Kinkling Day + Snow Day Games

Happy Shrove Tuesday! Today at my house, we're going to be celebrating with kinklings. Not a king cake...kinklings.

Kinklings seem to be a unique tradition that is virtually unknown outside of Frederick County, Maryland where I live. Kinklings are not donuts, and although they do share some similar traits, they are not as sweet as donuts. The delicious deep-fried dough is made with yeast, sugar, flour, eggs, and other ingredients. The yeast dough is deep fried in oil and is coated with powdered sugar.

I fondly remember going to the now non-existent Donut Shoppe to get kinklings during the month of February. Luckily, there are many delicious local bakeries who still serve this special treat to patrons. This past weekend, cars lined both sides of the road and the line was out the door at a Middletown bakery who was selling these in bags while they were still warm. Needless to say, that batch didn't make it to my house intact. I couldn't refuse a warm kinkling.

In other areas of Maryland and Pennsylvania that were settled by Germans, people call this sweet treat a fastnacht. Traditionally, people prepared fastnachts for Shrove Tuesday aka Mardi Gras. Families used up all of their lard, butter, and fats that people tended to avoid during Lent. My church is celebrating Shrove Tuesday with the "Fastnacht Follies!"

Today is another snow day for us and Natalia and Alexia are thrilled! After a four day weekend, the girls have already finished their homework, they have read and studied and practiced and kept themselves busy with a million other activities. So we're going to play games and turn the snow day into a board game day!

Even though my hand is shaky, but I ended up winning this game of Operation because I took out some of the pieces that were worth the most money. The girls want a rematch, which I am sure I will lose. We practically vaporized a box of Girl Scout cookies that our neighbor brought to us. She's trying to sell 500 boxes and we are helping her achieve her goal.

Natalia and Alexia love to play games. I often find them in their rooms playing a game together. Alexia especially loves games by Gamewright. Being quite serious, when Alexia was younger, she took the comment card in the game to heart and wrote a letter to Gamewright to give her feedback to them and to make a suggestion for a new game. Amazingly, the company personally responded to her letter with a customized response and a coupon for a future purchase. Such outstanding customer service.

Games my 13 year-old twins highly recommend:
1. Iota: Small in size and perfect for travel, this game offers a lot of opportunity to play and is great for logical reasoning.
2. Spy Alley allows James Bond aficionados to try to deceive other players while they try to find out their secrets.
3. Slamwich is a fast moving card game that is a perfect choice when you only have a short amount of time to play.
4. Mixed Nuts includes hilarious stories and scenarios. Score nuts by deciding if the story is true or completely nuts.
5. Parcheesi is a race to the center home space in a traditional, ancient board game from India. When I was 7 or 8, I remember being captivated by this game that I found in the attic of my great-grandparents' home. Ever since then, it's been a favorite.

Later this afternoon, the girls will babysit our neighbors for a few hours. Natalia and Alexia love to babysit. After a class at the local community college, both girls are certified babysitters and have first aid training. They take their jobs very seriously and enjoy earning some of their own money.

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xoxo