Happy Pancake Day!

Did you know that today is Pancake Day? I first heard of it last fall at a PTA meeting where people brought up the necessity of doing something to celebrate it. I thought maybe it was something like one of the hundreds of official days that your kids will look up in an almanac and inform you of - It's Corndog Day! It's Paperclip Appreciation Day! - that Anya's school randomly latched onto to celebrate.

As it got closer and I got reminders from various articles and grocery store ads that it was coming up I realized it was bigger than that. Here in the UK it's used interchangeably with Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, etc.). Apparently the tradition began because people found making pancakes  a good way to use up things like butter, eggs and sugar which were often given up for Lent. The UK version of a pancake is closer to what we'd call a crepe. Crazy Anya doesn't like crepes, so I had to go with the traditional American version. Then the traditional way to serve them here is with a squeeze of fresh lemon and sprinkled with sugar. I really was going to get into the spirit of things and serve them that way, except I forgot to order a lemon with my grocery order and was too lazy to walk to the store last night. So we went with good ol' maple syrup. Slightly Americanized, but we did celebrate.

Are you having pancakes today? Have you ever had pancakes with fresh lemon and sugar? Do you prefer American pancakes or crepes?