It's Mardi Gras Time!
Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler!
No the title above does not actually contain lyrics from an actual song. That is the fictitious song title Dick Van Dyke's character was going to have Conrad Birdie sing at the start of the movie Bye Bye Birdie.
But sometimes necessity is the mother of invention.
I was thinking about a lyric title for today's post last night whilst the fam and I were watching Bye Bye Birdie and it seemed to fit. You know for a guy like Ryan, it is a blessing having daughters. I have come to enjoy Friday nights watching Bye Bye Birdie, Oklahoma, White Christmas, and other un-manly chick-flick type entertainment. Heck, I was delighted the other day to find out Downton Abbey may be coming back as a prequel! Believe me, college Ryan and single Ryan would never have been caught dead watching a musical on a weekend night. Its amazing how life channels you into new joys and traditions.
In fact, food was never really a big part of my life until I started waiting tables and later became a restaurant manager back in my Big State U days. I was a pretty finicky eater my whole life but at the Conference Center we only had one meal for a banquet and that's what you got to eat after dinner was served. If you didn't like it you went hungry. So I began trying weird stuff like Gazpacho and Spaghetti Squash, and Caviar and Roasted Red Pepper over Angle Hair Pasta (for some reason that was one of our top appetizers).
But it always connects to something. My mom was not a great fan of cooking but Shrimp Creole was always one of her favorites and a recipe handed down to her from her mom who grew up near NOLA and all that Creole cuisine.
So really those new habits always tend to spring from something that was already inside of you.
So really those new habits always tend to spring from something that was already inside of you.
So the love of food was always in me and just needed the right path to find its way into my life. I guess chick-flicks were always inside me or maybe what's inside me is the happiness I have when the ladies in my life are happy.
Anyway this is my 7th Mardi Gras food post and it was hard finding more music to use, it seems like I've used it all. Given that maybe Mumbo Jumbo Gooey Gumbo is appropriate.
Btw, here are my other Mardi Gras Food Posts:
So for this year I admit I am stealing a recipe from one of my favorite sources - Garden & Gun Magazine. I know Garden & Gun doesn't sound like Ryan but it is really the Bible of the true Southern Hipster mixing sports, culture, food, music, and art into a delightful monthly periodical. Created in 2004 as somewhat of a "latter day" Southern Living Magazine, it truly is an instructional guide on how to best enjoy the delights of the South!
Ingredients:
Cake:
2.25 tsp Yeast
0.25 Cup Water
1 tsp Sugar
0.25 Cup Sugar
2 Cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
0.5 tsp Nutmeg
0.5 tsp Lemon Zest
0.25 Cup Warm Milk
3 Egg Yolks
3 oz Melted Butter
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz Cream Cheese
0.5 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
Lemon-Sugar Icing:
1.5 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Tbs Milk
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
Directions:
* Combine yeast, water, and all sugar in a bowl. Whisk until yeast and sugar are completely dissolved, then let rest until the yeast is foamy, bubbly, active, and looks like its in the process of having an orgasm (about 5 - 10 minutes)!
* Combine flour, salt, sugar/yeast mixture, nutmeg, and lemon zest in the bowl of a mixer. Fit mixer with dough hook, mix on low speed, and very slowly add milk, egg yolks, and melted butter until all ingredients are combined. Continue mixing for 10 minutes. If dough does not form into tight, sticky ball add pinches of flour until dough tightens. Kind of like if your partner needs one more squirt of massage oil to get really revved up!
* Scrape down bowl and mix for another 10 minutes.
* Turn dough out onto oiled surface and knead into ball over 5 minutes. Be gentle here, that dough is naked and feeling shy, it's needs special care for it to begin rising!
* Place dough in oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until it doubles in size (about 1.5 hours). Place dough on food prep surface and stretch into a long rectangle.
* Combine filling ingredients and spread mixture onto the surface of the dough rectangle. And don't go spurting all over the place, make sure you have a nice even then layer across that soft moist dough. Roll dough into a roulade and slice into 15 medallions.
* Place medallions flat side down in lined cupcake tines. Cover, set aside. Let rise again to double.
* Bake at 325 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes, or until deep golden brown.
* Combine icing ingredients in mixing bowl and mix until desired consistency, add liquid as need if too thick.
* Glaze after cupcakes have cooled. Decorate with Mardi Gras beads, and purple, gold, and green sprinkles as desired. Add King Cake Baby or a jelly bean to make it complete!
Since there is no actual video of Conrad Birdie performing Mumbo Jumbo Gooey Gumbo I'll leave you with these delightful images of a beautiful and talented Ann Margaret showing how to true show passion and desire!
The King Cake helps to celebrate Mardi Gras which is the end of the Carnival season starting at Epiphany and just before Lent. The cake is adorned in the Mardi Gras colors of green, purple, and gold as symbols of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh the wise men gave to Jesus.
