Today is Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek) in Poland – a day when the population eats the holeless doughnuts called pączki. Why the Poles celebrate the Thursday before Lent, and not the Tuesday, has never been explained to me.
When I taught at the English Language College in Warsaw I would often stop at the little bakery on Mokotowska Street so to have something for the 6 o'clock tea. Pączki were not always in stock, but when they were I’d want a few. Three is one of the most difficult Polish words for me to say – trzy – so I would ask for two (dwa) and then quickly add, “Maybe one more.”
