pancake day!

it's pancake day today!!! definitely one of england's great traditions. it should go global. 'what is pancake day?' i hear u ask. this is an extract i have shameless plagarised from a pancakeparlour website:

" ...Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, which heralds the beginning of fasting in Lent. On this day (so the historians say) there were feasts of pancakes to use up the supplies of fat, butter and eggs... foods that were forbidden during austere Lent. In England there are several celebrations on this day but perhaps the best known one is the Pancake Day Race at Olney in Buckinghamshire which has been held since 1445. The race came about when a woman cooking pancakes heard the shriving bell summoning her to confession. She ran to church wearing her apron and still holding her frying pan, and thus without knowing it, started a tradition that has lasted for over five hundred years. According to the current rules, only women wearing a dress, no slacks or jeans, an apron and a hat or scarf, may take part in the race. Each contestant has a frying pan containing a hot, cooking pancake. She must toss it three times during the race that starts at the market square at 11.55 am. The first woman to complete the winding 375 metre course (the record is 63 seconds set in 1967) and arrive at the church, serve her pancake to the bellringer and be kissed by him, is the winner."

although there were no races, there were pancakes for me on this day, cuz ernest invited me over and insulted me mercilessly when i crammed my crepe with strawberries and nutella and choc chips. and then made another one of the same, but without the choc chips. the crepe was bigger than my hand. he called me augustus gloop, which i thought was a trifle unfair. after all, i am female. and i did leave off the choc chips on the second crepe.

it was a good day....