Midwestern Mardi Gras

While the Midwest isn't known for having much to do with Mardi Gras, it can still be found in places around here. For example, some local group recently advertised a Mardi Gras festival complete with creole cuisine and New Orleans music. Pity it cost $75 a head--had it been free, I'd have been interested. Especially in the creole food!

And then there was the King Cake I was able to buy at my neighborhood Kroger's the other day. It was big--almost too unwieldy to carry home on the bus, with all the other stuff I bought, but I managed. And it'll probably last about a week--if not longer, since I'm the only one eating it. It's a beautiful cake, with the purple, green, and yellow granulated sugar on top of that melt-in-your mouth white icing. It was also decorated by Mardi Gras beads--a strand each of purple, green and gold. This was the first King Cake I'd tried--and the way it tastes reminds me of cinnamon rolls (which is good, since I love cinnamon rolls.) Yum!