Pancake Day
Mmmm, pancakes. I don’t come from a religious family, so although we’d eat pancakes today, it’s kinda in a similar way to the way we celebrate christmas - it’s about the tradition rather than the religion.
Although Vegan ones are yummy, tonight we opted for non-vegan crepes:
I like mine with lemon and sugar:
And also with chocolate:
Pancake day brings up two strong associations for me.
The first is one happy memory of me, my brother and my mum in the house we lived in for a while making pancake after pancake after pancake and eating them all. I couldn’t tell you what year it was, or anything that would make it stand out, just that it’s one of my happy memories from my childhood - the three of us having fun together, doing stuff and laughing lots.
The other is from school, and when I learned that Mardi Gras, with all the celebrations, was pancake day. When I was nine I got into trouble a good bit at school. My teacher really didn’t like me, no matter how much I wanted her to. I was probably an annoying kid, but also I don’t think she was in a happy place personally. One time she made me straighten out all the dog ears on a bookshelf of books to teach me to learn to respect books properly after she saw one of my schoolbooks. What upset me most was the complete injustice of it - the very idea of damaging a book was completely alien to me, plus I was also in trouble that year for reading books that were too advanced for me (good thing I had the sense to keep quiet about having read ‘Forever’ by Judy Blume the year before).
Anyway, we had these books that had a mixture of factual and fictional short pieces to read, followed by a list of questions to answer. I never bothered answering the questions, as that would have taken up valuable reading time. I just went right on and read the next bit. I got in trouble for that too, and had to spend my lunchtimes answering the stupid questions. One of the pieces was about how Mardi Gras was celebrated in different places around the world. It’s the only piece I remember and I’m not sure why - possibly it was one of the ones I had to go back and do again.
Aaaaanyway, Happy Pancake day!
How do you eat yours?
If we were eating them (we forgot) they’d be with flax seeds and all sorts of stuff inside. Yours look like crepes … and make me wish we’d remembered!
I’d want to track that teacher down, by the way, and give her a sharp word or two.
21 Feb 2007 at 4:33 am
When I was in college we came across Forever for the first time. I had read all of the other Blume books, but certainly not that one. Our jaws just dropped to the floor when we read it. At that time, the most scandalous thing Blume had ever written (in our eyes, at least) was that book about Margaret getting her period. Which we didn’t read because we were boys.
Oh, and I like my pancakes with butter and a little syrup.
21 Feb 2007 at 5:39 am
happy pancake day! we had multigrain pancakes with real maple syrup and a side of scrambled eggs. we like our pancakes thick and fluffy for fat tuesday, though my sweet friend and i like them thin and crepe-y with a little sugar and lemon the rest of the year. and, please! as if a book lover could desicrate a book. i sometimes think reading is the most subtle form of civil disobedience. glad you are feeling well enough to write flickr fiction. take care.
21 Feb 2007 at 6:25 am
Pancakes! Pancakes!
21 Feb 2007 at 8:19 am
Of a similar mind….did a blog post about the North American approach to pancakes….must have maple syrup! I’ll have to try the crepe-type ones next year, if the family will let me, that is! Hope you and himself had a nice dinner last night!
21 Feb 2007 at 10:09 am
I am of the same opinion about books as you are, and had the same type of experience with the mother of a friend of mine, after lending a NEW book of mine to the friend and getting it back in an appaling state, I went to speak to the mother about it (I was about 10)and I got LECTURED about how to care for my books and that her precious daughter would never do something like that to a book!Needless to say, the friendship soured after that…
I like my pancakes thin and crepe-like, with butter, sugar and lemon juice on them.
I also like them with butter and maple syrup on them, I had both types last night, and ate until I couldn’t move! As children we used to hold competitions over how many we could eat.
21 Feb 2007 at 3:05 pm
We had the ‘how many can you eat’ competitions as well. I used to love the thick fluffy ‘Merkin style pancakes, but nowadays thin crispy crepes with lemon juice and sugar are what its all about.
Re: the book thing. I remember going to the library when I was 9 and grabbing a bunch of books that the librarian wouldn’t let me take as she thought they would be too advanced for me. (not subject matter, READING level.) My mother had to go in and speak to her that ‘YES, I would be able to understand the books’ and ‘YES, my reading skills were up to it.’
I should add that I too was one of those kids who read ahead in whatever book we had been assigned for class. We did an aptitude test when I was about 11 and the teachers were amazed cos apparently I had the reading comprehension level of a 16 year old.
21 Feb 2007 at 3:37 pm
I make my own pancake mix and I like to add vanilla. My pancakes are light and fluffy, not the crepe kind. Add a dot of butter and maple syrup…dark amber from Quebec…yummy
21 Feb 2007 at 9:28 pm
I’m much better about traditions that don’t require me to plan ahead much. For example, I had forgotten that it was Ash Wednesday until I read your blog this afternoon! So guess what we’re having for dinner tonight!
So many people have those sad teacher stories.I just don’t get it. Why would someone think to herself, “Let’s see, I don”t like kids and I’m terribly impatient what should I do for a career?” ..I know, I’ll become a…teacher.
I
22 Feb 2007 at 2:15 am
With maple syrup and vanilla ice-cream. Delicious! But you know that already.
I remember being shouted at by a teacher in school for not having my German book covered. He went mad screaming at me. I pointed out that it actually was covered, that made him madder. Then I showed him it was covered with that clear plastic laminate stuff. That shut him up, the eejit.
22 Feb 2007 at 3:34 pm
Yumm - I forgot to make pancakes on Tuesday, what with all the knitting palaver - made them with the kids at nursery and forgot about it when I got home. I make what non-Scottish people call drop scones - but they are every bit, some might say more!, delicious.
India
22 Feb 2007 at 11:35 pm
Mmmm… pancakes… Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday or no, I could eat them daily… Yours are so nice and elegant and crepe-y; mine are about a ton each, and after two, you can fit in maybe an additional half, and afterwards you stagger about and find a soft place to fall.
My mother used to leave rolled oats in a cup or two of soymilk overnight and then do them with the regular flour and baking powder and a bit of vanilla. I’ve added on to that by using whole steamed oats and a cup of flax seed or a cup or two of granola in place of that, sometimes with coconut … and top it with almond butter and applesauce and a few raisins and a drizzle of maple syrup or honey.
Honestly, those are days you just eat the one meal and nibble.
And one DOES wonder who those people are who think, “Gosh, I hate kids, they’re so annoying and disorganized; must go and spend all day with them” — ? I worked with people like that, and they completely bewildered me.
23 Feb 2007 at 3:10 am
Great memories Is. Thanks.
27 Feb 2007 at 2:52 pm
We call them “Palatschinken” and there are never enough when I make them. When my father was young, he once ate 12 of them, my mother and grandmother told me. I can eat 5, no problem, filled with apricot marmelade. Mmh! ;o)
03 May 2007 at 12:07 pm