Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?

The answer to the post is obvious, YES! Tomorrow I fly to New Orleans for another job hunting visit and to celebrate my friend Sharon's birthday. This is one of my favorite weekends in the city because the Krewe du Vieux and new Krewe Delusions rolls on Saturday night. And the blog I follow blackend out has some great King Cake ideas.

I've applied for many jobs online and have contacted friends to get my resume out, but now is the time to visit some places and drop a resume and speak with people...face-to-face. My house is going on the market 2/16/10 and I'm ready to make my move to the city I love.

Sharon is a good friend from the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and last year we organized a DQ steamboat reunion in Chattanooga on the Delta Queen. A great friendship blossomed and I absolutely love her and Philip. We will celebrate in style and have a great girls weekend in the city.

The Krewe du Vieux rolls on Saturday night at 6:30 in the French Quarter. According to the Time Picayune there will be a surprise in store for this satire based krewe. The theme this year is "Fired Up" aptly named after the krewe suffered a fire in the float warehouse this year. The krewe is frantic at work to get the floats done in time. It's an parade not to be missed!

Blacked Out has posted a great blog about King Cakes. Tuesday, January 26, 2010
A Cake Fit For Kings

"Since the start of the new year, I have probably eaten 47 slices of king cake. I know, I know - high cholesterol, diabetes, cardiac arrest, yada yada yada - but I can't help myself. At least 3 times per week, sometimes twice in a single day, someone shows up at the office with a king cake. That's on top of the king cakes which are omnipresent at every birthday, wedding shower, funeral, and bris that I get invited to. How can a guy say no to a piece of king cake in celebration of circumcision?

But even though I have eaten an alarming number of slices of king cake, I honestly have not sampled the spectrum of species from that many different bakeries. Perhaps king cakes are similar to snowballs in that location plays a major role? Case in point, the above classic king cake from McKenzie's, now sold by Tastee Donuts, covered in purple, green, and gold granulated sugar While this is the king cake of my youth and always my first one of the season, it just never tastes as good as I remember.


At the opposite end from the McKenzie's classic, we have this shimmering specimen from Sucre, who started baking king cakes for the first time this year. The glaze on this cake is so stunning that you might be hesitant with your knife, but then you would be missing what's inside...


... and that would be an extremely light pastry filled with a thin layer of whipped cream cheese. I usually despise filled king cakes (too gloppy), but the minimal smear of cream cheese in this one is in perfect balance with the paper thin layers of pastry. This is probably the best king cake that I have eaten so far this year.


I'm still a sucker for Manny Randazzo's, which is better than Randazzo's Camellia City in my opinion. Haydel's makes a good king cake, but the combination of icing and granulated sugar throws me off; I prefer one or the other but not both. Antoine's is always welcome as an afternoon snack.


I still have quite a few king cakes on my list to try: Hi-Do Bakery on the wild wild Westbank, the not-so-sweet goat cheese and apple king cake from New Orleans Cake Cafe, the true classic galette des rois from La Boulangerie. So many cakes, so few inches to spare in the waistband of my suit pants. A little help, dear readers, if you wouldn't mind.
Posted by Peter at 6:40 AM
Labels: King Cake, Sucre, Tastee/McKenzie's "

It's Mardi Gras time in New Orleans and everyone is having fun...and I'll be having fun looking for a job.

Peace,
Tracey