September 2, 2022 | Awake & Dreaming

1. The first pancakes were called Alita Dolcia (“another sweet” in Latin) and were made by Romans in the 1st Century AD.

2. The world’s biggest pancake measured 49+ feet in diameter and weighed 6,614 pounds.

3. International Pancake Day falls on the same day as Mardi Gras. It’s also called Shrove Tuesday and it’s how countries like England and Ireland observe the day before Lent.

4. The world’s most expensive pancake is available for $200.00 at Opus in the Printworks in England. Ingredients include Madagascan vanilla pods and 23-carat gold leaf.

5. In Sweden you can order Blodplättar, which are pancakes made of pork blood.

6. If you break the world record for most pancakes eaten, you won’t be in the Guinness Book of World Records; it’s not one of their categories.

7. Pancakes can be used as an artistic medium, based on the portraiture of artist Katherine Kalnes, who constructed likenesses of Justin Bieber and Ellen Degeneres using a Batter Blaster.

8. The potato pancakes that are traditionally served during Hanukkah are fried in oil as a reminder of the miraculous oil lamp that the Jewish holiday celebrates.

9. A breakfast of two pancakes with butter and syrup will set you back 520 calories, which is about two hours of steady walking’s worth of maple syrup goodness.

10. Pancakes may be the true breakfast of champions. Pro runner Ryan Hall has tweeted about his favorite post run snack.

11. The record for the world’s highest pancake toss belongs to Dominic Cuzzacrea, who flipped a pancake 31 feet (and 1 inch) into the air in November 2010.

12. In the months after McDonald’s launched the McGriddle sandwich, which uses two small pancakes instead of a biscuit, the company’s profits increased by 11%.

13. The town of Olney in England hosts an annual pancake race in celebration of “Pancake Day.” They’ve done it every year since 1445.

Funny how certain movies or music reminds you about a certain time in your life, a certain place or a certain person or experience you were experiencing at the time. And it takes you back. Well books can also do that. For some reason I was thinking about a novel that I remember reading in my early 20s. I think I was 21-22 which means 1997-1998. And I think it was condensed version of two novels by the same author in one book, which some of my cousins who were born & raised in the UK had brought with them on one of their 2 months visit during that summer.

One lazy afternoon while I was there, I asked them for a book to read as I had seen that they had a bunch of them and one of my cousin sisters handed me a couple and Monster by Christopher Pike was one of them. Now, I think the cover was different but the story was the same ofcourse. Monster was about this teenage girl (college or final year of high school) who had moved to be with her aged uncle or grandfather I want to say; can’t remember which, in a town away from her own. While staying there she met and befriended the local captain of the American football team and a few others. For some reason which I do remember they were infected with the blood of some ancient creature – like bat or bird but certainly a monstrous kind that was unknown to most, except for elders of a Native American tribe.

I remember that once infected – how again, I do not remember – she starts to get these huge cravings for meat. Her going from eating 1 Big Mac & fries to several to them eating a bunch of steaks raw and even hurting her uncle/grandpa’s dog as she felt it’s heartbeat but not harming it too much as she regained her senses in time. She then realizes that she is somewhat protected as the Native tribe elder gives her a pendant; she will turn into the monstrous bat/bird but will not attack humans unlike the rest. Before she & the other teens in town can turn into those creatures, she takes a shot gun and kills them all. A police detective who was been investigating the murders is the only one who knows what has truly happened and adopts the dog that was left behind, while the girl now completely turned into the monster creature watches while perched upon a branch, not attacking the detective as the pendant is still with her.

I found the story compelling, even if it is a young adult novel and I don’t think much about them. Christopher Pike’s book do seem better than most in that genre and his work even reminds me of Stephen King, who he admits is an influence. I love this book although I haven’t read it since then and it reminds me of that time. A lot more carefree and casual time in my life.