's Fat Tuesday motd

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REMEMBERING FAT TUESDAY

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all! I just talked to my brother, Lenny in New Orleans and he said there were record-breaking crowds in the city for this year's celebration. Plus, our beloved New Orleans Saints, having won the Super Bowl, have only brought even more people into the city this year.

All of the downtown hotels are filled with guests and...so are the restaurants! (See, look at me. I can hardly do one of my columns without mentioning...food! LOL.) When I was a kid, Mardi Gras was an all day event. At our house, we'd begin the day with a Mardi Gras breakfast that would include fried eggs, sausage and French bread made into French toast. After breakfast, we'd get into our Mardi Gras costumes. My father made the costumes for Lenny and me and they were always spectacular!Back then, all of the parades went down Royal Street which was only three blocks from our home. So we'd leave our house at around 10AM and walk up and down Royal Street where everyone on the street was wearing a costume. And man, whatever costume you could think of, you saw someone wearing it walking down Royal Street.

So many of the costumes were really unique. You could tell how much time and skill must have gone into making them. There was a big stage on Bourbon Street where people would come up and show off their costumes. And every year, there'd be prizes for the best costumes.At around 11:30AM, the parades began. There were lots of marching bands and of course, those spectacular floats. The people on the floats, all dressed up in their own fabulous Mardi Gras finery, would throw beads and trinkets to the crowds. You would hear people shout, "Throw me something, mister!"We stood on the corner of St. Louis and Royal every year. My dad was great at catching those beads. He was so good that by the time a parade was over, Lenny and I would be up to our foreheads in beads!When we took a break around midday, my mom and dad would prepare Mardi Gras lunch for us. We'd have crab cakes, fried chicken and a dish made with rice and crawfish. And for dessert, we'd have King Cake. Now I've got to tell you about the King Cake.It looks like a giant frosted donut made in the shape of a race track. It was topped with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles of sugar colored in the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, yellow and green. My father would take a knife and cut the King Cake into pieces. Now in one of the pieces would be hidden a little plastic baby doll. And if you got that piece, well, it was your job to get the next King Cake! (That tradition continues to this day.)After dinner, we watched a little TV before heading back to the corner of St. Louis and Royal to watch more parades.

There's a whole lotta eatin' going on Mardi Gras Day. Then, tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. So after eating "like the devil" on Fat Tuesday, during Lent, you have to give up your favorite foods. Well, when it came to "favorite foods," I had at least 30 of them! So oh yes, Lent was always a very sad time for me!Now don't let Fat Tuesday make you fat. You're not in New Orleans and you're not celebrating Mardi Gras so don't think you can just have a "food party" in your house. Stay on program today and...no King Cake for you!

Love,