Free Pancakes at IHOP on Tuesday

Go City Kids lists a cool deal at IHOP (formerly the International House of Pancakes). They call it Pancake Day.

"In England, they call Mardi Gras Pancake Day, and the International House of Pancakes plays along by naming the day National Pancake Day. Diners at all IHOP locations can enjoy a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes and are asked to donate what they would have spent on the pancakes to their local children's hospital through the Children's Miracle Network."

That's a good deal, and a nice gesture for the Children's Miracle Network, to boot.

In Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada, Mardis Gras is known as Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Day, Pancake Tuesday). Other cultures have similar events on the day before Ash Wednesday. MetaDaddy makes a great Shrove Tuesday Pancake, even though he's threatened to stop if I keep calling it Schroeder Tuesday. He couldn't tell me why it's specifically pancakes for the celebration, so Wikipedia to the rescue. They cite a pretty logical reason:

"The reason that pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent is that the 40 days of Lent form a period of liturgical fasting, during which only the plainest foodstuffs may be eaten. Therefore, rich ingredients such as eggs, milk, and sugar are disposed of immediately prior to the commencement of the fast. Pancakes and doughnuts were therefore an efficient way of using up these perishable goods, besides providing a minor celebratory feast prior to the fast itself."

But here's me being nitpicky. Shrove Tuesday was last Tuesday, February 5, 2008. IHOP is celebrating it on February 12, 2008.

I'm just saying.

IHOP

February 12, 2008
7 A.M. to 10 P.M.
Free shortstack (donation in kind suggested)

OK...now go get your eat on!