Fat Tuesday!

I LOVE Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras as some call it! I love the idea about being able to eat fattening, sugar-filled mounds of food to the point that I want to puke and not feel guilty about it!  I guess you could technically eat healthy food too but where is the fun in that?
As a kid this was one of the best days of my life.  We went to church for a Fat Tuesday feast and we got to eat stuff that Mom typically didn't cook or recommend (i.e. pancakes with every kind of syrup imaginable, butter, waffles, pastries, etc)!  Then we ran around the church fellowship hall strung out on sugar - like we had snorted Fun Dip up our nose or something! So much fun!
However, as an adult we have to contain ourselves.  Typically my husband and I carry out the church festivities by going to IHOP!  Over the past few years other Fat Tuesdayers have caught onto this holiday and now it's a madhouse trying to get into an IHOP.  IHOP didn't help the situation by recently offering a free stack of pancakes to the people that come on this day!  This year it is actually the Tuesday, the 23rd, so maybe IHOP will not be so crowded!
Last year our efforts to get into IHOP were thwarted by the free pancake seekers.  We considered Waffle House, but their food tends to be a little greasier and I'm not a huge fan of grease.  Butter-yes; Grease -no!  So we ended up going to Cracker Barrel!  If you are from the south and live near an interstate then you know what Cracker Barrel is.  If you've never been to Cracker Barrel, find the closest location and make a trip.  The menu is packed with homestyle comfort food - great for Fat Tuesday!
This year we are going to attempt to get to IHOP early, in hopes of beating the rush.  However, we will keep Cracker Barrel in our back pocket - they always pull through in a pinch!