Happy Mardi Gras

March 8, 2011 - 2 Comments by Mishi - For the Love of Food

“A king cake (sometimes rendered as kingcake, kings’ cake, king’s cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras/Carnival […] In the United States, which celebrates Carnival mainly in the Southeastern region (Louisiana and New Orleans in particular), it is associated with Mardi Gras traditions.  The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby, sometimes said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for the next celebration).”  [via Wikipedia]

We got our King Cake from Kroger, a little while ago, and the kids are anxiously awaiting the moment we cut into it. Davey’s actually right here chirping about “can we cut the cake now, Mama”, and “who’s gonna get the baby, Mama”, and “is it time to have the cake now, Mama?” It’s annoyingly cute, especially when he’s wearing an over-sized gold necklace that was thrown to me, at one of the parades, in 1996.   I can’t wait to go back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.  Someday…

Not only is it Mardi Gras, but it’s International Women’s Day, too.  So, to all the women out there, happy day!

Tagged: Ash Wednesday, Carnival, King Cake, Kingcake, new orleans