The Last Drag and the smoking ban in Michigan

Folks that are familiar with the bar scene all over Michigan will be headed out tonight for the last night of legal smoking inside Michigan's fine beer and liquor serving establishments.  Starting tomorrow, all the juke joints, holes in the wall, watering holes, pubs, taverns, clubs, lounges, and neighborhood bars will be under the watchful eye of Michigan's finest.  Having a cigarette indoors at one of these places will now be punishable by fine.  In order to celebrate this final night of cancer accelerating behavior, bar crawlers will be visiting all their favorites across Detroit's bergs, and I assume across Michigan, to smoke enough cigarettes to last them the total amount of time they plan to spend in a bar for the rest of their lives.

If you are one of the many then you have options for tonight.  In Ferndale, the Ruth Ellis Center and D. Erickson PR bring you the Take the Last Drag pub crawl.  The crawl will be lead by fashionable drag queens and will take smokers and non-smokers to all the hot spots like the WAB, Dino's and Como's.

At the Belmont Bar in Hamtramck owner Darren Grown will be hosting The Last Great Michigan Smoke Down to celebrate those who choose to smoke and those who don't.  Entertainment will be provided all night will a variety of Detroit bands.  Grown says that the party is to lament the loss of yet another personal freedom.  

Not all the last chance smoke events are against the ban.  In the same article it mentions The Magic Stick in Detroit will be ushering in a new era by having fun and celebrating both sides of the ban.  Also mentioned is the New Place Lounge in Dearborn.   

Whether you are for or against the ban I suggest you go out and celebrate tonight to support your local main street and business owners!

Happy Paczki Day!

Today is Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, and you know what that means in cities with large Polish populations like Detroit and Chicago... Paczki Day!

The annual tradition of using up all the sweet dough, milk and eggs before giving them up for lent is alive and well in Detroit. I jovially wished all my coworkers a Happy Paczki Day when I walked in today and everyone knew what I was talking about. Some had even had their Paczki already.

Due to the large Polish population in Hamtramck, it is said that the best paczkis are found in their bakeries and shops. But since I live in Ferndale I will probably get mine from a bakery or store closer to home. But don't let me talk YOU out of it. If you are looking for the best paczkis head toward downtown from the suburbs via I-75 and get off on Caniff (exit 55). Head to Hamtramck to support the local bakeries and economy.

Check out this great article from Ann Arbor.com with tons of info on Paczki Day!

Happy Paczki Day!

It's here, Fat Tuesday, the day that all Detroiters line up outside well know bakeries in Hamtramck for the most delectable of treats, the Paczki.  A Polish treat that has been around since the middle ages.  Meijer and Kroger do sell paczki but according to everything "hip" to get the real thing you have to go down to either the New Palace Bakery or the New Martha Washington Bakery in Hamtramck.

 A paczki, pronounced ponchki, is the Polish equivalent of a doughnut... only more doughnutty (in the words of Scott "the Gator" Anderson from 97.1 the Ticket in DTW).  They are huge discs of deep fried dough filled with any type of jam imaginable.  Although they look like a jelly doughnut, what makes them different is the ingredients of the dough used to make the paczki.  The dough includes eggs, lard, sugar and milk and makes for a pretty heavy morning treat.  Most paczkis, besides being filled with fattening jam or custard, are also either glazed or sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Paczki Day originally is celebrated on the last Thursday before Lent (you know that time leading up to Easter when you are supposed to give up doing stuff that you like to do but that may not be good for you, like eating paczkis.)  But now people can't wait and we celebrate on Tuesday.  The reason for the paczki was to get rid of all the flour, eggs, sugar and milk that was forbidden during Lent. 

These days paczki day in Detroit means lining up for a sampling outside Hamtramck bakeries while the ancestors of polish immigrants and their families that settled in this enclave churn out some of the best paczkis in America.

Apparently the Paczki has also entered the realm of professional eaters.  The Paczki Challenge, as it is called, consists of contestants eating as many Paczkis as possible while walking across a room.  The record is currently held by McKay Johnson of who set the record of 18 raspberry filled paczkis at the Greater Chicago Paczki Challenge.

Although I did eat my fair share of paczki today, you will not find me indulging in the gluttonous act of professional paczki eating... ever.

All facts pertaining to Paczkis were found on wikipedia, so who knows if it's true, but it sounds good.