Skip to main content

Shrove Tuesday

Yes, I know, it's been aaaaages!  I do apologise.  Moving countries has a way of disrupting blogging.  I will have to think of a new subtitle (suggestions on a postcard, please!) since this won't be a taste of Texas life any more, but I know some of my Texas friends will enjoy hearing about a taste of English life, and I hope the rest of you will too!

English countryside.

Settling back into your native country is not a particularly easy process, as we have found and many others we've spoken to have told us.  So I thought I'd try and make Shrove Tuesday a bit more of a celebration this year.

I kept the main course simple and nutritious - shallow-fried fish, stir-braised cabbage with cumin, and sweetcorn - so that we could gorge ourselves on the obligatory PANCAKES.  While I can make crepes if I have to, American-style pancakes are so much easier.  A huge plateful soon diminished, accompanied with warmed golden syrup, fresh blueberries, butter and yogurt.


I love the identical expressions!

mmmmmmm.....


And then it was time for the creative part!  Toby loves colouring and sticking now, so I cut out some Mardi Gras masks and we got busy decorating.  Some feathers and sequins might have been fun, too, but I think we made quite a good effort.  Once all the glitter glue was dry, I stapled them to straws for handles.

Deep concentration.

Modelling the results.

I spy with my little eye...


All decorated!

So that was our Pancake Day / Mardi Gras!  If you are keeping Lent, I hope it is going well.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Limestone Way - the end! (for now...)

Bonsall is a pretty little village just up the road from Cromford. It was the centre point for my final Limestone Way walk. First I walked one way, back towards Ible, then I walked the other way to Matlock. I started at the fountain and climbed up to a tree in which a mistle thrush was singing loudly (helpfully identified by the Merlin app). A few fields took me across to the hamlet of Slaley. Then there was a pleasant walk through the woods, which dropped steeply to my left down to the Via Gellia. At Dunsley Springs the stream went right over the edge.  I made my way down more gradually, and then was faced with the long climb up again to the point near Leys Farm where I was rejoining the Limestone Way. Tree down! Rejoining the Limestone Way Once I'd reached the top, it was a very pleasant walk across dry grassy fields. There were signs of old mining activity, which suddenly made the ground feel less solid under my feet - how many holes were hiding under the turf? Back at Bonsall, ...

Limestone Way: Grangemill and Ible

It was getting mistier and mistier. As I drove past Carsington Water, the world around grew dimmer, and when I parked near Brassington, the nearby trees were hazy shadows in the murk. I was glad I was wearing a red coat as I started off along Manystones Lane. At least I had some chance of being visible. Fortunately it was a short road section. I navigated my way across a series of small fields, from one dry stone wall to the next, and crossed the old railway line which is now the High Peak Trail. I could just imagine a steam train emerging out of the fog. The next fields were larger. It was as if the landscape was being sketched around me as I walked across it. A tree or an electricity pylon would appear as a few faint lines, increasing in detail when I got closer, and fading away behind. Up ahead, the land dropped into a huge hole - Longcliffe Quarries. I couldn't see much, but the noise from the machinery dominated the next section of the walk.  I skirted the edge of the quarry a...

Baby Language

For some reason baby equipment is an area in which American English differs markedly from British English. As well as learning how to care for a baby, we had to learn a whole new vocabulary! Fortunately we are now fluently bilingual, and I have compiled a handy US-UK baby dictionary for you. Diaper n. Nappy Mom says if you can read this change my diaper. The first time you change one of these you will be all thumbs and stick the little adhesive tabs to yourself, the baby and probably the changing mat before you get them where they ought to go. A few years later you will be able to lasso a running toddler and change them before they even know what's happened (yes, I have seen it done). You will also get through more diapers than you ever thought possible, creating scary amounts of expense and waste. Hence we are now mostly using: Cloth diaper n. Reusable nappy Cool baby. No longer those terry squares, the main drawback is that there are now so many types it can be qu...