Monday, February 27, 2006

Laissez les bons temps rouler! avec les pancakes!


Laissez les bons temps rouler! avec les pancakes!

I am truly jealous of Nemesis who is in the UK, and according to this BBC News article pancake races are about to take place.

In the UK, pancake races also form an important part of the Shrove Tuesday celebrations - an opportunity for large numbers of people to race down the streets tossing pancakes.
Who knew that tossing pancakes was an "important part" of Mardi Gras? I want to see this delightful scene!

In the British Isles, Mardi Gras is called Shrove Tuesday and they eat pancakes. The reason for eating pancakes is that you were not allowed to have such forbidden foods as eggs, cream, fat or butter in the house during Lent, so you made pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, (the day before the beginning of Lent) to use up all those things.

Which is probably why IHOP has chosen tomorrow to give away free pancakes.

If you don't want to fight the crowds at IHOP, just to celebrate the British version of Mardi Gras, you can make your own Mardi Gras Pancakes. If you are giving up gluten for Lent, you can make these pancakes: Golly Gee Gluten Free Pancakes. Or if you are giving up vegetable for Lent, don't make these pancakes: Vegetable Pancakes. I believe that I might try this recipe, because it looks like an easy version of Tarte Tatin, which is French, and therefore appropriate for Mardi Gras.

(Can you believe that I found a way to blog the two holidays at once?)

6 comments:

Christian said...

Trust me, in my diligence and sacrifice to give up vegetables for Lent, I will not be making that atrocious thing you claim is a "recipe."

Erin aka- absent-minded secretary said...

Note to self: Always check through all your links before writing your blog entry. Yes, IHOP's free pancakes are in honor of Shrove Tuesday, it says so right on the Website, you linked to AMS.

Edgy: Even though I probably agree with you that pancakes with lentils are probably not pancakes, I still disapprove your giving up vegetables for Lent thing.

Nemesis said...

Yay, Pancake day! Now I know what I'm having for dinner. I should tell you, though, that it turns out the pancakes over here are a quite different beast than the fluffy things we're used to. Here they are more like thick crepes and you eat them with lemon and suger.

And the Brits say they don't like the French . . .

Anonymous said...

I once tried to give up water for lent, but I got kidney stones.

Anonymous said...

I once had a friend who gave me a gluten free birthday cake made with lentils. They made it more moist. Really. They weren't bad at all. I think it was the sugar-freeness and low fatness of the cake that made it suck. (This obviously wasn't my dear friend, AMS, who makes excellent gluten free food. Oh! Mounds Cake! Do you know I dream of thee nightly?)

Erin aka- absent-minded secretary said...

I remember your lentil cake. I don't have anything against lentils, I just associate them with beef soup, not sweets.

I just made a Mounds cake, but I accidently overcooked the marshmellow part and so it was a bit like a S'more cake with coconut... without the graham crackers. And I also didn't cook the chocolate part well enough, so it was a bit sugary. I guess my contract with the devil has expired. Must renew that. ;)