HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!
That's right today is the official day to celebrate Mardi Gras also known as Fat Tuesday. Here in Louisiana especially in the south it is an official holiday. The schools let out for Monday, Tuesday and some even Wednesday. Many businesses are on skeleton crew or closed period. Jordan and I are both working today since people still get sick and still need counseling even on the holiday.
It is on this day that several of the larger towns like Lafayette, New Roads, Lake Charles, and New Orleans have parades going on all day long. Many of these towns including ours have had parades going on since the first of February. At these parades the floats are loaded with people that throw beads of all kind and people go crazy to try to get the float passing to throw them beads. I have to say Jordan and I experienced the transformation that happens when you are standing on the side of the parade route and the float begins to throw beads. It is like you forget how old you are and just start yelling and jumping up and down waving your arms to draw attention to yourself in order to get a handful of beads. I was especially fond of the pearl beads they throw so I yelled for those most of the time. If you are still reading this randomness about our parade experience I have to tell you a funny that happened to me.
At the end of a parade we were watching last weekend all the floats parked after the parade so we ran over to see if they still had things to through. Boy did they....it was like the float was throwing up. They were throwing beads by the bag full and stacks of plastic cups. Well I went to jump and reach for a stack of cups coming our way and when I did I jumped and the cups hit me on the head making a loud thud (guess that means my head is hollow). Ouch! Jordan busted out laughing and needless to say I got one cup out of the stack.
Another tradition that goes along with the Mardi Gras season is this wonderful baked good called "King Cake". It is a fabulous ring of baked bread that is usually filled with cinnamon and covered with purple, green, and gold icing. Of course each bakery and market has their own variation of this cake so you can find them made with cream cheese filling, chocolate filling, pecans and pralines....these are just to name a few that we have seen. Jordan and I tried a king cake this weekend that was made by a donut shop in town and it was out of this world delicious. The ring is made like a giant twist donut and in the twist is chocolate filling and if that isn't enough sweet it is topped with green, purple, and gold glaze. I am embarrassed to say we bought it on Sunday and this morning (Tuesday) when I left for work there was only about a 1/4 of it left. YUM YUM!!!
Stay tuned for pictures of our parade experience and the amazing king cake to come.
