I'm about to write a post about fried dough.

But not just any fried dough.

It's Paczki day -- Fat Tuesday -- and this Polish girl was on a mini-mission. I get pretty picky when it comes to my Polish pastry and this is probably the biggest day of the year for that sort of business.

[Ann Arbor as center of paczki Google searches?]

It all started a couple weeks ago when Zingerman's deli sent me an email saying they decided they would make paczki this year. Now, I have a love/hate relationship with Zingerman's (because of their insanely overpriced but delicious wares) and I wasn't about to call ahead and place an order weeks in advance, nor fall prey to their claims of "authentic" for $30 a dozen (yes, you read that right) and a pound of flesh, when I know of a perfectly wonderful Polish bakery in Livonia, MI, that makes the best paczki ever at half the price.

But first, I thought I'd start with the local Polish deli in Ann Arbor, Copernicus. With homemade kielbasa, pierogi, golabki (aka stuffed cabbage) in their deli case, I figured they either made their own paczki or got them from a decent Polish bakery in the metro Detroit area. Turns out they imported their pastries -- from Canada! Windsor, to be exact. Maybe that explains why I was so disappointed with them. I found the paczki to be very dark in color, chewy, and the dough lacking in flavor. And mortal sin -- it looks like they cheated in the construction of them! These paczki were formed like sandwiches, two halves smushed together, then deep fried and filled. Oh, the horror. [As a joyful aside, I was able to pick up a six pack of Zywiec beer, which isn't too easy to find. Score 1 for the Polish deli! Oh wait - subtract 1 for the crappy paczki. And that equals 0. But we still came out ahead somehow with that awesome beer that my hubby likens to Grolsch or Heineken. I just plain liken it. heh heh]

It was a sad night as this was to be the only paczki I planned to get my hands on this year. I'd vowed not to spend the $30 at Zingerman's and I wasn't going to be making the trip to Livonia (about 30 miles from Ann Arbor).

Then I got a call from my niece, who *was* going to make the trip (bless her heart) and would I like to place an order? Why yes, I would! Paczki day is saved!! She was headed to GM Paris Bakery, where I would go with my parents every Sunday after church while I was growing up to get a few loaves of rye bread, lunchmeat, and if we were lucky, a couple paczki (they make 'em all year round but I reserve my indulgence to once a year) to share amongst us.

Zingerman's prune paczek

Armed with the knowledge that I would, after all, be eating my favorite paczki, I decided to relent to Zingerman's and cough up $3 (against all my principles) to try one for research and comparison purposes. Prune was my choice because that's all that was left. Ick. However, it did look lovely. It was so nicely fried.Zingerman's prune paczek

So I tasted it. And it was good. Really quite good. Despite my distaste for the prune filling, I noticed it was freshly made and that was a plus. The dough tasted different than I was accustomed to, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But I wasn't sure it was going to win over the tried and true gut bombs I've loved since I was a child. And the price tag on this guy left a bad taste in my mouth.

GMP raspberry on the left - Zing's on
the right. Note the enormous amount of jelly
in the GMP.

Cut to the GM Paris Bakery version (btw, $1.25 or $12/dozen) -- about 1/3 larger than Zingerman's, and way more filling, which is too much of a good thing. Really. Even the custard, which I love. And the dough, while tasty, I was expecting it to be a little sweeter than it was -- was it really not as sweet as I remember? I'll keep biting until it gets better -- oh no...the paczek is gone and it never got sweeter. Not even a little bit. And the fillings, I can tell, aren't freshly made. My heart sank. Do I really have to admit that the Zingerman's paczek was better? They say that you can never go home again, and I guess that applies here.

Ouch.

And so, I have to be honest and say that overall, the Zingerman's paczek beats the GM Paris Bakery paczek in the flavor department. But I just cannot abide the price. Pure and simple, $3 is too much for fried dough stuffed with sticky flavored goo. I mean, really? And so I say, I will go home again, because home is good enough, especially at half the cost.

Til next year.

birthday cakes, smoothies, and the beach

The cake survived the trip and Retta got her wish: me and Mark singing happy birthday while she blew out the candles on her Sanders cake. :) Yay! Happy birthday, Retta.

Yesterday was an unexpected sunny day in LA - the forecast had been for rain. Retta and I took advantage of the weather and drove the Stang to the beach, but not before a stop at Jamba Juice. Happy with our juices, we motored our way towards the PCH and stopped at the Will Rogers beach. By the time we got there, the sun had gone away and the wind kicked up, and it wasn't exactly the beach experience we were hoping for. Oh well! We spent about a half hour sitting on the sand (albeit bundled up) and listened to the ocean. mmmmmm...


Smoothies make me happy!

my sweet ride

So I take a flight to LAX, carrying a Sanders colonial buttercream cake 2500 miles to my sister for her birthday, endure the egg salad sandwich and ranch dressing smells of my travelling neighbors, read many pages of the worst book I've read in a long time, wait in line at Hertz for half an hour, get to the counter and the guy says "How would you like a Mustang?" "Umm...... ok.......... What color is it?" "Red." "Ok." Weird. I never imagined myself driving a muscle car, but for a week in California, what the heck?

the ice storm

After a week in New York city, I returned home to an icy wonderland. It was a beautiful site, if not a little alarming. Lots of tree branches were down or split and hanging on for dear life, and when I drove up my own driveway I realized my pink dogwood was having a struggle. This is a tree I've always considered quite delicate. I don't know if that's really the case with dogwoods, but since they're ornamental trees I feel like that somehow implies that they are more fragile than the larger oaks and maples. In any case, to see half the tree hanging down under the weight of the ice caused me some concern, but it appears that as the ice melts the tree is rebounding nicely.

I'm not a big fan of winter, but I must admit that it is nice to see the snow finally. It's really quite pretty.

it takes a village

Just a quick post before I head back over to Javits today. I took the subway down to the West Village this morning for a quick walk through. It's cold and windy today, but I managed to get a little shopping in after a quick bite at a cool little coffee shop called Doma. Bought some cupcakes at the famous Magnolia bakery. Their prices aren't posted which is a sure indication that they are pricey. Whoa mama! But they are yummy!

Also came across a memorial for 9/11 victims.

go, Helen!

Helen Mirren just won the best actress Golden Globe for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in "The Queen." Some of my friends know I'm a big Helen Mirren fan and not only because of her superb acting, but because she is an extremely well-spoken and classy woman. On top of that, she always dresses really well at the awards shows. We dig her! (That is, the royal 'we.')

Chicago in new york

Tonight I went to see the revival of Chicago, which is playing at the theater directly across the street from my hotel. Bebe Neuwirth is currently playing the role of Roxie Hart. I enjoyed the show, but I have to say I was a little bit disappointed with Bebe's performance. She seemed to perform best in the pieces where she had a little help from the ensemble. Her solos seemed to lack any real pizzazz.

I did really enjoy the performances of the women who played Velma and Mama. They were natural and fun. Overall, not a bad way to spend an evening.