[Sca-cooks] Happy Shrove/Fat Tuesday, or whatever you call it...

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Tue Feb 24 06:00:30 PST 2009


Hullo, the list!

Okay, so the deal is that for those who pay attention to this stuff on  
any of several levels, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of  
Lent. A common practice in many cultures who practice some form of  
Lenten observance (I'm not sure one celebrates Lent, but whatever  
floats your boat, I guess) is some form of fat consumption in  
recognition of the leaner weeks to come, hence Carnivale, Fat Tuesday,  
etc. It's probably all pre-Christian anyway, just a little metabolic  
kick to help see people through the last of winter, whatever the  
stated rationale may be.

I'd love to be able to regale you all with tales of my auld mother's  
lovely Shrove Tuesday pancakes, slathered with butter and sugar, and a  
sprinkle of lemon juice, but the truth is I was more likely to be told  
horror tales of artery-clogging saturated fat, and let's just say the  
warm family moments over a nice bowl of shredded wheat or Grape Nuts  
with 2% milk just don't have quite the same emotional impact, I suspect.

So, is anybody actually sitting down to Shrove Tuesday pancakes (which  
are basically crepes, in substance), or beignets, or some other fried  
food in honor of the unsaturated weeks to come? Or for some other  
reason?

I've got some Italian sourdough bread and a couple of eggs frying in  
real olive oil as we speak... I thought the fried bread in lieu of  
toast would count.

Later on today I'm going to see how much canned tuna, which is on sale  
at one of the local supermarkets (a 10 for 10 ExtravaCANza -- those  
guys crack me up, they're such cards), will fit in my bike baskets.  
I'm figuring two cases. It has been specifically requested as a  
donation by the local food pantry, whose existence I only cheerfully  
discovered this weekend. Which is a lot better than not discovering  
it, or cheerlessly discovering it, I suspect.

Adamantius








"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter




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