SHROVE TUESDAY

Frankly, I'd never heard of Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) being called Shrove Tuesday until I moved to England. And it's no wonder: it's celebrated in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. "Shrove" is the past-tense of "shrive," meaning to obtain absolution for one's sins through confession and penance. Now there's a Christian concept I'm familiar with. And I must digress for just a mo...
This time last year, I decided to go back to church, thinking it wouldn't do either me or Charlie any harm. I've always found a certain solace in the Catholic church and Charlie was interested, to say the least. After just a few weeks, he was holding services at home with grape juice and crackers, much in the same way that my sister Lisa and I used to as girls. By the time Easter rolled around, he had moved beyond his portrayal as Father Charlie and assumed the role of the angry mob as he tied his Spiderman to a cross and thrust a spear through his side!
Then, last week, I was telling Mom how we should probably get back there but Neil would have to take us in the car and pick us up afterward because it's too great a walk now that we've moved. Then I said I hadn't been to confession here yet because it's such a small parish and town that it would be fairly obvious to Father Peter that the decidedly Hillybilly accent on the other side of the screen must belong to the only American in the pews. I jokingly wondered if I couldn't just do it online and googled "online confession." Well, lo and behold, up came: http://www.onlineconfession.org/
The site has a link called "confess" that takes you to a page where you can anonymously confess to your sin, then click a button confirming that you are truly sorry for your sins. You are then taken to a page where you are absolved of your sin(s) and you receive penance (a sample confession of not attending church for six months garnered me 23 Hail Marys and 2 Our Fathers).
Bear in mind, fellow sinners, that the church does not accept this evasive approach, so you'd probably have to eventually confess confessing online! For an intentionally humorous online confessional, visit Father Net at http://tellthe.net/confess/, where the same sin resulted in the comment: "You are one sick puppy!"
OK, back to Shrove Tuesday, which is more commonly known here as Pancake Day. Since the fast of Lent was fast approaching, Anglo-Saxon Christians needed to dispose of such rich ingredients as eggs, sugar and milk. Since pancakes and doughnuts were an efficient way of using up these perishable items, pancakes became a celebratory feast on the day before Lent.
The traditional toppings, which we used, are a squirt of Jif lemon and a sprinkle of granulated sugar. An old commercial here used to say: "Don't forget the pancakes on Jif lemon day." You can see a video showing how Jif lemons are made at: http://www.unilever.com/ourcompany/newsandmedia/videolibrary/foods/jif.asp?W=320&H=286
Fortunately, Jif makes Pancake mix in a bottle. Just add milk, shake and pour into the skillet. It's very much akin to our Bisquick. Charlie was keen on flipping the pancakes too, which we did, and not one wound up stuck to the ceiling!
Today, many other sweet and savory toppings are used, including Nutella and Marmite (blech!). I would have preferred Doughnut Day!