“Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent - the 40 days leading up to Easter - was traditionally a time of fasting and on Shrove Tuesday Christians went to confession and were “shriven” (absolved from their sins). It was the last opportunity to use eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients. “

Pancake Day is a fun and easy way to raise funds to support UnitingCare’s work with the homeless, abused and vulnerable children and adults, the frail aged, families in crisis and those with disabilities.

Ingredients 250g/9oz plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp sea salt 3 tbsp sugar 250ml/9fl oz milk 2 eggs, lightly beaten 50g/2oz unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for cooking For the maple butter syrup 80ml/3fl oz maple syrup 25g/1oz unsalted butter

Method 1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a bowl. 2. Mix the milk, eggs and the melted butter in a large jug, then add the flour mixture and mix quickly to make a batter - don’t worry about any lumps. 3. Heat a cast iron frying pan or flat-surfaced griddle until medium-hot, grease lightly with the extra butter and pour in the batter in batches to make rounds 8-10cm/3-4in in diameter. 4. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until bubbles form on top of the pancakes and the underside is golden, then flip each one over and cook for one minute. 5. Keep the pancakes warm in the oven while you cook the remaining batches. 6. Heat the maple syrup and butter together in a small pan or in the microwave. 7. Stack the pancakes on warmed plates and pour over the buttery syrup.

To make cottage cheese pancakes, make the batter as above then stir in eight tablespoons of cottage cheese and cook as above. Serve with fresh berries, cherry or blackcurrant jam and cr?me fra?che, sour cream or thick yoghurt.

อีกสูตร

++Pancakes++ ส่วนผสม - ไข่ไก่ 3 ฟอง - แป้งสาลี 1 ถ้วย หรือ 122 กรัม - ผงฟู 1 ชช. - นม 1/2 ถ้วย หรือ 110 ml. - เกลือ 1 หยิบมือ วิธีทำ 1. แยกไข่แดงไข่ขาว เติมแป้ง, ผงฟู และนม ลงในส่วนไข่แดง ผสมให้เนียนเข้ากัน 2. ตีไข่ขาวและเกลือ จนตั้งยอดแข็ง ผสมลงในส่วนไข่แดง คนตะล่อมเบาๆให้เข้ากัน 3. หยอดส่วนผสมที่ได้ลงในกระทะแบนๆ ที่ร้อนได้ที่แล้ว รอให้ด้านหนึ่งสุกก่อนแล้วค่อยกลับอีกด้าน เสิร์ฟกับเนย และซีรัปรสต่างๆ

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/newsandevents/eventspancakeday.shtml More Pictures http://susheewa.multiply.com/photos/album/17/SPENISHPARTY

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine.

The History of Saint Valentine’s Day form http://www.pictureframes.co.uk/pages/saint_valentine.htm

Valentine’s Day started in the time of the Roman Empire. In ancient Rome, February 14th was a holiday to honour Juno. Juno was the Queen of the Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also knew her as the Goddess of women and marriage. The following day, February 15th, began the Feast of Lupercalia. The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. However, one of the customs of the young people was name drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man would draw a girl’s name from the jar and would then be partners for the duration of the festival with the girl whom he chose. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they would fall in love and would later marry.

Under the rule of Emperor Claudius II Rome was involved in many bloody and unpopular campaigns. Claudius the Cruel was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. He believed that the reason was that roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. The good Saint Valentine was a priest at Rome in the days of Claudius II. He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples, and for this kind deed Saint Valentine was apprehended and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on the 14th day of February, about the year 270. At that time it was the custom in Rome, a very ancient custom, indeed, to celebrate in the month of February the Lupercalia, feasts in honour of a heathen god. On these occasions, amidst a variety of pagan ceremonies, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed.

The pastors of the early Christian Church in Rome endeavoured to do away with the pagan element in these feasts by substituting the names of saints for those of maidens. And as the Lupercalia began about the middle of February, the pastors appear to have chosen Saint Valentine’s Day for the celebration of this new feaSt. So it seems that the custom of young men choosing maidens for valentines, or saints as patrons for the coming year, arose in this way.

Valentine Day History

There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine’s Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on February 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine”. Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine. Gradually, February 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers. There was often a social gathering or a ball.

In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800’s and now the date is very commercialised. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14. The spirit of good continues as valentines are sent out with sentimental verses and children exchange valentine cards at school.

Ethnographic study is focused on the sociology of meaning through close field observation of socio-cultural phenomena by selecting informants who are known to have an overview of the activities of the community. Such informants are interviewed to identify other informants representative of the community, using snowball sampling to obtain a saturation of informants in all empirical areas of investigation. Informants are interviewed multiple times, using information from previous informants to elicit clarification and deeper responses upon re-interview.

more… http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal200906 http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/ethno.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnography http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/anthropology/ http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/sru/SRU5.html http://www.asiamarketresearch.com/glossary/ethnography.htm http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1466-7657.2000.00052.x/full/