Another One of Those "Today I Sneezed" Posts

You know what's sad? Trying to sleep in and not being able to. It's not as sad as war, pollution, death, disease and wounds that won't heal. But it's kinda sad.

The Child is on mid-winter break. It's just yesterday and today but still. I woke up when The Spouse brought me my "snooze alarm" coffee (because he obviously didn't know there wasn't any school). I kept trying to go back to sleep, just because I could, but it simply wasn't happening. By the time I finally gave it up as a lost cause, my coffee was cold. That was sad, too.

Things that are not sad:

♦Shrove Tuesday. Having already had our carnevale indulgence, tonight will be a low-key affair, involving Dutch Babies and sausage. Breakfast for dinner. Yum. This will be followed by the traditional Shrove Tuesday viewing of "Gilmore girls".

♦Hearing back from recruiters. Yep. I made the first cut and am on to round 2. Which involves a test. Which I think I can pass because it doesn't involve parallel parking or algebra. And I have a week to do it.

♦My child. She is quite the little Perky McPerkerson these days, co-operative and virtually non-argumentive (which is huge for her). Don't know what that's about or how long it will last but it sure is nice.

♦Little dogs. The Dog's sister is visiting for a few days. They are adorable. It makes me so happy see them scampering about, chewing on each other.

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And Cue the Spit Shot

The Child was full of President's Day trivia questions this morning, including the origin of the term "First Lady" and which president served the most terms and what you have to do to be impeached. This led to a little conversation about the Clinton impeachment. "What did he do wrong?"

"Well, pretty much he had an affair and lied about it".

Silence.

"It's bad to have an affair," she said. "But that seems like a dumb thing to impeach a President over".

"Yeah, I kinda thought so, too," I said.

She went about making her breakfast and then asked, "What was her name?"

"Whose?"

"The woman that President Clinton had an affair with?"

"Monica Lewinsky."

"Well, she just sounds like trouble".

Shrove Tuesday

More commonly known as Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"), this is the last day of Carnevale. Lent begins tomorrow. Tonight, while everyone else is out drinking beer, we're going to be eating pancakes.

Back in the day, Lent was a strictly vegan affair. The faithful had to rid their houses of all meat and dairy products before Ash Wednesday. And how else to better use up eggs, milk and butter than by whippin' up a big ol' batch of pancakes? My favorite bit of Shrove Tuesday lore is that in some European countries and most notably in England, housewives would hold pancake races on Shrove Tuesday, runnning a course through town, flipping hotcakes from skillets. I don't know how prominent an event it is still but I would love to revive it. I'd have to get The Neighbor to go along. Fun indeed, but it would, undoubtedly, convince our Orthodox neighbors once and for all that the goyim are completely meshuggina.

Oh, and the meaning of the word "shrove"? "To confess one's sins". One would traditionally make his or her pre-Lenten confession on this day. Then go home and eat pancakes. I just love being Catholic.

Dutch Babies

Beat 2 eggs.

Mix together: ½ c. flour
½ t. salt

Alternatively mix dry ingredients with egg and ½ c. milk

Beat until smooth.

Stir in 2 T. melted butter

Pour batter into skillet (which, if the same one used to melt the butter, will already be greased)

Back on bottom shelf of oven at 450 for 20 minutes.

Prick shell, reduce heat to 350 and bake another 10 minutes.

To serve:

Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Serve fresh fruit salad on the side and add spoonfuls of salad to pancake as desired.

(This recipe makes one pancake, which isn't near enough for our appetites so I'll be tripling the recipe. And serving sausages. Yum. Breakfast for dinner.)