Happy pancake day

When I was speaking to my dad the other day on the phone he reminded me that Feb 5th was pancake day. A lesser holiday known to us Brits, those in Australia and Canada as Shrove Tuesday, I guess all you yanke's have Mardi Gras instead. Anyway, it marks the day before lent begins and every shrove Tuesday my mum would make copious amounts of pancakes that we ate with lemon and sugar. Absolutley delish, my memories are of her standing in the kitchen turning out pancake after pancake with us four kids in a line ready for the next one hot from the frying pan. We really didn't eat pancakes any other time of the year and it is such a fond memory, so yesterday for dinner we ate pancakes. They were good, in England we have 2 kinds of basic flour, plain and self raising, the plain flour is used to make the pancake batter. Whenever I make pancakes they aren't quite like the ones my mum made, they end up a little thicker due to the all purpose flour but they were still tasty and the girls enjoyed them. And why do we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday? Here is what Wikipedia has to say....

The reason that pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were therefore an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself.