Archive for the Category » Mardi Gras «

Finger Food Friday: King Cake Truffles

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. The Saturday before Mardi Gras. That means this year that Hallmark holiday is not going to receive a whole lotta love in the Crescent City–at least not from me and several thousand of my closet friends who will be hanging out on the parade route. Nope. For us, purple, green and gold will trump red and pink. And we will toast our sweethearts and the Olympian God of Fertility and Eternal Youth–Endymion–with Mardi Gras go-cups full of beer and Carnival cocktails while indulging in sexy street food consisting of mini-muffulettas, mini-poor [ ... ]

Fat Tuesday Fried Chicken

We’re in the final and most exciting stretch of the 2015 Carnival Season. Mardi Gras is a week from today. That means everyone’s busy making plans for the extended final weekend that begins this Friday and lasts through Tuesday. Between now and then, folks will be closely monitoring the weather to determine what to wear when, mapping out various neutral ground or sidewalk side parade-watching locations, plotting courses to the nearest public bathrooms, dusting off family parade ladders, packing vehicles with parade route necessities (like folding chairs, throw bags, rolling ice chests, go-cups, koozies and extra toilet [ ... ]

King Cake

This may come as a big surprise to many, but most of us New Orleanians do not make our own King Cakes. We prefer, instead, to patronize our favorite bakery for our Carnival confections. And there’s a certain lineage that typically dictates our most cherished bites. That lineage, more often than not, is defined by family loyalty to a specific bakery. For instance, if mom favors Haydel’s King Cakes, chances are those are the King Cakes her kids and grandkids will ultimately prefer. As a kid, my favorite King Cakes were the simple brioche-based, icing-less ones from [ ... ]