Give a Toss

But hark I hear the pancake bell
And fritters make a gallant smell;
The cooks are baking, frying, boyling,
Stewing, mincing, cutting, broyling,
Carving, gormandising, roasting,
Carbonading, cracking, slashing, toasting.
From Poor Robin's Alamanack

Streugth Ruth! It's not that involved!

I can heartily recommend the art of breakfast pancakes. Not because I particularly like them to eat but because they represent a cohesive interactive package of food and fun. This is especially true if you have young kids and pancakes provide fathers with a weekend family activity that has many benefits:

(a) The recipe is a doddle - you don't need to be Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall to make great tasting pancakes (although even he has moments of anguish regarding them). 125grams flour, 300ml milk, 1 egg and a pinch of salt. (If you want to get all Delia about it there is more you can do.)

(b) The kids, particularly the younger ones enjoy 'helping' with the mixing (which normally involves spraying the mixture across the room).

(c) You get to perform (with varying degrees of success naturally) the pancake flipping game which, when successful, will bestow on you god-like master-chef status.*

(d) You can attempt to make them healthy with a variety of fresh-fruit fillings (but of course they kids wont eat these so you'll have to revert back to the chocolate sauce).

So there you have it - the perfect breakfast (as recommended by Catholic Culture - I kid you not).

Get ready for Shrove Tuesday - (do we Shrove on any other day I wonder?) - the official pancake day - which this year falls on February 28.


*only amongst the children. Your wife will probably suggest to stop messing about and get on with the food...