Growing up in South Louisiana, your internal clock and your stomach are dictated by the weather and also most notably the Catholic calendar regardless if you grew up as a “good Catholic” or not. I’m the latter: Episcopalian on my dad's side (though he had to drag me to church kicking and screaming unless I was promised an extra swig of communal wine and germs) and quasi-Catholic on my momma's side (“quasi” ‘cause she was excommunicated for “sinning” - getting a divorce - twice.)
Growing up in Baton Rouge, one of my favorite times of year was early January through mid March, when the weather was cool but not too cold and I could wear my favorite wardrobe combination: t-shirt underneath a long sleeved shirt and shorts with brightly colored tights and Keds (so fashionable, I know). And, more so because it was time to head down to “da Mardi Gras”, go to a parade, sit on the shoulders of my dad or my Aunt Dee (who knew the peeps who had the best beads to throw in Thibodaux) or stand on one of those things that are appropriately called Mardi Gras ladder and scream, “Hey, throw me somethin’ mistah!” Parties didn’t end on December 31st. Oh no, the fun was just beginning. Living in Louisiana from December to March (depending on when Mardi Gras falls) is like being at a super Bridezilla fabulous wedding and going from cocktail hour (Christmas and New Year’s) to the grand ballroom dinner and then dance party.
So, that’s why I was shocked when I moved up to Long Island, then Brooklyn and now New Jersey to learn that people experience SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder. It wasn’t until I first experienced it myself that I realized why people had “light therapy” on their Christmas and Hanukkah gift wish lists. We don’t get SAD in south Louisiana. We get Mardi Gras.
Up here, after New Year’s Day (oftentimes after New Year’s Eve because I think making a festivity of health and wealth for New Year’s Day is more of a “Southern thing” - more on that in another blog post I’m sure) there are no more sweets to be consumed and a sort of hibernation begins. Because, it’s “colder than a well digger’s ass in Montana” (as my dad would say) and I guess because New Yorkers and their neighboring brethren really appreciate sticking to a New Year’s resolution of no sugar whereas, back home, early January is just the start of the Carnival season when it’s time for King Cake to be consumed alone or en masse, any time of day and when all the freaks (tourists and locals alike) come out to the Neutral Ground.
One of my personal favorite traditions was the Epiphany, which is when the Mardi Gras season really begins. Y’all, just a head’s up, many non-Louisiana folk do not realize this. And, I will give y’all a tip when Mardi Gras is safe to happen again - if you fly down to NOLA even three to four weeks before actual Mardi Gras day, it will be a lot cheaper but you’ll still get a good experience. The Epiphany was a day we made a ceremony of taking down our Christmas decorations then headed over to our church, St. Francis. It was one of the few times I went to church without kicking and screaming or needing my dad to promise me a swig of church wine. Because it was time to celebrate King’s Day, which is when the Wise men were said to bring the baby Jesus all those essential oils (talk about MY kind of gift wish list. I mean, Frankincense is nature’s Prozac after all.) The King’s Day celebration didn’t involve a stuffy church service but took place in the church parish hall, covered in wood paneling, there would be about twenty different types of king cakes on display on folding tables.
Let’s talk about king cake for a second, y’all. It’s a soft yeast dough topped with a sugary frosting and sprinkles in purple, yellow and green. Purple represents justice, green symbolizes faith and yellow equals power. And, it’s three colors for the three kings, of course. Thank you Wikipedia for the refresher! For the flavors inside, there is the “traditional” which is just a swirl of cinnamon. And, mes amis, c’est si bon in and of itself. But, then there are more flavors which include: cream cheese or strawberry cream cheese or apple or lemon or Zulu*. You get the drift. You can find these king cakes at all of the fine and even not so fine bakeries back home. Walk into a grocery store bakery section and you will see towers of king cakes in see-through plastic (or hopefully nowadays recycled cardboard bakery boxes). Because, sometimes you just need to get a king cake on the go (or, geaux, if you will.)
However, I must warn y’all that a plastic baby is stuck into the king cake (that’s baby Jesus!) and if you bite into Him, you have to bring the king cake to the next king cake party. It’s kind of like a back-handed compliment in a way, but fun!
So, back to the King’s Day king cake party at church, y’all. Imagine a church potluck where the church ladies make mystery casseroles of sorts and lay them all out on top of wipe-able vinyl table cloths. Except, there are no mysteries except for that of the tale of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and these Three Wise Men. Because, the food laying in front of y’all is something you all want to eat: King Cake, bien sur! And, each of them have a Baby Jesus within them!
And, my favorite part (sorry Jesus, I know if anyone will forgive me for saying this, it’s you) is that at St. Francis they did something with king cake I’ve never seen before. DIMES were stuck into the king cake!!! If there were two things I succeeded at in childhood it was church Easter egg hunts and getting the piece of king cake that had the most dimes in it. I mean, looking back, it was totally unsafe on many levels. But, I thought it was fun to lick the royal icing off FDR’s head and put it into my Hello Kitty coin purse. I later learned from my dad that the dimes represented something about wealth and abundance in the new year but I was too busy counting my dimes.
I realize I have gone way off course. Way off track. Because, I’ve made this about food. About money. About a plastic baby Jesus. The REAL fun part about this kick off to Mardi Gras was the camaraderie that we had, the togetherness and the start of a new beginning. Bringing in the new year with some fun and celebration. Together. And it meant a lot more king cake and bags and bags of Mardi Gras beads on the way. It was about the promise of fun days ahead instead of an obligatory grey January reset where we are all forced to be our perfect selves. During Carnival, you still had several more weeks where you could eat, dance, drink and sin to your heart’s content. It isn’t just allowed, it’s condoned! Then, of course there is Lent but Lent happens to be my third favorite time of year because HELLO seafood gumbo Fridays!
As a Louisiana half Cajun girl who transplanted myself like an uprooted palm tree, if I can be so bold as to compare myself to a palm tree, to an area that gets super cold and grey albeit mystical, I have been working on embracing this hibernation time in Yankeeland for reflection. But, the Rajun Cajun in me wants to bring in some festivity. So, that’s what I’m here to do. One year, I tried to have a king cake party and my aunt shipped me up some king cakes. I crammed nearly twenty people into my Jersey City row home and one friend, who arrived late and only got one piece complained to me that I should have ordered more king cakes. In the Cajun culture, we try to pride ourselves on having more than enough food so I took a lot of offense to that and felt shameful and that was the last time I had a king cake party, thank you very much.
One year I tried to make a king cake by using a crescent role, cinnamon, cream cheese and Swerve sweetener, a sugar alternative. That came out looking like a hot mess. It tasted….good. But, it did not taste like king cake.
Then, I really started evaluating my weight loss plateau and my mental fog and I went through (and still am on) a big no (okay low) sugar and carb adventure. Yes, I call it an adventure to make it fun and painless. Friends and family asked me if I wanted them to ship up a king cake to me from some of the favorite places such as Gambino’s or Randazzo’s but I just said, “no thanks”. In fact, the last time I had king cake was when I went down for a friend’s wedding in January 2014. So, seven years ago. It’s not one of my top foods from back home that I crave anymore which is ironic considering all the fun surrounding this doughy circle of festivity. However, I must admit, I did have to dive into a king cake flavored doberge cake at Katie’s, one of our favorite spots in Mid City NOLA in spring of 2019 when I was heading back to New York after my dad had to have his toe lobbed off for diabetes. (Now doberge cake is a cake that deserves a whole separate blog. I love it so much I would marry it if it were legal - actually if there was any state to make it legal, it’d probably be Louisiana.)
Over the many years of dismal January reflection in Yankeeland, I realized that the joy of the Carnival season wasn’t about the FOOD itself but about the joy de vivre. The festivity. The parades. The around the clock music, artwork and creativity. The week long break from school. The vibrancy and togetherness Mardi Gras brings. And I am actively seeking how to find that, to fuel that right now. In industrial Hudson County, New Jersey. In January. During a pandemic. I also hope this helps the folks back home who are pairing down their Mardi Gras celebrations this year.
They say you need to find Christmas in your heart. So, how do we find Mardi Gras in our souls? Here’s a list because I realized I tend to read blogs that are in list format. I just made y’all wait a loooooong time for said list.
Whoop, here it is:
(1) Put on a face mask (You can buy a NOLA themed one here and a Mardi Gras mask then ride around in your car, stick your head out of the sunroof or walk around in purple, green and gold, extra points if you can affix Mardi Gras colored streamers to your arms like wings and talk in a Cajun accent. But do NOT say N’awlins. Or New Orleans (and rhyme “Orleans” with “beans”).
(2) Take down your Christmas decorations. It’s the Epiphany. It’s time y’all. And now, decorate your house for Mardi Gras. That’s a big thing back home. Photo below to demonstrate.
(3) Blast “Mardi Gras Mambo” and do some crazy dancing in your living rom
(4) Buy beads online and then throw them at people. That is socially distanced. Actually, wait don’t do that. That is kind of bad for the environment. And, it could hurt people. But, daggonit, it takes the fun out of Mardi Gras. So how about get some newspaper and make little baby papier mache balls, use some old dental floss and make your own mardi gras beads? Or Google “biodegradable Mardi Gras beads”
(5) You can buy King Cake flavored Community Coffee online. I’ve never had it. But, I’m sure it’s fun.
(6) Get a step stool, the one you keep propped up in the kitchen and make your own Mardi Gras ladder. Sit in it outside of your apartment on a fire escape to make yourself feel like a nesting bird Mardi Gras king or queen. Shout to people down below you “Eh, la bas!” (Hey you over there!) and feel extra crazy.
(7) Clean your house with joy. I don’t know why I wrote that. But, felt appropriate for #7
(8) Go ahead, order a king cake and if you’re solo, freeze the pieces you will feel too guilty all in one sitting. Or, eat that whole bad boy all in one sitting. Then repent on Lent. And then eat some seafood gumbo.
(9) If you are not able to order a king cake online, just bake some cinnamon rolls and top those bad boys with alcohol wiped dimes. Better yet, go crazy and top them with half dollars and relish in licking that frosting off of Kennedy’s chiseled profile.
(10) Look for the sun. In winter it’s oftentimes not easy but it’s also really fun. Because, when you get the sun, it’s super bright. Summer early mornings used to be my favorite but now, I think it’s late December / early January mornings because sometimes if you look at the sun reflecting on the buildings, you can see greens, purples and golds and the sun reflecting on the Hudson River looks like sprinkles and for a second, New York City looks like a gigantic non-edible but still beautiful king cake. And, you can hear “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” by Professor Longhair in your ears. Which, in my case is actually my tinnitus but a girl can dream.
I guess my point is, we have to figure out how to bring joy into our lives even in dark times. We have to allow ourselves new, creative, innovative ways to heal homesickness. I am trying.
I would love to hear your unique ways to bring some Mardi Gras joy into your Carnival season this year in the comments.
I will now take this time to plug my artwork. You can buy your own king cake art to put up year round HERE Part of the proceeds benefits hurricane relief in Louisiana.
Mardi Gras decoration #goals as the kids say. This is my boyfriend Harry wearing a cowboy hat and his favorite LSU jacket on our first trip to NOLA together.
One of the last king cakes I’ve eaten. I think it was from Randazzo’s.