Tuesday. You may be scratching your head thinking Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday are the same thing. Nope. At least not in my book. Yes, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday. But, this is where the similarities end….at least, for me. Mardi Gras is filled with food, drinks, parades, colorful costumes, flying beads, and lively music. Fat Tuesday is just filled with food. Mardi Gras celebrants say, “Laissez les bond temps rouler”…”Let the good times roll.” Fat Tuesday celebrants say, “Let’s eat!” Okay, let’s!
My family usually starts Fat Tuesday off with Paczkis. Huh? Paczki are Polish doughnuts eaten on Fat Tuesday. My Irish family barely knows how to pronounce Gaelic words. We definitely botch the pronunciation of Paczki. So, we just call them, “the Fat Tuesday” doughnuts. I always buy the strawberry filled and the chocolate Bavarian cream filled Paczkis. Because it’s Fat Tuesday, we must have one of each. Why must we eat one of each? Well, this is our unwritten Fat Tuesday family rule. This rule dates back to the first time we had Paczkis. It was too hard to decide which type of doughnut we wanted to eat. Since it was Fat Tuesday, it was decided everyone should have one of each and not feel guilty about it. Isn’t this the most delightful family rule? There is a downside of eating two Paczkis, though. Once the sugar starts wearing off you definitely need to take a nap. Thankfully, one of my favorite things in life is taking a nap after breakfast. Following the mandatory Paczki nap, I find it necessary to have a wee bit more sugar to have ample energy to get back into the Fat Tuesday eating game. Fortunately, this year we have leftover Valentine’s Day treats. Sweet!
Lunch on Fat Tuesday usually isn’t too set in stone. I find it best to just eat all the junk food around the house. Need I remind you?….It IS Fat Tuesday. Don’t worry. Everyone will eat protein later. I decided long ago it’s best to finish the junk food lunch meal with a few grapes, a banana or pear. It tricks the mind into thinking you have eaten a healthy lunch. I should mention, lunch should not be a quick meal. I repeat….it should not be a quick meal. Fat Tuesday lasts for 24 hours. Thus, a leisurely lunch is only appropriate in the grand scheme of things.
Fat Tuesday dinner usually consists of Gumbo, Jambalaya, or shrimp étouffée. Yes, it’s my homage to Mardi Gras. See, I’m not a complete Mardi Gras heathen. And let’s face it….Creole food is delicious. I do suggest everyone refrain from eating shrimp étouffée with rabbit in it, though. Once on my New Orleans layover I got shrimp étouffée and it had rabbit in it. Unfortunately, I learned with my first bite that I’m not a fan of cooked rabbit. It ruined my étouffée. You can bet, next time I will read the menu more closely. My family can tell you, I love to go with pasta Jambalaya on Fat Tuesday. I take comfort in knowing everyone is eating a heaping dose of protein with the Jambalaya. The chicken, shrimp and andouille sausage are a welcome reprieve from all the sugary Fat Tuesday food. Jambalaya also has a healthy dose of vegetables…..celery, peppers, onion, tomatoes and garlic. If I make the Jambalaya correctly, though, no one will notice the vegetables. No, everyone’s lips will be tingling from the incredible creole spices. Now, I am well aware that Jambalaya is made with rice most of the time. But, I like to make mine with pasta on Fat Tuesday. I don’t want people to get confused and think I am celebrating Mardi Gras. No, my homage to Mardi Gras is just a wee bit of a homage. Again…I celebrate Fat Tuesday and not Mardi Gras. Thankfully, the pasta fills everyone’s belly until it is time for dessert. Hey, it’s Fat Tuesday. We HAVE to eat dessert!
Many people eat King Cake for dessert on Mardi Gras. Thankfully, I celebrate Fat Tuesday. In my humble opinion, the only good things about the King Cake are the icing and the purple, green and gold sugar toppings. The rest of the cake is too dry and tasteless for me. My Fat Tuesday dessert calls for something more special than King Cake. This year I have made the executive decision to make peach cobbler. If you remember from my past blog posts….peach cobbler is my favorite! Plus, I found a new cobbler recipe on Pinterest I’m dying to try. Peach cobbler topped with ice cream will definitely trump the King Cake on my Fat Tuesday.
If you think Fat Tuesday concludes with dessert, you would be sorely mistaken. Fat Tuesday lasts until 11:59pm. There is absolutely more time to eat after dessert. What do we eat? Well, we eat any leftover Paczki, of course. We definitely call it a day after we eat more Paczki, though. Remember, I take a nap after eating Paczkis for breakfast. The day was young then. Eating more Paczki after a day of eating everything on Fat Tuesday, will definitely require at least eight hours of sleep. Obviously, we have to eat the Paczkis before we go to bed. After all, we can’t eat them on Ash Wednesday. At least we can’t in our house. No. We have to fast on Ash Wednesday. Traditionally, the Fat Tuesday celebration ends with a big glass of water. Yes, we need to prep our bellies for all the water we will drink on Ash Wednesday. On Ash Wednesday we are supposed to only drink water until it’s time to eat dinner. If I am being a good Catholic girl I will serve fish for dinner on Ash Wednesday. It will be the first of many fish dinners during Lent. Thankfully, this past Saturday, my sister, brother and I noticed the Catholic Church closest to our house is going to have it’s annual Lenten Friday fish fry. We all were very excited to see the Friday Fish Fry sign. I can personally vouch, the best fish dinners during Lent come straight out of God’s house.
Fat Tuesday is undoubtedly a glorious day of feasting. Unlike Thanksgiving, though, Fat Tuesday is much less organized eating. Everyone can free-form eat on Fat Tuesday. How lucky is this? Very! It’s almost as lucky as St. Patrick’s Day…..again…my favorite holiday. Don’t worry. You will read all about my favorite holiday in a few weeks. Lucky for me and my fellow celebrants….Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday. Let’s eat! Okay, let’s!
Many years ago another cop and I were in New Orleans during Fat Tuesday.
We went somewhere out of the main part of the city(have no idea where)
Had a blast ! Maybe they hadn’t invented the doughnuts yet, it was that
long ago.
I can only imagine the time you two had in New Orleans on Fat Tuesday!! I remember my pilots talking about being in New Orleans on Mardi Gras. They bought cheap shoes to wear on their layover. They wanted to be able to throw them away when they got back to the hotel after walking through who knows what in the streets. I laughed. But, it made perfect sense. I have filed this information away if I ever need it. My strawberry Paczkis ended up being lemon. The box was marked incorrectly. I was so sad. Thankfully I consoled myself by eating a Bavarian cream Paczki!!