W: Who ate all the pie?

Food has featured on and off as a reason to be cheerful in my Blogging from A to Z Challenge and, as I have said earlier, we should all be grateful if we have food to eat. Sometimes we should be just a touch more grateful and definitely cheerful if we have some food that is, as gourmets probably never say, "super yummy".

For that reason, my letter W reason to be cheerful is walnut pie, which in Greece is called καρυδόπιτα. Pie by name, but cake by nature, this is, as the name suggests, made from walnuts. The cake is left to steep in a very sweet syrup. I warn you now, a diet food it is not.

Walnut pie with obligatory scoops of vanilla ice cream.

The picture above shows walnut pie as I like it to be served, with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. The glass contains a generous helping of 5* Metaxa brandy - 3* and 7* are also available. I think the brandy does a good job of helping digest what is by any standards a mighty calorific intake.

Sometimes people I am with suggest it might be a good idea to share the walnut pie and ice cream. Well yes, it might be a good idea, but with foods that fall in to the aforementioned super yummy category sharing becomes difficult.

Rest assured that once you have eaten a portion of walnut pie you become like an anaconda that has swallowed a goat and needs to lie still for a few days. Marathon runners load up with carbs on the eve of a race by eating pasta, perhaps they should consider walnut pie instead.

I haven't been able to find any songs specifically about walnut pie and some of the songs I did find about pies seemed to use the word in a rather euphemistic and sexual way. I tell you, some people are obsessed. Anyway, I found a much better compromise, namely The Four Tops singing I Can't Help Myself (Sugar pie, Honey bunch).

• Question: Where do you stand on the issue of sharing desserts? Is it a vile abomination that should be stamped out now or actually a really lovely idea (do you think the people at the next table would mind if we shared their desserts as well?) Answers, as ever, in the comments section.

All I've got to do is say "No"

It dawned on me today that Lent is just around the corner and that customarily I knock booze on the head for that period.

I don't do it on what might be considered religious grounds but more as a useful reminder that occasionally I need to exercise some restraint in my life.

In any case, giving up booze for a while might not be such a bad idea seeing as the way the Greek economy is shaping up we could all soon be giving up money.

In case anyone is confused about the timing of Lent you need to remember that Easter can fall on a different date for the Orthodox church as opposed to the Western church. This year Orthodox Easter falls a week later than in the Western church, hence Lent starting next week.

Devout members of the Orthodox church follow some quite strict dietary rules for Lent which forbid eating meat among other things. By the time they get to Easter they are probably champing at the bit for a hearty meal and certainly Greek Easter is a BIG celebration of family and togetherness. I am sure it will be this year even if we are in some sort of monetary wilderness.

As for me, during Lent I will be politely declining wine with my dinner and smiling politely when people say "You're just being boring" when I stick to Adam's Ale. Let's face it, if I can do it, anyone can.

As I've still got a few days to go until my period of abstention I thought George Thorogood's One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer would be particularly appropriate. This is a short version, other, much longer, renditions are available. Cheers and στην υγεία σας.

* Prohibition sign by GALAXY1405D (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons