Paczkis and Shamrock Shakes

I'm Irish and Polish. The month of March marks a *great* eating and drinking season for both nationalities, in its purest Americanized sense. 

Early March kicks off McDonald's Shamrock Shake season, where people go all crazy for this cupped green goodness. I'm serious- I've seen about 5 of my friends on Facebook post Shamrock Shake pictures. 2 of my clerks just audibly gasped out of jealousy when I said I had one today. What is it about this sweetened green drink that makes people go crazy? Is it the "Girl Scout Cookie" theory- that because it's only offered once a year, it's extra special and extra yummy?

It's been a long time since I had one. I honestly can't remember the last time I pulled up to a McDonald's and asked for a Shamrock Shake. I went today with a friend, after lunch at Chipolte (half off!) and we ordered "2 Shamrock Shakes in the smallest serving possible." That's 12 oz of goodness, kids. $2 for vanilla-mint-flavored ice cream. Not bad.

The shakes are presented to us with whipped cream and a cherry on top, in a fancy McCafe cup. I started to get excited. Something about adding whipped cream and a cherry makes me feel like a little kid again. As we pull away from the golden arches, I bring out the phone and look up the nutritional info for one of these bad boys. In one 12oz serving, you get 420 calories, 10grams fat (6 of them saturated), 72grams carbohydrates and 9 grams protein, with a PointsPlus value of 11. ELEVEN points for one shake?! Holy crap! I drank half and tossed the rest- I know, milkshake connoisseurs,  but I wasn't going to pop this in the fridge and save part of it for later (I'd forget about it until it got gross). I got my taste of goodness and I'm set. Plus, the whole "breaking out because of dairy" thing, which I remembered after sitting down at my desk to taste the cool goodness...

I think I'm better off with the traditional Irish drinks, like Guinness and Jameson Whiskey.

On a side note, this blog talks about a sugar free, gluten free AVOCADO Shamrock Shake. There are so many things wrong with that phrase, I don't even know where to begin.

Depending on the calendar, early or late March also marks Paczki Day (pronounced POANCH-key). I was explaining to a co-worker today that there is a difference between a standard jelly doughnut and traditional pazcki- pazcki is WAY worse for you, being more dense and cooked with more lard. Today is the traditional Polish holiday where people load up before Lent "Fat Thursday;" it has since been adapted here in the US as "Fat Tuesday," the day before Lent kicks in. The entire point of this pastry is to mark the end of a period of "excess" before Lenten sacrifices are made- the Poles used this holiday to use up the lard, eggs and flour in the home so it was out of the house during the Lent season.

One paczek (singular form of pazcki) has about 400 calories and 27 grams of fat. I felt dirty looking up the nutritional value of a paczek on Weight Watchers' website, like they knew I was thinking about having one. But, they linked back to livestrong.com, which says a paczek is about 13 PointsPlus. However, during other searches, I've found them to be as high as 18 PointsPlus. On the flip side, one jelly doughnut (from Dunkin Donuts) has about 270 calories, 8 grams of fat, and clocks in at 6 PointsPlus- so a paczek is equal to two jelly donuts. Awesome.  Either way, like my friend said, have half of one if you really need one.

Of course, that would require me finding a good Polish bakery up here in Lansing, because a pack of Quality Dairy Pazcki is *not* the same as a pack of Pazcki from back home, therefore not worth the points. Now, if my family were to bring me a paczek from home...