KING CAKE SURPRISE

It’s Carnival Season people! And you know what that means? Parades, beads, masquerade balls, music, parties, food and...........

KING CAKE!!!

Here at the Sigety home we (and when I say we, I mean John) have a song we like to sing about this very special season. It’s centered on a delightfully delicious treat and it goes a little something like this:

(I’ll also include a free mental picture for you just because I’m so intellectually generous this season)

Picture it. John juts his elbows out as if a waiter balancing napkins on both forearms tilts his torso back and his chin down, marches, and proceeds to sing in his most regal tone: “King Cake…KING CAKE…King Cake!”

Now this might seem a strange ritual, but my man loves him some King Cake. So for all those of you that don’t habla the New Orleanian language, let me enlighten you about the wonderful “King Cake”. Or rather, let me have Wikipedia do the enlightening while I do the copy/pasting.

“The "king cake" takes its name from the biblical three kings. Catholic tradition states that their journey to Bethlehem took twelve days (the Twelve Days of Christmas), and that they arrived to honor the Christ Child on Epiphany. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night and Epiphany Day), through to Mardi Gras day. Some organizations or groups of friends may have "king cake parties" every week through the Carnival season.

The king cake of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche topped with icing or sugar, usually colored purple, green, and gold (the traditional Carnival colors) with food coloring. Cajun king cakes are traditionally deep-fat-fried as a doughnut would be, and there are many variants, some with a filling, the most common being cream cheese and praline.

The cake has a small trinket (often a small plastic baby) inside, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations (such as buying the cake for the next celebration).

It has become customary in the New Orleans culture that whoever finds the trinket must provide the next king cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.”

Whew! Did you get all that? We not only make huge rings of fried dough here in New Orleans, but we cover them in 3 types of sugar, icing galore, and then put a baby booby-prize inside to ensure that even when the current cake is gone – we can be sure that another will be bought and consumed soon.

So this Mardi Gras season, I have deemed myself the Queen of King Cake-dom.

Why, you ask?

1. Because my office has proceeded to buy a King Cake practically EVERY WEEK since the start of 2011

2. Because my husband is a lover of King Cakes, and thus he is the King of the cakes so that makes me the Queen

3. Oh yes, and because I HAVE A BABY INSIDE OF ME!!!!!!!!


We're so excited! Baby Sigety arrives this September :)

Happy Mardi Gras!!!

MUSIC TO MY FEARS

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And in my church, no one is paid for the service/time/effort they offer. Not the bishop, not the activities committe, not the nursery leaders (bless them!), nobody. Yes, we function and fleurish based on what are affectionately (and not so affectionately at times) known as "callings." Callings are chances to serve and help in the church. We are encouraged to accept and welcome new callings as opportunities from the Lord to grow and develop or strengthen our talents. At the heart of all our callings is service. What better way to show love for our fellowman and for God than by offering our service freely and (as best we can) cheerfully :)

Thus when the Bishop at my church asked me to be the Primary (children's sunday school) Pianist...I said what I've always said to callings big and small - SURE!! But I think I somehow forgot to say the first part of my response, cause what I really meant to say was "ARE YOU SURE?!" haha

Nevermind that I haven't played the piano (excluding "The Entertainer" that I've had memorized all these years) since 6th grade. And don't worry that my mom made me quit lessons after the only music coming from the piano bench was a roaring rendition of a tortured animal whose pain was that of practicing. Or maybe she made me quit because somehow I thought sneaking out of the house instead of practicing would be a good idea. Hmmmm...when the music stops coming from the piano, it's a little obvious who made a run for it, huh? Needless to say, I wasn't always as delightfully bright as I am now. lol

So yes, I'm sure God is utterly tickled that He's called me to tickle the ivories. But in the end, I suppose I really do think it'll be good for me. I'm not really looking forward to playing in front of our whole congregation when it comes time for the primary program at the end of the year, but that's still months away, right?

In the meantime I better work on the basics. You know - like using more than just my right hand to play the songs. Still, I wonder how John will handle my complaining from the bench. But isn't that what lawyers do too...complain at the bench? (I just couldn't help myself on that one...)

You don't suppose one of the children's songs is "The Entertainer" do you? ;)

John Loves Pizza...

...so Kim makes Pizza