Paczki Day, Geauga Lake and other things I cannot pronounce...

Based on the spelling there are many things in the north that I cannot pronounce. Thanks to my first grade teacher who taught me to sound things out I've gone far in my ability to read however she must have been from the south otherwise she would have thought of other ways to teach kids to read.

In Ohio, and probably in other northern states they celebrate Paczki Day. It's pronounced Punch-key. I would have never come to this pronunciation-conclusion on my own. The spelling gives no hint to how to say it. Thank you Polish people for making me sound illiterate. This is a fantastic tradition though. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE what the south gave me, like queso and pecan pie but I haven't found a tradition better than this-- yet. Paczki are pastries traditional to Polish cuisine (the word is sometimes translated as doughnut.) 

A paczki is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with sweet filling. Although they look like jelly doughnuts, paczki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar.

Many Polish Americans celebrate Paczki Day on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Traditionally, the reason for making paczki was to use up all the lard, sugar,  eggs and fruit in the house because they were forbidden to be consumed during Lent.


THIS IS GENIUS!!! I will celebrate this tradition to the fullest.

On another side note about northern cuisine, I visited the grocery store today. They offer a WIDE variety of Pierogi, unlike in Texas where you can get potato or if you're daring you can get potato and cheese. There are also local bakeries that sell handmade, fresh Pierogi like sweet cottage cheese and fruit filled ones too. (BTW, there was only one type of Rotel tomatoes in the grocery store. Go figure. I may need someone to mail me some spicy tomatoes in a can but we'll talk more later.)

(For anyone who has not been introduced to Pierogi yet here is what they are. I recommend finding some and eating with a sauteed onion and sour cream! Pierogi are boiled, baked or fried dumplings of  unleavened dough and traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, or fruit. Of central and eastern European provenance, they are usually semicircular, but are rectangular or triangular in some cuisines.) Basically they are the Polish equivalent to Spanish Empanadas. 

Here is the grocery store collection and what they look like cooked. For this and the Paczki I am glad to be introduced to new traditions in the north. 

Moving to the North. aka, another country.

I have decided to write about my recent move to Ohio. For anyone who doesn't know I moved to Cleveland with my husband, Kevin, at the end of January. He is from Cleveland. He took a job transfer so we could be close to family. I've visited from time to time but never spent much time here on a regular basis.

So, back to the chronicling of my new life. I have been here for a few weeks and am finding out that life is different to what I am used to in Texas so I thought I would share.

The first lesson in northern culture is the salt. I can honestly say I never gave it much thought as to where the salt comes from, even the salt on the kitchen table. Well, up here it's all anyone can think about. It's so much salt. I never realized there was ever a need for so much salt. I feel like I need a drink of water just thinking about it.

Under Lake Erie there are some of the largest salt mines in America. The salt mines come from an ancient sea that dried up leaving millions and millions pounds of salt. Every year they mine for salt. this year I believe they are using at least 75,000 tons of salt.  Here is an example for you, One ton of salt will cover one 2-lane highway for 3.3 miles.

When it snows the snow plow trucks head out along with the salting trucks. On a side note, it can get too cold for the salt truck to work then they have to use liquid deicer. This all happens like clockwork. The plowers are up and busy at work before anyone hits the road for morning traffic.

Here are some pictures as a visual aid.
1) Mined Salt. Yes they mine that much salt.
2) They have salt houses all over the area for quick use.
3) Salt mines under Lake Erie.
4) Salting truck
5) More of the Salting Mine. They say it's so salty down there that when you lick your lips it tastes like salt.
6) Snow Plow. They are NOT messing around.