Kingcake Monsoon

 I'm a fan of kingcake season and have been to enough kingcake parties to be ready to host my own. So three weeks before Mardi Gras we threw a kingcake bake-off/tasting in our courtyard. I've been so busy lately that this was the only window of opportunity that I could find to host such an event and knew that it would be a hit to host before the Krewe de Vieux parade began to role. Because of this tight schedule, I had no choice but to keep the scheduled date despite the weather forecast warning of a 50% chance of thunderstorm.

Needless to say we had a downpour, but everyone had a good laugh while we moved 20 kingcakes under cover. The rain only lasted about 30 minutes so we continued on to eat, drink and parade.

These are the categories that were judged:

Best Gourmet Kingcake  

– flavors other than cream cheese, strawberry, and apple  

Best Traditional Kingcake  

– plain/cinnamon, cream cheese, strawberry or apple 

Best Homemade Creation  

– king of cakes….anything goes 

Most Creative Costume 

– get out your glue gun

Our neighbor, Angela, won two categories 

(Best Gourmet and Best Homemade) 

with her Bacon Maple Kingcake.

 It was a clear favorite!

Eve and I tied for best costume because 

she dressed as a kingcake baby, and I have one in my belly.

Lessons from Lyrics #6

My brain is trained to fall asleep when this song is played on repeat. It only takes one or two runs before I begin my descent into dreamland. This phenomenon is a combination of nostalgia and the soothing melody.

When we first started dating, my husband sent me songs that reminded him of me or would relay a romantic message. I cherished these songs and if memory serves me correctly, this was the first song that he sent me.

It was so perfect...introduced me to a new artist yet had lyrics good enough to be written by Bob Dylan. These lyrics showed me that I had left an impression on him yet he expected nothing in return.

Lessons from Lyrics #5

"You can move the pieces

I just want to push the start button"

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end"