Not all Tuesdays are equal, but whether you celebrate Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, pancake day or simply Fat Tuesday, the effect is the same – you need six weeks of abstinence to redress the balance. Strangely, fat Tuesday is a new genre for me, being synonymous with the Polish pre-Lenten indulgence of eating paczki, a large jelly style donut. Traditionally these donuts are only available for a few days before Ash Wednesday, so paczki lovers have been in hot pursuit this week of the Old Traditional Polish Cuisine food truck, as it tweeted its various mobile locations around the city. When these sold out, the only other option on the rock was G.I Deli in the East Village, but this stationary supply was spent by the time I peered in the window last night. Fortunately there are plenty of options in NYC to meet the wider obligations of a fat Tuesday.

The annual hot chocolate festival at The City Bakery is one such alternative. Every day this month a different flavor provides another reason to indulge. I was too late for banana peel hot chocolate – fortunately – but would cheerfully schedule another visit to 18th street for the salted caramel, or the Ode to Polar Bear, a white chocolate hot chocolate. Then there’s chocolate cheesecake, chocolate fudge brownies and luscious giant marshmallows to melt into a hot chocolate mass. This is serious temptation, for even without a knitted hat I felt simpatico with the beaming staff, their smiles hinting at a sweet transcendental taste sensation. At this rate, fat Tuesday could easily turn into fat February…