Which sums up the diff between Britain and New Orleans; they have jazz, whisky, nudity and (probably, if James Lee Burke's any guide) po-boy sandwiches and crawfish. We have pancakes with some lemon and sugar. Which your dad tries to to toss and sticks to the ceiling/drops on the floor/ breaks his nose with the frying pan.

Is today a hot cross buns day? (N.b. I have never had these buns actually be hot when I ate them; and they seem to come with little bits of dried fruit like fruitcakes.)

Nah, hot crossbuns are on Easter Day, IIRC. Cos of the crosses.

I make really good pancakes.

Gud, I hope it means you wasted all the bad luck of the month on this morning, and that things will be better from now on.

Thanks for all the explanations, guys. But - in what way is Lent a fast? I thought it was a period of "giving up" on things (like alcohol, meat, chocolate, the like). Again, I could Google, but you answer so much nicer than the (as my brother likes to call the computer) "golem" (even if I actually get your answers through it).

I thought Hot Cross Buns were one of the allowed sweeties during Lent, but I'm a ritual-lite brand of Protestant, so I don't know.

Which your dad tries to to toss and sticks to the ceiling/drops on the floor/ breaks his nose with the frying pan.

Every year? Y'all have some brutal traditions.

I knew there was a reason to be a godless heathen.

One of my work friends is Chinese-American and is also Catholic, so she's having a hell of a time trying to plan her eating tomorrow (tomorrow is both Ash Wednesay, a day of fasting, and Chinese New Year, a day of feasting).

Fasting is a sliding scale - Jesus ate and drank nothing, but Christians go from pretty much eating nothing but drinking to giving up milk - but not plain -chocolate.

Paczki sound great, but I can't think of any bakery around here that would make them. We have some decent bakeries, but the South is sadly lacking in great bakeries. I have a theory it's because Southerners mainly baked quick breads like biscuits and cornbread at home.

Not having any idea what okra looks like when it's at home, I would probably feel the same way about whole okra pod-thingies.

Okra is in the hibiscus family and is pretty in a spiky sort of way. Okra blossom: [link]

is both Ash Wednesay, a day of fasting, and Chinese New Year, a day of feasting

Pork rinds. Feasting on nothing. This won't work for our Hebrew buddies, but they are out of this one, anyway.