I learned today that your poor, poor people in the US do not celebrate Pancake Day. Oh, how I pity you.
You see, on Shrove Tuesday you’re meant to be getting ready for lent in order to make yourself holy for the sky pixie. Getting rid of the eggs and the milk and so on. What’s perfect for this? Pancakes! So today is Pancake Day. Shops stock up on sugar and lemon juice. Dad tosses the pancakes and gets the obligatory comedy pancake-on-ceiling moment. It’s glorious.
I favour the traditional lemon juice and sprinkled sugar pancake.
Yeah well, here in the US we have pancakes whenever we want, hell, I make them every Sunday for me and my son. And as for what should go on top of them? Just plain old maple syrup. Maybe some butter. Sugar and lemon juice indeed.
You have to wait for a special occassion for Pancakes? I pity you! BTW, several organizaitons, for example the Kiwanis and many Methodist Mens groups, frequently have Pancake Breakfasts as fund raisers.
GlarGH, thank you. You made me smile on an unbelievably shitty day, by just being your reliable old quaking-with-fury self. God help us if you ever break the chain and escape The Pit, but for now, thank you.
There’s a diner accross the street from my apartment that has an amazing deal on the weekends. You can get two eggs (any style), bacon, ham or saussages, and pancakes, belgian waffle or french toast, complete with toast and as much OJ and coffee as you want, all for $10.
I think any holiday which is celebrated by eating a great deal of a nice kind of food is A-OK. Even better if it’s original religious meaning is forgotten in the gluttony! Pancakes all around!
… can we start a Grilled Cheese Sandwich day? I nominate my birthday.
“It seems impossible that the friendly little competition between Liberal, Kansas and Olney, England, with women running down the streets of each town flipping pancakes, has lasted so long. It is still the only race of its kind on the planet.
But on Shrove Tuesday this year at 11:55 a.m., the race goes on again, with the overall score standing at 28 wins for Liberal and 24 for Olney. In 1980 the score didn’t count, because a media truck blocked the finish line in Olney.”
Maybe the Anglican sky pixie doesn’t like eggs or milk.
It’s a fine tradition, but it seems to pale compared to Fastnacht, Fasching, Mardi Gras, Rosen Montag and all those other events where the objective seems to be to clear the larder of alcoholic beverages (and maybe “preservatives”*).
Meant in the Latin language group, not English, sense of the word
