Happy Fat Fastnacht Shrove Mardi Gras Tuesday!

Today is one of my favorite days. To me, it's "Everybody's Catholic Day". Growing up near the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, born a cradle Catholic, I was fortunate to learn different cultural traditions regarding "Fat Tuesday". Attending Catholic grade school, we were soooo excited when Donut Day rolled around! (forget the religious implications, we were kids!) Although we never had the local traditional fastnachts served at school, our "Dunkard neighbor lady" (Did we ever know her name?! That's what Mom called her) made them for us and some of our neighbors, but I don't remember much about how they tasted. (Because, seriously, they're made from potatoes. Hmmm, then again, so is vodka...) I guess as long as it was fried and sugary, I didn't much care. We were taught that Fat Tuesday (and a/k/a Lindsay's favorite, Pancake Day!) was intended to use up all the milk, eggs, etc. (from animals) in the house to get ready for the rigors of Lent. So no matter how you celebrate today, whether it's with donuts, King cake, pancakes or wine (oops, how did that get in there?!), I wish you a happy Fat Fastnacht Shrove Mardi Gras Tuesday!