Throw Me Something Mister!

Most of you know that today is Mardi Gras (mär'dē grä) or (mahr-dee grah), which is the last day before the fasting season of Lent (40 days of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter).

Mardi Gras literally means “fat Tuesday” (mardi = Tuesday, gras = fat). I suppose the idea is "eat cake for tomorrow we will fast", which has resulted in a general tolerance for a day of gluttony and excessiveness.

As most of you know, New Orleans, Louisiana, is famous for its Mardi Gras celebration, as is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (they call it Carnival there), and in Nice, and Cologne (usually in staunchly Roman Catholic regions). Commonly, these celebrations consist of elaborate parades and masked balls usually lasting for about a week before Mardi Gras day. In New Orleans, there seems to be two Mardi Gras... the one no where near the French Quarter. And the one most televised, which is in the French Quarter.

While I'm no proponent of gluttony, I have to admit that one of my favorite "excessivenesses" is the king cake. The king cake most often used is a ring of twisted bread topped with purple, green, and gold icing. Most have filling inside (usually cream cheese). Yum!

The best part about the king cake is the trinket inside. From what I understand, the most traditional trinket is a bean, but all the king cakes I've seen have a plastic baby inside. As the story goes, the "baby in the king cake" was said to have become common after a local bakery chain got a large shipment of such plastic baby dolls from Hong Kong very cheaply in the 1950s.

Did you know it's also Pancake Tuesday?

Pancake Tuesday

In Ireland, Australia, and Canada, Mardi Gras is known as "Pancake Tuesday" - which is exactly what they would do on this Tuesday -- eat a pancake! Pancakes are eaten to use up milk and eggs, which are not eaten during Lent, and would otherwise spoil during this period. Cooked like a French crêpe, the pancake is served with sprinkled sugar or drizzled with syrup (sounds very similar to the king cake) And, as a matter of fact, I found out that in Newfoundland, objects are baked into these pancakes (viola!). Apparently, these objects all have meanings associated with them. Finders of the coins will be rich, finders of the ring will be the first ones married, etc. (which sounds very similar to the New Orleans tradition of baking these sorts of items into the wedding cake).

With all this talk about food, I'm hungry.

All for now,
Lisa

source: http://www.answers.com/