[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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