Happy Fastnacht Day

While the rest of the world (as I know it) is celebrating Fat Tuesday, Brad Pitt and I are celebrating Fastnacht Day here in Pennsylvania. I can hear the wheels in your brain turning… wondering … what in the world is fastnacht*?

Well, if you didn’t already click the link I provided, I suppose I will sum it up for you: Fastnacht is the Pennsylvania Dutch way of celebrating Fat Tuesday. What do you do with all the lard, butter, sugar and eggs in the house before the clock strikes Ash Wednesday and you turn into a pumpkin and you have to fast until Easter? You throw all your rich ingredients together and create a fastnacht. And then you eat it. You eat a bunch of them. You stuff yourself silly with fastnacht.* Its a total celebration. Pennsylvania Dutch Style.

Okay, really, Brad Pitt is not celebrating. Its just me. And I “celebrated” on Sunday. At the grocery store. When I was hungry and noticed this odd confection in the bakery department. It was calling my name and when I saw a sign about Fastnacht Day on March 4th I figured I only had one shot to try this unique creation. So I ate one. And now I am fasting until Easter.**

It pretty much tasted like a doughnut with powdered sugar. The dough part, itself, wasn’t that sweet. Nothing like the beignet (all-time-greatest-dougnut-like-creation) that most others are indulging on for Mardi Gras. But it did the trick. Happy Fastnacht Day!!!

••••••••••••••••••••

*Just so you know, smarty pants, I am not misspelling fastnacht. The bakery sign is missing the “t” and I’m including it. Because I’m so Pennsylvania Dutch now, I prefer to include the “t” in the spelling. Its okay to spell it either way. Now you know.

**I’m not really fasting after today. The only thing I may give up for Lent is saying the F word. But I try that every year and it never goes over well. So I will probably just give up giving up something and keep on my merry way.