Happy Pancake Day!

So I just wanted to write a quick little tid-bit about the delicious holiday and new tradition I discovered today :)

In America, today would be the most hailed of all days- Fat Tuesday. So when I woke up this morning, I decided that for lent (beginning tomorrow) I would give up my daily Cadbury Carmello's and Buttons. But as a last hoorah I would indulge myself with them today, as any normal chocolate lover would and just as I have for every Fat Tuesday before.

Instead, I found that in Ireland, the tradition is quite different. It was instead..Pancake Day.
I had a message from my Irish friend, and she told me to "Enjoy my pancakes today!" Confused, I asked around and indeed found the rumor to be true. If you do not have pancakes for at least one meal today...you're committing a sin. Just kidding...but everyone does it, its tradition. :)

So I woke up at 6am to travel to the immigration office so I wouldn't be "thrown into a dungeon" like my Garda officer affectionately advised me and I received my Irish student ID. Afterwards, I went to classes, went downtown and then went to Tesco (supermarket) and strolled the aisles for pancake mix. After getting sidetracked as usual by popcorn, strawberries, MORE chocolate etc. I asked an employee where the heck the mix could be. He pointed me to the large crowded display in the front of the store. Feeling slightly like an idiot, I made my way through the crowd and bought the two packets that everyone else with an Irish accent seemed to buy.

I then came home, and informed my roommates we were having a pancake dinner. At first, we realized the recipe was a tad milky. And then realized we were making crepes, the mix was titled "PANCAKE MIX" and everyone else was buying it, so we pondered for a while and decided this must be what "Pancake Day" is all about. At first, we nearly burnt down the kitchen or suffered from smoke inhalation injuries before my roommate Kelly had to take over. But after about 65 crepes later, I was making them with no problem. :) And they were honestly so ridiculously good, I was happy to have a new found love for "pancakes" and "pancake day".

So the moral of the story is, I intended this day to be just as every other Fat Tuesday but instead ditched my usual chocolate hoarding for the day and greatly appreciated the tradition that I discovered in my new home. :) Happy Pancake eating everyone, talk to you soon!