Tuesday 20 February 2007

Pancake Day

Oh blimey. So it is. It's really not very convenient tonight, but surely it rather goes against the spirit of the season, to have Pancake Day pancakes on the wrong day. I mean, you can have them at any time but I never do make them - I used to make savoury pancakes sometimes, but they could be cooked ahead and then rolled or layered with a filling and baked. The sort you toss and eat with lemon juice and sugar are not that much trouble really, but they involve hordes of hopeful family standing around with plates, wanting their turn with the frying pan but not at the expense of eating time.

I went to a Roman Catholic school and, as you might imagine, they were very keen on the whole Lent experience. Smearing their foreheads with ash on Ash Wednesday and keenly Giving Up *Something* for Lent. We Church of Englanders found the whole thing a bit ritualistic and bemusing (yeah, I know, as is any religion) and I've never done it. I don't see the point.

So it's with no orthodoxical anxiety that I rather wish I could get away with transferring Pancake Day to tomorrow, just a feeling that my little boys will be disappointed if they don't get their treat.

I'll tell them that if they want them they can have them, but it'll have to be early and as a first course as I'm going out at 7.15. I've made a pie that can go in the oven and they can eat after that.

I did remember to buy* the lemons.

*pick up from the shop. I do put money in the till sometimes, but I estimate.

UPDATE The Sage is in favour of procrastination

17 comments:

Chairwoman of the bored said...

Mm Pancakes. I hope that I can persuade Katy to make some tonight. Not being able to cook at the moment is such a bore.

I will try to instruct her in how to make my special pancakes with buttermilk, or if that's unavailable, we'll just have to substitute Greek yoghurt.

Z said...

If she stands at the stove frying them, maybe she can pass them to you to toss? It would be fun, especially if you drop a couple on the floor (especially entertaining for your dog).

Not visiting supermarkets, I can never get hold of buttermilk. I've got Greek yoghurt though - recipe please?

Ally said...

I'm with the Saga - don't rush them!

Ally said...

Sage. Sorry!

Z said...

The Saga - I like it, Ally!

And yes, you're both right. Shrove Wednesday it will be.

The Boy said...

Like Valintines day, there should be no absolute day for pancakes. They are good and wholesome any time.

Mind you, I prefer my thick Canadian pancakes to these think European ones...

Z said...

Would they be like drop scones? - a slightly thicker batter, dropped in spoonfuls in the pan, about 3 inches across? I used to make them to welcome my children home from school, sometimes.

But for pancake day, they have to be the thin sort. All wrong, otherwise!

On Christmas Day, sometimes I make blinis, with a yeast and buckwheat flour batter. Of course there's plenty of time on Christmas Day. It's a holiday...

y.Wendy.y said...

Oh Z. Oh Z oh Z oh Z.

I want pancakes. Thin, hot, dotted with buttery blobs, lemon juice and cinnamon sugar.

Oh oh oh oh.

What have you started?

The Boy said...

Drop scones, pah! They are pancakes, as they have the consistency of cake and are baked in a pan.

Otherwise, yes, that's what they are...

Z said...

Get tossing, Wendz!

Boy, we are separated by a common language. It's in food and clothes that it shows up most, isn't it?

Don't even get started on muffins...

Chairwoman of the bored said...

Actually the kitchen's the problem. I'm going to get a typists chair so that I can adjust the height and scoot across the room, then perhaps I'll be able to cook again.

My buttermilk/Greek yoghurt pancakes are quite thick, so not for you, today, I shall get the recipe out for you, because I do them by eye.

Z said...

Thanks sweetie :-)

What a bore, must be really frustrating for you. I think you said it was caused by an infection you picked up in Venice? - horrible luck and I'm so sorry.

Anonymous said...

I think the Canadian pancakes are like "hotcakes", a bit thicker than usual pancakes-the better to absorb delicious genuine maple syrup.
Hmm crepes sound good...is it okay to have crepes instead of pancakes on Ash Wednesday?

Anonymous said...

hiya, z, david told me today he had one of those over at his parents' house and he, not a pancake lover, enjoyed eating them!

i went to a catholic high school.and yes, we sure have a lot of practices. :)! we were not supposed to eat pork every friday succeeding ash wedn until holy week is over.

i remembered giving up drinking "coke" then.

as usual, i was not successful.

Z said...

I'm getting awful pancake/drop scone/hotcake/pan cake/crèpe/blini cravings here. I think our Lenten fare will be all the different types, to compare and contrast. I draw the line at bacon and maple syrup together, however; whether delicious or not it is just wrong and I'm not even trying it.

Maggie, when I was a child, Catholics were not allowed to eat meat at all on a Friday. School dinner was fishfingers, which were nice, nasty scrambled egg served out of huge vats and, rumour had it, made from dried egg, or a horrid sour cheese and potato pie. The Pope decreed it was all right to eat meat on Friday in about 1964, I think.

They were scrupulously fair and didn't expect 'non-Catholics' to follow their rituals, although we were welcome to. I remember one day when the whole school went on retreat (I have no idea what that meant) and my friend Lynn and I were the only two in the class to decide not to join in. We went and had a great day in the Domestic Science rooms, cooking. The teacher, who was also C of E, and we made toffee, lemon curd and cakes to sell at the school fête.

Anonymous said...

man, im sure it would have killed your other classmates.

catholic schools are so fond of retreat and recollections. there was also a time in my HS when the school didnt send me off to the math olympiad regional because they didnt have a budget for it due to a series of recollection and evangelism activities they have planned. well, in a way, it was supposed to be a food for the soul so i didnt really feel worse but i felt bad all the same.

do u go to the C of E in Norwich? david attends service there.

Z said...

the C of E Cathedral? there are an awful lot of churches. I think that Norwich has more churches than any other city...I can't remember if it's 52 or 365, but it has something to do with annual time. 52 probably.

I think that's how many pubs Yagnub used to have 100 years ago. My little village had 3 (1 left) and there were only about 400 people here and nice women didn't go to them...I'm rambling.

I usually go to my little village church. I have been to services at Norwich cathedral, but I'm not a regular.