Pancake Day 2013 in pictures

These are the pancakes I've seen and some that I've eaten today. Best filling was by far the whole Mars Bar using Golden Syrup as glue. Mmmmmmm

One of the older lads at scouts is a celiac and brought his own gluten free mix along to the meeting tonight. He made me one up as he knows I have a slight intolerance to gluten. It may have been see through but it tasted amazing. 

Easter might be far off but Mini Eggs make a fun garnish on top.

 I managed to eat 4 pancakes today which is pretty low but I enjoyed every single one. I also had a fab time at Scouts tonight watching and helping them cook their own pancakes. Then they even had a pancake race which was great fun!

Here's to March 4 2014!

Pancake Day update

Just eaten my first pancake of the day. I overslept and didn't have enough time for any at breakfast. Topping choice for my lunchtime snack is chocolate and banana. Mmmmm the chocolate sauce melted and was delicious. How many have you had so far?

Pancake Day 2013 and the start of 'Lent'...

Credit to Lobe occipital for the picture


Pancake Day is my favourite day of the year. Only Christmas Day comes close. I love it more than my birthday now that I'm older and get less presents. It starts at breakfast and can last all the way to the evening. So many topping choices. Sweets, fruit, cheese, bacon, eggs, golden syrup, lemon juice, sugar, chocolate buttons, Nutella and much more.

It's even better that it falls in the same week this year and my most hated day. As a sad, frumpy singleton, I despise the whole idea of Valentines Day. Bleugh. So, on Thursday you'll find me still recovering from my self inflicted Pancake hangover.

Shrove Tuesday for Christians means the start of Lent. Lent is all about giving something up. Making a sacrifice to remember the one Christ made for them. As someone who has basically come away from those beliefs over the past 3 years, I guess I don't really have to go in for that anymore. But as I'm celebrating the whole idea of using up all the ingredients in the cupboard, then I should see it through. Last year I gave up chocolate and though it was hard at times, I saw it through and reaped the rewards of discounted chocolate after Easter Sunday.

So what do I give up this year? I really don't know. I did think earlier whether it was worth trying to stop using Twitter for the duration of Lent. But would anyone really care and what would it achieve? The chance of missing out and things and being that person who is out of the loop. Then again I might have time to read and not sit procrastinating, watching everyone else say interesting things about current affairs except me. If I gave up Facebook, I might miss out on events. Who am I kidding? No one invites me to events.

I could stick giving up crisps and chips as seems to be quite popular. Smoking seems an obvious option too. I'm just not in the right frame of mind for that, I think.

What else? What else is there in the world for me to give up? Being bitchy? I don't know, that seems pretty steep!

Help me!

In return for your ideas here's my two go to recipes for excellent pancakes

BBC Basic Pancakes with Sugar

Liberty London Girl's Recipe for Foolproof Pancakes


Happy Pancake Day for tomorrow.

Monday food shizzle

Winters finally showed it's ugly head. Rain, wind, cold temperatures. Not really the weather for packed lunches of sandwiches and crisps. Today was all about the 'stodge factor'. Warm starchy foodstuffs. Mmmm.

Lunch was at Lucy's Cafe in Mansfield. Just off the Market Square. I had the potato and chicken croquettes. Served on a bed of salad and coleslaw. (£5.95)
'Twas delish!

Oh and I had a slice of triple toffee crunch cake to take out (£1.95) I forgot to take a picture of that. It went down far too easily.

-work-work-work-work

Then pre rehearsal tea with the Behind Bars buddies. (no, we're not ex cons, I assure you)

Sausage and Mash! Haven't had this in 'Spoons before. Tried just about everything else on the menu. (Please update this Mr J.D Weatherspoon or we're going to Yates)

The perfect meal for a dull, wet evening. This was lovely. So now I am full and must get some sleep. Nails are silver tonight. I've not done a fab job on them as I'm half asleep. Hoping to get them done properly soon. Post will follow

Sorry to bore you with a 'wot I ate today' post but I just wanted to share this ;yummyness'

Courgette supper

My dad owns an allotment. So I'm always grateful for supplies of homegrown veg I'm sometimes given. Yesterday before a trip out with Mum and Dad, he presented me with a large bag of courgettes (Zucchini). I wasn't home last night to do anything with them so at lunchtime today I scoured the net for a recipe. Normally I just fry them with a bit of garlic seasoning.
 I tracked down a BBC Good Food recipe for 'Courgette and Parmesan Tart' The recipe can be found HERE
It's very simple. Puff pastry sheet, courgettes, mascarpone, Parmesan, olive oil and garlic. Simples!
 Before bunging it in the oven I remembered to take a picture. I am still getting to grips with this camera and my free hand is pretty poor.

Note the thumb imprint at the bottom. Because I always get impatient and peckish in the evenings waiting for food to cook, I used the rest of the sliced courgette in a pan with mushrooms, olive oil, garlic sauce and season all. As so

Just left on a low heat to sweat, it makes a great little starter. 10-15 minute minimum or to taste. You can drain it off if you like in papertowels but it tastes yummy in it's cooking sauce.

Finally the tart is done. I don't think I used quite enough mascarpone and it hard risen in the middle a bit. And it was a little tough to cut. Puff pastry is so messy to eat but that's half the fun.

If anyone knows how to make my pictures look more pretty or just my blog in general, tips would be much appreciated. I know everyone wants to have a nice blog and I'm no different.