It was an ordinary day. And...there it was...on the front page of the morning paper. "RISING DOUGH," in all capital letters was much more important than "Russians shell city; talks fail." Over half of the front page was devoted to making fasnachts with perhaps another one-eighth devoted to the Ukraine War between Ukraine and Russia. Wasn't even a photograph to show what has been happening in the Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv.
So, what's the big deal? Well, yesterday was Shrove Tuesday on the Christian calendar and fasnachts are a celebratory food eaten in anticipation of the fasting of Lent. Traditionally, in Christian denominations that observe Lent, Shrove Tuesday was meant as a means of celebrating with indulgent foods, using up one's remaining sugar and lard, before fasting season. For some, Shrove Tuesday is also known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. The old theory was "waste not, want not!' And...what better way to use up all your left over remaining sweet ingredients than to make something sweet. In Lancaster County, fasnachts, which many of you may call donuts, seem to be made and eaten by just about everyone. The photograph on the front page of the newspaper was taken at the Bird-In-Hand Bakery, located in no where else than Lancaster's small town known as Bird-In-Hand. The bakery has been busy making their fasnachts for the past couple of days in hopes of having about 2,500 dozen fasnachts ready for sale on Shrove Tuesday. As Carol and I were heading home from shopping along Route 501N we noticed a large sign in the Lancaster Shopping Center's parking lot from the Bird-In-Hand Bakery that told everyone that they were offering fasnachts beginning at 7:00 AM on Tuesday morning. Carol and I love to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, or any day to be exact, with anything sweet, so I told her I would make sure to get up early so I could get in line before they were sold out. Well, by 7:15 AM I was dressed and ready to head out the door for our fasnachts. I yelled to her, asking if she wanted plain, powdered, sugar or glazed. Her return answer was powered, just like we almost always get. Well, I steered the car in the direction of the sweet smell and before long I was in line at the shopping center, waiting for my fasnachts. The price was $1.50 for one, $6.50 for half--dozen or $12.00 for a dozen. Finally pulled to the front of the line in my car. Time was 7:50 AM and I asked for a half-dozen of the powdered. Handed the guy $7.00 and within 10 seconds he yelled to me that they only had sugar and glazed. "Make it glazed," I yelled back to him. Less than a minute later I had my fasnachts, put my window back up and off I went...minus my 50 cents change. Oh, well! I'm sure I wan't the only one that they forgot to give change to. In Lancaster County there are 11 bakeries that were planning on selling fasnachts today. I'll bet that all of the bakeries were sold out by noon. One such bakery, Shady Maple Farm Market, told the Lancaster Newspaper that they had plans of making 69 batches of dough which hopefully would make 2,500 dozen fasnachts. Also needed was 500 pounds of oil daily during their cooking days while using 40 pounds of flour each day, 9 pounds of potatoes each day, 10 cups of eggs and 1.5 pounds of yeast. And...this is one out of 11 places that had plans of making fasnachts. And...this was all done due to the coming of Lent! I'll bet if Lent had been called off, they still would have made fasnachts! Next week it will be Long Johns. The following week it will be creme-filled donuts. The week after that it will be sticky buns. Etc, etc, etc! In order to live in Lancaster County, you just have to have a craving for sugar all year long. And, what's neat about eating all this sugar is that we do it in the name of Jesus! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS: Our half-dozen fasnachts were gone by 10:00 AM.
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