Showing posts with label carnival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carnival. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

king cake mania

adrian's king cake
The king cake mania around here is something. I’m a cake lover so trust me, I’m not complaining. My first ever king cake was from a New Orleans grocery store during a visit six or seven years ago. Now I know that this is a gross insult, but one taste of the tender, faintly-spicy cake, the crunch of purple sugar, the sweet icing, the search for the baby -- I was hooked.

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Nearly every establishment I’ve been into is offering a version of king cake. People have their favorites. So far I’ve tried so-called plain, and also slices with chantilly cream or praline, and even a vegan cream cheese. They’ve all been delicious and I’m excited to try more.

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Today I was walking home from a bakery stop with a box of pastries and a dogwalker shouted, What’d ya get? Assuming that the flat box I cradled contained a king cake. I said it was birthday pastries, not a king cake, and we shared a laugh. It was her birthday, she exclaimed, so we congratulated each other, fellow Capricorns, and continued on our sunny walks.