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.

you don't have to be Polish to enjoy Paczki!

No, but you do have to have the time to get to the kick-ass bakery. I, sadly, am lacking in time. Teppy, eat a paczki for me!!

Sweetie, I ate a paczki for *me,* and I hit my sugar limit, hard as that is to believe. So let's just say that I had half a paczki for you, and the other half can be for me.

And boy, am I in sugar shock right now.

Karl Haas died. I'm kind of bummed.

Also, Happy Mardi Gras. Accept no substitutes.

Not in the right neighborhood for paczki, though I expect I could find some if I tried.

But I'm exicited about Shrove Tuesday and pancakes for dinner. Maybe it is a british thing - I know the tradition in my family comes from the Canadian side.