Happy Paczki Day

Today is known as Fat Tuesday, but in Chicago, it's also Paczki Day. New Orleans has king cake and Chicago has paczki. Paczki is a Polish pastry that's a lot like a filled doughnut, but with much richer dough.

Chicago has a very large Polish population, so the Polish tradition has become a tradition for all Chicagoans. While I've eaten paczki before, I've never gotten up early to go get them myself. That changed today.

At 6:30am, I rolled up to Dinkel's Bakery and saw that it was already packed. I took a number and perused the selection while I waited.

20 minutes later, I was called up to the counter to pick my poison. I opted for strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, and custard with chocolate in my pretty pink box.

When I got home, I dove into the custard one.

Can't wait for dessert tonight when I get to eat the strawberry one!

Have you ever had a paczki? How are you celebrating Fat Tuesday?