Fat Tuesday

Here we are, celebrating Mardi Gras once again.  I'm working late so it's not too wild of a time.  Here in Sweden, Mardi Gras (fettisdagen, literally, the fat day) is celebrated by eating Semla.  Semla is a lovely pastry bun made with cardemom, split open, spread with almond paste and filled with cream.  Some people even put them in a bowl and pour warm milk over the top.  That feels like dairy overload to me.  Some people love them, others not so much.  I enjoy a good semla.  Getting one from a high quality bakery is key because then the bread part is yumalicious.
I am kind of bummed that I have not had one today or even one this year yet.  The good thing is, is that they keep making them throughout Lent even though they are supposed to be your last big treat until Easter.  It seems unlikely to me that I will not have one more big treat until Easter.  We'll see.
Fat Tuesday is a day to let it all hang out in preparation to reign it in during the 40 days of Lent that begin tomorrow.  Two friends have posted comments on Facebook today that have made me laugh about today being such a special day to indulge in fat things.  One said, "Today is Mardi Gras, a day to enjoy a little excess before Lent begins tomorrow.  In my case however, I've treated all days as though they are Fat Tuesdays!"  The other memorable quote was this, "I'm fat every Tuesday!"
So, I guess I'm concluding that for the rest of today, which isn't much for me since it's now 19.00 in Sweden, I will try to indulge in excessively fat treats as much as possible so that when I strap on the mantle of discipline tomorrow I'll be good and ready to do so!  If only it worked that way...
Blessings and Happy Mardi Gras.