Mardi Gras: A Free Pass to Your Forbidden Desires

The spirit of Mardi Gras is to revel in wine, drink, food, and sexuality—before the commencement of Lent, when you abstain from the one thing you love most for forty days, until the arrival of Easter Sunday. The main purpose of Mardi Gras is disguise—to be unknown and incognito—in which case you can explore your greatest desires without having any guilt or regret the next day. Kinda sorta a free pass for twenty-four hours.

If you’re throwing a Mardi Gras party, I think you should stick to ancient mythological themes. Think Bacchus (the Roman god of food and drink), Loki (the Norse god of mischief and chaos), and Aphrodite (the Greek goddess of love—most important of all!).

As for food, any New Orleanian classics will do…fried seafood anything, boiled seafood anything, charbroiled meats of any kind, fresh fruits and desserts of any kind. Remember, New Orleans is the melting pot of the world. When I lived there twenty-five years ago, forty different nationalities from the four corners of the world graced the Crescent City. Any ethnic cuisine will fit into the Mardi Gras spirit, so just pick your favorite foods and serve what you think your guests will love.

One special dessert is a classic: King Cake. It’s like a giant doughnut, with a plastic toy baby figure baked inside the cake. This figure represents one’s rebirth, as the forty days of Lent are about to commence. Whichever guest finds the baby in his/her piece of King Cake receives an especially decadent prize. King Cake is covered in purple, gold, and green icing (the traditional colors of Mardi Gras), and topped with glistening sugar sparkles that empasize the festivity and magic of the holiday. Here’s my recipe.

Have a grand Fat Tuesday darlins’, and don’t party too hard, but if you do, don’t worry, you have a free pass!

xoxo Mark

Photo courtesy of Ashleigh Whitby