Today I made two King Cakes – one for us and one for Vince to take to work tomorrow. I’m going to have Vince just sit the plastic baby on top of one. The last thing I want is for someone to bite into the baby or swallow it.
We couldn’t wait to cut into ours. They have an almond paste filling and they’re so yummy!! A lot of good it did me to go to the Y and work out today, huh?
Wanna bet no one at Vince’s work has ever heard of a King Cake?
Vince loves almond filling and he asked me if I could make them sometimes besides Mardi Gras! NO! It’s against the law to make them except between Twelfth Night and Mardi Gras! 🙂
Vince asked me how long I’ve personally celebrated Mardi Gras. When I was in school, even in college, Mardi Gras wasn’t really celebrated in Lake Charles. I don’t remember parades and I surely don’t remember us ever getting out of school. It was sometime in the late 70’s or early 80’s that I remember us getting off work for Mardi Gras and schools being closed.
In 1979 or 1980, I went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This small town country girl was totally shocked at the scenes, activities, smells, sounds . . it was an amazing experience but I never had the desire to go back and do it again.
The parades and activities in Lake Charles are much safer and calmer than those in New Orleans, although they can get pretty wild in Lake Charles. The last job I had was on the parade route and clients would set up BBQ grills, gumbo pots, huge kegs of beer and margarita machines all over our parking lot and grounds. It was always such a fun time!
But, I’m in Missouri now . . not in Lake Charles and certainly not in New Orleans (and I’m very thankful for that!) so we’ll celebrate by eating our King Cake, and Vince can share a bit of Mardi Gras at work by taking a King Cake and some beads tomorrow.
If you’re interested, you can read more about the history of the King Cake here.