...here comes Pancake Tuesday!

A long long time ago, as good Christians prepared for Lent by ridding their cupboards of richness, eggs, milk, butter and sugar were whipped into decadent treats: raised doughnuts (malasadas) in Portugal, cream-filled buns (fastelavnsboller) in Norway, and pancakes throughout the anglophone world.   A tradition was born and Shrove Tuesday was appropriately dubbed "Fat Tuesday".  For us Anglos, we celebrate Pancake Day, a bacchanalia of griddled goodness. Around the U.K., locals keep the kilos off with pancake races, where apron-clad contestants flip flapjacks while running.  Like models balancing books on their heads, this is an exercise in co-ordination, in a decidedly more carb-heavy fashion.