JD The Jazz Doctor wrote:

---

I work on the Polish side of Town, am a Packer fan, yet have never heard of these- is it like borscht? 

---

I should have known!

Photo/Ronald M. Overdahl
Ed Kurylo of West Allis picks up three dozen paczkis from volunteer Gladys Roszak on Tuesday morning at the second annual paczki sale at the Polish Center of Wisconsin. The bakery treats were made at Papas Bakery in Milwaukee

Franklin - To soften the arrival of the long Lenten fast, supporters of the Polish Center of Wisconsin Tuesday shared one of their more delicious traditions - a sugar-on-the-upper-lip, jelly-dribbling-down-the-chin treat called paczki.

Paczki (say PONCH-key), to which all jelly doughnuts must owe their inspiration, were concocted originally "to use the last of the lard and the sugar before Lent," said Wanda Larsen, 42, who recalled how strictly the pre-Easter fast used to be observed.

Nobody kept a tally on how many paczki munchers planned to begin a fast on Ash Wednesday.

But on Shrove Tuesday morning, brown cardboard boxes - each filled with three dozen of these delicacies - flew out of the still-under-construction center at 6941 S. 68th St., at the pace of a breakneck polka.

Ava Casey, 26, of Greenfield, had ordered a box to pass around at her workplace, Kahler Slater Architects Inc.

Casey is one of the lucky ones. Both grandmothers - Kristina Matecki and Zofia Grachowski - still live in Milwaukee and still cook up their own recipes of what Casey describes as "the last sweets before Lent."

Jim Kowalski, 64, a retired Milwaukee firefighter, was taking home a box to his family.

"My mother used to make them, and I have her recipe," he said, "but somehow they never taste quite the same when we try to make them."

That's why folks raising money for the $3.6 million cultural center thought it would be a good idea to stage a paczki sale as a fund-raiser.

Last year Larsen and Cindy Rewolinski, 52, chalked up orders for 7,500 paczkis. This year, center supporters bought 10,700, $3,500 free and clear for the center. The paczkis were made at Papas Bakery in Milwaukee.

Rewolinski said the sales committee chose to distribute the orders at the construction site so everyone could check on the building's progress.

"It's a unique site," said Milwaukee County's chief judge, Michael Skwierawski, who waved a hand to indicate the lake, the slope of the gentle hill, the groves of trees on the 44-acre property.

Skwierawski, 57, who is president of Polish Festivals Inc., was loading up his car to make a delivery run to the courthouse and the Police Administration Building, where coffee breaks were going to be 216 paczkis tastier than usual Tuesday.

His wife, Gloria, 57, had her sport utility vehicle loaded almost to the ceiling.

"My route is longer than his," she said.

The Skwierawskis, whose son Andy, 25, will be married at the center in November, are just two of the people who already have made plans for a celebration there.

Donning a hard hat, Rewolinski took a visitor on a quick tour.

A wall of windows two stories high and a windowed gallery the length of the building will overlook the sparkling lake. A huge fireplace and a Polish stove will provide focal points.

Delicately evident beneath the clean smell of new lumber was a hint of sweetness - the aroma of fresh paczki.

Molly wrote:

---

Really, there isn't a Martin's in Goshen? I never noticed! They are really starting to build Goshen up though, especially 331. There's a ton of stuff around there compared to when I used to go to my grandmas when I was little.

---