So it turns out Shrove is the past tense of Shrive, which means confession or penance. Folks used to have a week of confession to prepare for the penitent season of Lent (this seems odd to me as you confess to get ready for a period of confession - any thoughts or wisdom on this out there?)
Today our traditions probably are better suited to the french Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. The day before one begins the fast of lent one enjoys rich foods. It is also called pancake Tuesday because traditionally eggs were something that were given up for lent, so they wanted to use up as many eggs them before lent. (I've also read that this is where the tradition of Easter eggs began as there were a lot of eggs laying around by the end of Lent to share, eat and paint)
We had hoped to make our church's pancake dinner tonight, but after the fiasco of yesterday and a very good day today I decided not to overextend ourselves. So, we had our own pancake dinner.
Crepes with broccoli and zesty cheese sauce (from The Moosewood Cookbook)
And what we really wanted - the desert crepes: raspberries, blueberries, banana, a drizzle of maple syrup and some freshly whipped cream!
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