Yesterday I was pouring over my studies like I always do (and I use the word "always" very loosely here) when out of the blue Hannah messaged me on Skype (ok, yes we live in the same building but we are lazy and talk on Skype) and exclaimed, "OMG, it's pancake day tomorrow!!!". I wasn't terribly alarmed because I know she gets excited over the strangest things sometimes but curiosity got the best of me so I had to find out what she was talking about. So I asked her what in the world she was talking about. She said, "you know, Shrove Tuesday!". Hmmm....this wasn't helping any and by now I was convinced she had probably drank too much tea and it had gone to her head. But she persisted with this line of conversation so I had to check with my friend Google to figure this one out.
Well imagine my surprise when I found out there really is such a holiday (in case you're curious, click here). Apparently in the U.K. they celebrate the day before lent by eating pancakes. That doesn't sound too bad; I'm always up for some good pancakes. The only problem was it is hard to find good maple syrup in Morocco so I didn't have anything to put on them. After explaining this dilemma to Hannah she told me in that rather matter-of-factly tone of voice that of course you put lemon and sugar on the pancake, not syrup. I was a little appalled because nobody puts lemon on a perfectly good pancake. That sounds absolutely disgusting (or minging, if I may use British slang).
But now back to today. We looked up the recipe, which is fairly simple and planned our pancake day party to start at 6pm sharp. Unfortunately only two other people wanted in on the festivities but that just meant there were more for us. We mixed up the flour, eggs, salt and milk then started cooking. And here are some pictures of Hannah flipping the pancake without using the spatula:
As you can see from the pictures, these weren't big fluffy pancakes like I'm used to, these were very thin pancakes, more like crepes. But now came the moment of truth. We put the pancakes on a plate, then squeezed the juice out of the lemon onto the pancake and followed that with sugar. I rolled mine up and doubtfully took my first bite. Pardieu! This was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted! I would never have thought of adding lemon juice and sugar to a pancake but now I don't know if I'll be able to eat it any other way.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that the British kept all their good secrets and holidays from us in retaliation for leaving but this is one I'll take back with great joy. So thanks Hannah, future generations of the Allen family will be thanking you for pancake day....and lemons!
2 comments:
Hnnah, (now i know this is not ur blog but i will address you as i do not know the real author and i tend to enjoy keeping my stalkerish ways fairly confidential) but mum and i have agreed that ur pancakes are impressive and pathetic eexcuses of not being a capable cook are now to be thourolly ignored and you WILL share in the hard labour of feeding this ever growing family when your here!
Karl, they are crepes, they are french, as is lemon and sugar.. dur!
Hey, I'm going to ALIF in June and was hoping you might drop me an email and give a newbie some tips... thanks!
smith(dot)simonp(at)gmail(dot)com
Post a Comment