New Orleans holds a special place in my heart. My husband and I celebrated our honeymoon there for two reasons, we love creole cuisine and we love jazz. New Orleans is a mecca for both.
We were married March 12, 1983, so we weren’t there for the official Mardi Gras celebration but we were there for St. Patrick’s Day. No worries. New Orleans is always festive, always celebrating something, and even past mid-February Mardi Gras, it was still a great time to visit. There is never a time when you can’t get beads, decorative masks, beignets, Jambalaya, and hear plenty of wonderful authentic N’alwins jazz.
We stayed at the historic Monteleone Hotel. That was before the current renovations so we had some minor plumbing issues but it was still a beautiful place to stay. In addition to exploring the historic French Quarter via a carriage and walking tour, we ate at all the touristy places including Brennan’s, Commander’s Palace, Cafe Du Monde, and others. They were all amazing!
I regret that we didn’t make it to Dooky Chase Restaurant. Back in the day, Dooky Chase was THE meeting place, from presidents to civil-rights leaders. They fed everyone from Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and President George W. Bush to entertainers Michael Jackson and Beyonce, serving up po-boys, red beans and rice, jambalaya, and some good old fashioned southern cooking.
Many years later I was in New Orleans
for a conference and our group had dinner at Dooky Chase. Not only was the food delicious but I got to meet the next generation of the Chase legacy, Leah, the wife of Dooky Chase, Jr. She was so gracious. I told her the story about honeymooning in New Orleans. I bought her cookbook and she wrote the sweetest message to me and my husband. It is a treasured memory.
Mardi Gras looks different this year. There are no parades featuring elaborate floats, no music and dancing in the streets of the French Quarter, and all the bars are shuttered to prevent the spread of Covid.
New Orleans is resilient and found a way to celebrate and make the best of our collective situation. Many neighborhoods are decorating their homes to look like a parade float. According to The Krewe of House Floats website, the initiative was “a way for folks to channel their creative energy, make something positive out of a bad situation, and have something to look forward to in 2021. This is really about coming up with creative ways to celebrate carnival that keep everyone safe until we can get through to the other side of this pandemic.”
The idea has caught on with ex-pats across the globe. Former New Orleanians in Egypt, England, and Saudi Arabia are doing the same by decorating their homes to look like floats. The Mardi Gras tradition is living on, here, there, and everywhere.
What is Mardi Gras exactly? Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, reflecting the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual Lenten sacrifices and fasting of the Lenten season.
Incidentally, if you are from Mobile, Alabama, you have Mardi Gras bragging rights. Mardi Gras is believed to have arrived in North America on March 3, 1699, when the French-Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville camped about 60 miles downriver from the future site of New Orleans. Knowing it was Fat Tuesday back in France, Iberville named the spot Point du Mardi Gras and held a small gala. A few years later, French soldiers and settlers feasted and wore masks as part of Mardi Gras festivities in the newly founded city of Mobile. To this day, Mobile claims to have the oldest annual Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.
Whether you are from New Orleans, Mobile, or just enjoy the tradition of celebrating Mardi Gras wherever you live, there are plenty of fun things you can do as a family for Fat Tuesday. Start with baking a King Cake.
What is a King Cake? The name “king cake” comes from the Biblical story of the three kings who bring gifts to Baby Jesus. A blend of coffee cake and cinnamon roll, king cake is usually iced in yellow, green, and purple – the colors of Mardi Gras — and is frequently packed with fruit fillings and decadent cream cheeses. Hidden within these season sweets also lie a special surprise: a plastic king cake baby to continue the fun. If you eat the piece of cake with the plastic baby, the following year it’s your turn to provide the cake.
Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Cinnamon Filling:
Icing:
Decoration:
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Mix 2 1/2 cups flour and yeast in mixing bowl of stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, on low for about 30 seconds.
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Heat milk, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and milk is between 120°F to 130°F.
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With mixer on low, pour in liquids and mix until incorporated. Add eggs one at a time. Continue mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Clean off paddle and switch to dough hook. Mix in the remaining 1 cup flour a little at a time, adding more or less flour as needed to make a soft dough. Add the softened butter, a piece at a time, kneading until each piece of butter is absorbed.
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Knead for eight minutes on low. The dough should completely clear the sides of the bowl. If it is too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more flour is needed. If the dough seems too dry, spritz with water from a spray bottle a couple of times, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more water is needed. Every 2 minutes, stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook, and then continue kneading.
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Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times by hand to be sure it’s smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a ball. Place dough into a greased bowl. Turn once so greased surface is on top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
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While the dough is chilling, make cinnamon filling. In small bowl, combine the brown sugar and ground cinnamon. Combine butter with cinnamon mixture and mix well.
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Roll the chilled dough into a 10 x 20 inch rectangle. Spread the filling on half of the long side of the dough. Fold the dough in half covering the filling. Pat dough down firmly so the dough will stick together. Cut dough into three long strips. Press the tops of the strips together and braid the strips. Press the ends together at the bottom. Gently stretch the braid so that it measures 20 inches again. Shape it into a circle/oval and press the edges together.
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Transfer the ring to a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°. Bake the cake until it is golden brown, 20 – 35 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes on baking sheet and then place it on a cooling rack to cool completely before icing. To hide the baby in the cake, if desired, make a small slit in the bottom of the cake and put the miniature plastic baby in after the cake has cooled.
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Icing: In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth (add additional milk if mixture is too thick or powdered sugar if too thin).
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Spoon icing over top of the cake. Immediately sprinkle on colored sugar, alternating between the three colors.
Make a Mask
A fun project to do with your kids.
- Cut a paper plate in half. Then cut out holes for the eyes and a diamond shape into the top.
- Paint with craft paint and allow to dry.
- Paint with glitter glue and allow to dry.
- Embellish with gems, feathers, ribbon, or flowers.
- Paint the dowel or stick and allow to dry.
If Mardi Gras is really calling your name, you can throw on some beads, decorate with some purple, green, and gold colors inside your home, or you and your crew can make the outside of your home look like a Krewe float.
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler. Let the good times roll! It’s the perfect time to spread some Mardi Gras magic.
