Mardi Gras

Here we are another Fat Tuesday, another year in which I don't take part in the eating of a King Cake or a paczki.  I don't really like stuff in my pastries. After you have the Fat Tuesday celebrations, along comes Lent and 6 weeks of deprivation. Deprivation for those so inclined to give it a go on the long trek toward Easter Sunday.  I love some Lenten fasting, so I've been thinking, what to give up? what to give up?

Here are a few ideas, just off the top of my head:

1. Give up doing dishes.
2. Give up making lunches
3. Give up putting other people's things away.

Right, I know, that's not what they mean when they say you should give something up for lent!  Well all right, I've mulled it over and I am going with giving up all-things-fried. I was thinking of giving up junk food, but upon reflection, it seems to be too broad a category.  For example, is a jelly bean junk food? What about a hamburger?

So there I go. No fried stuff.  How about you?  Do you 'do' Lent?  What are you giving up?

Fat Tuesday

And so today is Fat Tuesday, and around Chicagoland it is all about the paczkis.  Paczkis are not pronounced like it looks.  According to Wikipedia it is pronounced paunch-key. But I've  also hear it pronounced more like punt-key.  In any case, it's big jelly or custard filled doughnuts people eat on Fat Thursday (thurs b/4 lent) or Fat Tuesday (day b/4 Ash Wed.). Cept here in Chicagoland people eat them on both days because, hey who wants to turn down the opportunity to have a nice big filled doughnut, right? 

Personally I've never had one, I don't like filling in my doughnuts.  Instead to celebrate Fat Tuesday, I gave in to my chocolate craving and bought chocolate easter eggs.  Yum.

We have to pick Tom up from the airport tonight, he is on his way home from NYC. Last week when we were talking about him going out of town it seemed like a fine idea to pick him up from the airport vrs. having a cab bring him home.  Now that the time is here, I really don't want to go to the airport, and there is no gas in the car.  So I have to stop and get gas b/4 going to the airport.  Blah.

Am I going to fill the tank up?  Oh no, I can't deal with putting more than $20-25 in the gas tank at a time.  I would cry to see how much it costs to fill it up, at least we get good gas mileage. Still would have been better to encourage Tom to take a cab, it's cold outside.