Happy Mardi Gras!!!! I don’t know about you but Mardi Gras season is one of my favorite times of year. Even though I’m not in Louisiana anymore I still use it as an excuse seek out debauchery… which I may or may not be excellent at, regardless of season.

Last week I put a text out to my good friend Nicole, from Pinch My Salt, to see if she would be up with having a little Lundi Gras (the monday before fat tuesday just in case you aren’t familiar with the phrase) celebration in Fresno. After brief consideration over lunch she texted me back that she was all for it and the ball got rolling. A quick tweet out to the kickass people at Taste Fresno and Foie Gras & Flannel and the plans were set in stone. Below is a photo account of the moments during the party where I actually remembered to pick up the camera. Sadly our impromptu “parade” where we drunkenly marched around the hostess’s pool to the beat of our own sad music was not caught on film.

The fabulous Kim & James, clearly uber excited to be serving up a bowl of steaming chicken & sausage gumbo!

The aforementioned chicken & sausage gumbo.

Who’s the mysterious masked man? Could it be Oliver waiting patiently for the King Cake course?!?

Hey look! I’m not the only one who takes pictures of everything! James got in on the action too and stole some shots of one of the king cakes.

Finally the long awaited king cake is served! Side note: Look how festive the table is decorated! (I had NOTHING to do with that. Um I’m a cook – not a “tablescaper”.)

Alisa: “Hey, Biatch! I want in on some of that King Cake goodness, too!” (Preeeeeeeeetty sure she didn’t actually say that. Hey, I was drunk! Who remembers things like dialogue? And yeah – that’s the elusive Nicole creeping into the shot.)

Even Crocodile “Lundi” (aka Phil) made an appearance at the party!

I hope you guys had a chance to celebrate Mardi Gras season this year… and that your celebrations were even a smidgen as kickass as ours was! Cheers!

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Christmas is over and Twelfth Night has past. That means it must be Mardi Gras season! King Cake is an integral part of every good Mardi Gras celebration and even if we can’t be in Louisiana for the festivities we can certainly eat like it! Our king cake was filled with a layer of cream cheese and a mixed berry jam made from strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Like any traditional king cake, it was iced and then coated in purple, gold and green sugar. My was it delicious.

Our King Cake, naked for the world to seeA: ho, ho, ho! haaaappy mardi gras season! you’re from louisiana, T. what does one say when celebrating mardi gras?
T: Well, you can start by screaming loudly. No words are necessary in this case. If you’re at a parade somewhere in Louisiana or perhaps elsewhere on the gulf coast you might scream “Throw me something, mister!” And, everybody’s favorite, if you’re on Bourbon Street, it is customary to yell, “show us your tits!”
A: hmmm… what if i yell, “show us your king cake!!!” instead? think that’ll work. after attending the Zulu parade i got scared to scream “throw me something, mister” due to the real coconuts they were chucking into the crowd.

Dripping with goodnessT: yeah, flying coconuts are dangerous…. but hey- survival of the fittest. If you can’t dodge large flying objects you’re going to have a tough life. Ahhhh… seriously, though. It’s a great idea to yell “Show us your king cake!” Have you had king cake this year? Email us at whatwereeating.com with a link or a photo and we will include it on the site
A: that’s a great idea! for some reason i feel like king cake is a very regional food, but i’m definitely interested in seeing what’s out there.
T: most people in the food blog world don’t even know what king cake is, which is strange to me having grown up with it. If you don’t know what it is, here’s how I would describe King Cake: it’s a big cinnamon roll, optionally filled with fruit and/or cream cheese, and coated with brightly colored (purple, gold, and green) icing. It’s always made in the shape of a ring. Amanda, would you say that’s about right?
A: yup, except the filled king cakes don’t always have cinnamon. generally all of the unfilled ones are like big cinnamon rolls and the filled ones are like huge ass danishes. this one was particularly danish-like.

Mardi Gras in your mouthT: yes it was. So, King Cakes are served between Christmas and the start of Lent (aka Mardi Gras season). Inside each king cake is a little plastic baby, about the size of a lima bean. If you’re lucky enough to get the baby in your piece, you’re expected to supply the next cake. You may also need expensive dental work, depending on how you discover that you actually have the baby.
A: ha! lucky enough! i definitely think it’s unlucky! a poor girl can’t always afford to buy a cake. out here i get particularly screwed on this end of the bargain because you can’t go to any old grocery store or bakery and pick on up on the way home! thus if we want another one, i get to make it again!
T: is that why this king cake didn’t have a baby? You gave it a hysterectomy so you wouldn’t have to make another one?
A: nope, no hysterectomies here! i just didn’t have a baby! and i only had small dried beans. for some reason it didn’t really seem like a good idea to put a lentil in the cake and hope someone found it before digesting it raw!
T: yeah, that wouldn’t be good. I thought maybe it would be a good idea to put a penny in the king cake, but then I thought, no, not a good idea. Oh well, king cakes without babies are still king cakes.
A: so, what’d you think of this particular king cake?
T: I thought it was great. I really loved the fruit and cream cheese filling, and I thought there was a good ratio of filling to bread (which seems to not always be the case with King Cakes). It was moist, delicious. I give it a 4.7/5. Compared to all the other King Cakes I’ve had, it was very very good. Waaay better than 99% of the grocery store king cakes that I’ve had. I thought it was comparable to some of the better ones that I’ve had from actual bakeries in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and New Orleans.
A: I know some new orleanian is going to roll up on to this site and say something about how it can’t possibly be as good as Mckenzie’s king cakes. they’re renowned for being the best. I thought this one was pretty good too. I give it a 4.25/5. I was a little disappointed that it didn’t turn out as good as the one i made last year, but thems the breaks, kid. it was still damn good.
T: for someone who doesn’t love sweets as much as the average joe, and for someone who didn’t live in Louisiana for too long, you make an excellent King Cake. Now if you can just impregnate the next one it will be perfect.
A: heheh thanks, T! hmmm, i’ll agree to impregnate the next one on one condition: you have to make the one after that if you get the baby!
T: ok but you might regret that!

Recipes in this post:

• Mixed Berry & Cream Cheese King Cake

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