We got our King Cake yesterday….I’ve already secretly embedded the creepy plastic baby and we’ll be having our party in the next day or so.

So what in the world is a King Cake Party, you ask?  What’s with the creepy plastic babies?  Let me see if I can break it down for you:

Day of the Epiphany falls on January 6th.  Christians mark this as the day Jesus was visited by the Three Kings.  You cannot, will not, shall NOT make or partake of the King Cake prior to this date.  I’m not sure what’ll happen if you do…I’ve never been bold enough to try it.  Maybe you’ll get flogged with Mardis Gras beads. Who knows.  At any rate, from January 6th until Ash Wednesday, you can party all night long with your King Cake parties.  While cakes and parties are the grandest thing ever, there’s actually alot of sacred symbolism behind the cake itself.

Traditionally, the cake is an oval or circle – this representing the unity of all faiths.  It’s then slathered in white icing and decorated in traditional Mardis Gras colors:  Purple for justice, green for faith and gold for power.  The plastic baby which is baked inside of the cake represents Jesus.

The person who receives the slice of cake with the plastic baby inside is considered lucky.  Lucky AND responsible for bringing the cake to the next party….which could be that night, the next day…whenever.  And these parties just keep go-eeng and go-eeng until Lent rolls around and everyone has to swear off sugar and starch.

A very cool tradition indeed.  One I intend on keeping up with.  If you’re interested in more Mardi Gras/King Cake faqs, Mayor Nagin will do what he can to answer your questions here.

Now go forth and plan your party!

I decided to feature Lisa’s work today as one of my top 5 inspirational sources.  I stumbled across her work about a year ago and fell in love with her work.  Now I regularly visit her website and Etsy shop to see what she’s up to.

If you get a few minutes, go check out her website and Etsy shop.  Even better, support her business with YOUR business!  Here’s a small sampling of her work.  It’ll bring out the girly kid in ya!

It’s been mad-crazy ’round here and I’m good ‘n ready to get things back to normal.  I gots ideas peeps…ideas!  Here are some random Christmas pics.  Baked stuff, handmade stuff….Cali got her first bike this year, so there’s a couple pics of that.  I’m hoping to get a few articles written in the next week or so.  Stay tuned.

This is the best Oatmeal Cookie recipe I’ve found.  I don’t put raisins in mine, but you can certainly add them.  I guess just wing it, because I don’t have an exact measurement for the raisins. 

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Oatmeal Cookies 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups quick cooking oats (or more, if desired.) 

1)     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2)     Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3)     In medium bowl, cream butter, oil, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth.

4)     Beat in eggs, one at a time.

5)     Gradually add in sifted ingredients until well blended.

6)     Mix in oats.

7)     Drop onto cookie sheet. (a cookie dough scoop works the best.)

8)     Bake 10-12 minutes.

Okay, now I’m pushing my little pie obsession onto my kid.  I think she just came around to eat dough, but I bamboozled her into making a pie of her very own…which I ate.  But aren’t the heart ones too cute?  I did them in my rubbery heart-shaped cup-cake thing.  (NOTE:  The lack of kid pics here recently is due to her inability to keep her clothes on.)

Cali has been home this whole week with strep throat. Her first illness! (Other than the common cold). Anyway…a couple of days ago we made this bear bread. They actually went from bears to looking more like elephants after baking. Strep be poo-poo’d…Cali ate all three of them. All of them. I got nothing.

Way too super easy. Recipe following the pics.

THREE BEARS BREAD

The Night Before:
*Put a pound of frozen bread dough in the fridge to thaw.

Before You Begin:
* Wash your hands.
* Spray 2 baking sheets with veg. oil spray.
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1) Use half the dough to make three bears’ bodies.
2) Use half of the remaining dough to make the bears’ heads.
3) Use the remaining dough to make the bear’s legs, arms, ears and noses. Add raisin eyes.
4) Cover bears with a clean, lightweight towel. Put them in a warm place until they’ve doubled in size (60-90 minutes).
5) Bake bears for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown.
6) Grab a bear and run for the sun before your kid scarfs ‘em all down and you get nothin’.