The "Pancake Day" Double Rant

Yesterday, I noted that Tesco's "seasonal goods" aisle included pancake mix, on account of it being Pancake Day today. Which is not only wrong, but is in fact doubly wrong:

1. Firstly, pancake mix has no business being a thing. Get a bowl, and a coffee mug (clean). Fill the mug with flour, and tip it into the bowl. Refill the mug with milk, and tip it into the bowl. Crack an egg into the mug, make sure there's no bits of shell, and then tip it into the bowl. Add a pinch of salt if you're feeling adventurous. Mix all these things together. And that's it - there aren't even any special techniques for the mixing, or rules for making sure you've got enough air in there, or anything of the sort. If you can't manage that, then step away from the frying pan - you don't deserve pancakes!
   
2. The reason we have "Pancake Day" is that tomorrow is the first day in Lent, and the tradition was for people not to consume various things (notably fat) during the run-up to Easter. And so, on the last day before this fast started, they would have a massive blow-out, getting rid of all the things they had left over from the winter. Which, since that generally included some fat and some eggs (plus milk and flour, of course), meant that they'd make batter - and from batter they would make pancakes. So, really, Pancake Day should actually be "whatever's in your fridge" day. My point, such as it is, is this: going out and buying pancake mix, or even the ingredients for pancakes, rather defeats the notion of using up the leftover luxuries.

Incidentally, in case you're wondering, I'm not doing the whole "Extreme Lent" thing I talked about last year. The reason for this is pretty simple - it is my wont to cook a special dinner for V-Day, which this year is going to include a chocolate mousse for dessert. Kinda tricky to do that while also observing the fast. So, maybe next year. (I will, however, be giving up Irn Bru, and indeed other drinks in the "sugar water" genre for the duration. Which could prove difficult in itself, since Tesco forced me to buy four bottles yesterday.)