extra cheese & halopinos [sic]

The other day I was listening to talks from the Orthodox-Anglican conference held recently in Michigan. Someone quoted Bp. KALLISTOS as saying, "It's not the meat, it's the cheese." I'm pretty sure I agree. Since we had to go up to see my grandpa, I didn't get much chance to finish Meatfare with a bang, but I didn't have big plans anyway. We might have gone to Golden Corral toward the end of the week, so I could have a selection of meat, but it was mostly because I felt like I ought to. As it is, I ended up having beef on weck for my "last meal," which was certainly unexpected, but appreciated nonetheless.

But Cheesefare--I had a long list of foods I wanted to eat this week. I've hit most of them--raspberry danish, various types of cookies, cheesecake, apple pie, ice cream, macaroni and cheese (from KFC, no less), cheesy potatoes (still working on those), and pizza. For Valentine's Day, we went to Red Lobster; I got the shrimp pasta (very cheesy), Caesar salad, and of course the ever-popular cheddar biscuits. I still need to have eggs, and maybe some donuts, but I have a couple of days left. Tonight it was pretty cold, so Julie decided to order pizza, rather than go anywhere. The coupon was for two toppings. I don't like vegetables 0r fungus, and it didn't seem like a good time to find out whether I like anchovies, so we ordered it with extra cheese, pepperoni on half, and jalapeños on the other half. They don't normally put them on pizza, so someone hand-wrote "halopinos" on the receipt. Julie put it into words as well as anything: "Hooked on Phonics worked for me!" I don't think I've ever ordered pizza with "halopinos" before, but what else could I do? It was pretty good, but I'm sure I'll regret it in the morning.

I'm definitely going to miss dairy over the next several weeks. Still, I'm looking forward to the fast. I get lazy in between. Fortunately, this time it wasn't long between the Nativity Fast and Lent (pity we're not on the Old Calendar--they had even less time to relax). I feel like I've done nothing but overeat since Christmas. My goal this time (aside from the more important spiritual needs) is to control my portions better than I normally do, even when fasting. One meal a day I can do. Give me the list of what I can and can't eat, and I can follow it. But too often I end up stuffing myself.

So here's my wish-list for Lent this year--portion control, compassion for others, prayer from the heart, and tears of repentance. Knowing myself, I'll be lucky to get the first one, let alone the others, but I hope at least to keep them before me as I go. In the meantime, I still need to have some nachos before Sunday night.