First King Cake of the Season

They are even better when I don't have to make them!

I think Carolyn made more of them last year than I did.

She is "helping."

 I too likes king cake!

Everywhere Else, It's Just Tuesday...

Wishing we were in NOLA today, but since we are not, lunch at Popeye's will have to do!

 School was canceled today due to the ice storm last night.  

The kids were happy to sleep in and I am happy that we were not stuck in the house! AND that we never lost power.

Her First King Cake

(It is delicious!)

It's Carnival Time

Four king cakes so far...

Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras!  

This year's king cake crop:

Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras!

 I went into Carolyn's class today to read my favorite Mardi Gras book... and I added a new one this year!  

Beads, doubloons and purple, green and gold cupcakes made everyone all smiles.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Happy Mardi Gras!

I went in to Carolyn's class today with books, homemade king cake and craft supplies.

The king cake was a hit and so were the masks!!!!

Laissez les bons temps rouler!!!

Not A Georgia Holiday

Mardi Gras is not a holiday in Georgia... so off to school they go!

One, Two, Three, Four

I made king cakes ALL DAY today.

Four of them to be exact.

Each one takes an hour and a half in the breadmaker, then 45 minutes to rise again, then rolling out and filling and then in the oven for 35 minutes.

My breadmaker walked itself right off of the counter this morning. It crashed on the floor and the lid busted off. Luckily, it still seems to be working just fine!

First King Cake of the Season

After several not so subtle comments from Jim that his co-workers were requesting king cake

I made the first one of the season yesterday. The recipe is here.

Biscuit Survey

On Tuesday, I met Jim for lunch and we went to Popeye's because it was Mardi Gras and that is a New Orleans tradition.  The Popeye's stores in New Orleans stay open 24 hours a day for the 4-5 days of the Mardi Gras Holiday.  So you would think, even though we are in Atlanta, that the Popeye's employee who took our order (and admired my Mardi Gras beads) would at least know that it was Fat Tuesday!  (But she didn't.) 

As we walked up to the line to order, a lady in a suit asked us if we would be willing to participate in a taste test.  Eat something yummy and give my opinion? Of course I will!  Popeye's is testing a new biscuit.  

This was a true-blue taste test!  We had to rinse our palates with water before we tasted the biscuit and fill out a two-page survey rating the fluffiness, flakiness, and buttery-ness of the new biscuit.

The verdict?  Good, but NOT as good as the current one.  Jim liked it more than I did, but I think he was just hungry.  The new biscuit is a lot smaller and much less buttery.  Healthier?  Maybe.  But really?  Who goes to a FRIED chicken place for health food?

**I just found the nutritional chart and looked up our lunch.  (You should never look up food that you know is bad for you, by the way!)  

1 large spicy breast, 1 cup of red beans and rice and 1 biscuit:

are you ready?  920 calories and 54 fat grams.  But I drank a Diet Coke, so that made it all good! (It's a good thing Popeye's is not close to my house and I don't eat there more often!)

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Today was Mardi Gras and we celebrated New Orleans style in Atlanta!  Except that we had to go to school instead of the parades, of course.  I took beads and doubloons to Carolyn's and Coleman's classes and read my favorite Mardi Gras book to them.  Then we made handprint masks and chowed down on king cake!

Carolyn making her mask

Coleman and his teacher

And since we couldn't be there on St. Charles Avenue today, here is a short video of the Endymion parade Saturday night.

(Yes, that is Kidd Rock, this year's grand marshall.)

King Cake by the Numbers

Mardi Gras is tomorrow and I have been making king cakes!  Two for the party this weekend, one for Coleman's class, one for Carolyn's class and TWO for Jim's office (greedy).

Where the magic happens

Here is baking by the numbers for six king cakes:

37.5 cups of flour

30 eggs

18 tsp yeast

12 sticks (3 pounds) of butter (good GRIEF!)

6 cups of brown sugar

6 cups of powdered sugar

6 plastic babies

4 cups of pecans

3 cups of white sugar

3 cups of milk

+ salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and colored sugar

Can you imagine how GOOD my house smells right now?

Mardi Gras is Tuesday, February 24 this year. Our annual neighborhood Mardi Gras party is Saturday night so today I started making King Cakes!  Just in case you want to make one for your own party, click here for my recipe. 

 Mardi Gras 2008

Project 365

One of my goals this year is to take at least one picture EVERY day.  I'm joining Lori at Just Pure Lovely to document the year. Here are my first five photos:

Jan 1

Jan 2

Jan 3

Jan 4

Jan 5

If you want to keep up with this project, you can go to my FLICKR page and see it here.

This is my ABSOLUTE last post about Mardi Gras.  Until next year.  I went to Carolyn and Coleman's classes yesterday like I do every Mardi Gras.  I read Mimi's First Mardi Gras (love this book!)

we made handprint masks

and ate king cake.  It's so much fun to see how excited they get about finding the baby!  And of course, I pass out beads and doubloons and we all have a good ol' time!  Aren't they cute?

Carolyn's class

Coleman's class

(Do you see the little boy in the orange shirt in the picture of Carolyn making a mask?  His shirt says "My parents are EXHAUSTED"!  How funny is that?)

One for the master, one for the dame...

Five people=five king cakes!  One each for the kids' classes, one for Jim to take to work and one for me to take to Bible study.

Can you IMAGINE how good my kitchen smells?

Help, PETA!

This dog takes a LOT of abuse.

But he loves every minute of it!

Ta Da!

My first king cake! From scratch, complete with a baby!

1997

This picture is from February 1997. Two of our friends are members of the Krewe of Endymion and we were invited to their Mardi Gras Extravaganza. The parade route ends in the Superdome and that's where the Ball is held. The dress is black tie and there is no admittance unless the men are in tuxes and the ladies are wearing floor length gowns. It was quite hilarious to watch all of these beautifully dressed men and women in their tuxes and long ball gowns walking into the Superdome pulling their igloo coolers! The parade rolls into the Superdome and the krewe just DUMPS all of the loot they haven't thrown! The marching bands are all playing, beads are winging through the air and everyone is screaming and waving their arms. All the "good" beads, stuffed animals, coozies, moonpies...you name it and it's being thrown at you! The year we went, Little Richard and K.C. and the Sunshine Band played and David Schwimmer was the Grand Marshal. It was seriously the best party I have ever attended. We were there with about eight other couples and we we partied to the wee hours of the morning.