King Cake: A royal cake for a crazy winter's day

Mardi Gras King Cake

Happy Mardi Gras y'all. Today's a day to live it up before you give it up on Ash Wednesday.

We recently were treated to some fun Carnival activities in Shreveport, including visiting one of the city's most popular businesses this time of year — Lilah's. This family-owned business creates delicious king cakes, an essential element of Carnival and one of the Louisiana food groups (well, we think so).

These sugar-topped creations date back to France and the celebrations surrounding Twelfth Night, or Jan. 6, which is the beginning of the Carnival season. The king cake signifies the coming of the three wise men to the baby Jesus 12 days after his birth. Jan. 6 is also known as the Feast of the Epiphany or King's Day.

In Louisiana, we start enjoying king cakes on Jan. 6 at the start of Carnival and continue eating these decadent pastries through Mardi Gras, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. They come in various flavors and styles, some plain with only sugar toppings, some filled with goodness like fruit fillings or cream cheese. Some really adventurous, such as the boudin king cake and the peanut butter and chocolate. And some people have loads of fun with the tradition, such as Alky Therapy Daiquiris, which makes an 18-ounce King Cake Daiquiri complete with king cake slice, king cake cupcake, fleur de lis candy and king cake vodka. 

King cakes traditionally included a small plastic baby (in earlier times it was a bean or a porcelain king) and whoever gets the baby in their slice of king cake must buy the next cake. Nowadays, because a few people were surprised to bite into a small plastic baby and some broke teeth, bakeries place the baby in the cake box and let you insert it yourself.

Want to see how it's done? We got an inside peek into how Lilah's makes their cakes. This small bakery produces 400-600 king cakes a day during Carnival, producing about 12,000 for the entire Carnival season! The family does so well during Carnival that it's now their only business.

Let us show you what we saw.

The round dough is put through a machine to flatten it out.

Mark places the dough on a table.

Julie adds two scoops of cream cheese filling.

The filling is flattened out and praline crumbles added.

The dough is rolled...

...and made into a circle.

Then brushed and placed into the ovens 

to become pralines 'n' cream king cakes.

Lilah's can bake 100 king cakes in an hour.

Here's what they look like baked.

Buttercream icing goes on top.

Then sugar sprinkles 

in Mardi Gras colors.

Babies are included. Beads too.

The final product. 

Flavors run the gamut, 

like this tiramisu.

Talk about good!!

Gluten-free king cakes are also available.

They taste more like a king cake scone.

Lilah's is run by Lisa and Sopan Tike

 with help from their daughter Lila.

Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by travel and food writer Chere Dastugue Coen, an avid lover of all things Carnival and yes, she drank all 18 ounces of that king cake daiquiri. 

She wishes you all a very Happy Mardi Gras!

Mardi Gras beads grow on trees

Drive through most South Louisiana towns and look up and you’ll see a plethora of Mardi Gras beads hanging from tree boughs. These unusual growths are especially prominent during the Carnival season, which happens from Jan. 6 until Mardi Gras, which is today (Feb. 13, 2018), the Tuesday before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

These plastic creations grow on trees down here, which is where we get the beads to throw off Mardi Gras floats during the long Carnival season.

You didn’t think we bought them from China, did you? 
      

Mardi Gras beads are particularly fond of our massive live oak trees that spread out over the parade routes. We find all kinds, too, and not just those little cheapy beads we want to throw back at float riders.

Those grow on shrubbery.

What? You’re saying the beads get caught in the trees after being thrown off Mardi Gras floats and stay there all year long?

I don’t think so.

Weird, Wacky and Wild South is written by award-winning Louisiana food and travel writer Chere Dastugue Coen, who absolutely adores Mardi Gras.

It's a geaux for the Tigers in Omaha

The LSU Tigers are in Omaha this week for their 17th trip to the College World Series of baseball. And like everything else hailing from French Louisiana, the signs following the team are taking advantage of the –eaux pronunciation.

It’s something South Louisianans love to play with.

In French, eaux is pronounced as an o in English, such as beaux, chateaux. At any LSU game, you’ll see “Geaux Tigers” signs, for instance, a spelling that’s become so familiar that it’s now in the Urban Dictionary. The web site defines the word geaux as “A French word-play on the verb go.  Derives from areas highly populated with Cajun Americans, Louisiana State University Tigers fans, or more commonly both.”

In the summertime down South, people sell “Sneauxballs.” There's a restaurant called “Gumbeaux’s” in Douglasville, Georgia. Many Louisiana residents have names ending in –eaux, like Boudreaux, Thibodeaux and Comeaux.

So naturally LSU fans are using the o in Omaha this week to their advantage.

As for the baseball team, they lost to Texas Christian on Sunday and play against Cal State Fullerton at 2 p.m. today (Tuesday, June 17). The game will be televised by ESPN2 and streamed live at WatchESPN.com and at the WatchESPN app.

Because LSU lost to TCU on Sunday, they must win today’s game against Cal State Fullerton to remain in the World Series.

On another note, with or without the –eaux, Omaha loves LSU fans.

"… LSU people make it more fun,” said Karen Barrett in today’s Lafayette Advertiser. Barrett is owner of Barrett's Barleycorn Pub and Grill on Leavenworth Street in Omaha. “They like to drink. They like to eat. They like to have a good time. They talk to everyone, and it seems like they know everyone. It's just sad when they're not here."
         For the whole story of why Nebraska loves to see LSU fans heading north, click here.

Cheré Coen is the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “ExploringCajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.”  And yes, she attended LSU. Geaux Tigers! Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.

Little cemetery houses a grave affair in Louisiana

Credit: Stacey Scarce

            In South Louisiana, even the dead want to come in from the rain and cold.             

            There are two cemeteries that contain grave houses, structures that cover the graves of South Louisiana residents. At the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery near Pitkin, a row of graves are sheltered by identical houses. In Mermentau Cove, the Istre Cemetery contains grave houses that include windows and locks on the doors.

            Grave houses, although rare and usually found in older cemeteries, were simply structures designed to protect a gravesite or several graves from the elements. According to the historical marker at the circa-1889 Talbert-Pierson Cemetery, “the origins of grave houses are uncertain — some tracing the beginnings to European or Native American roots. Other sources simply attribute the custom to a form of protecting the graves before cemeteries were commonly fenced. Grave houses were a part of the Upland South tradition: this custom also included decorating the graves with shells.”

Istre Cemetery

            The houses had to be built before sunset on the day of the person’s burial, the marker claims. Since there was additional cost involved in creating both a grave and a house, the grave houses were reserved for important members of a family or community. The 15 grave houses at Talbert-Pierson were built from hand-cut wooden pickets with gabled roofs, the construction dating between 1889 to 1949.

            The Talbert-Pierson Cemetery contains graves of the Talbert and Pierson families who first came into this area of Louisiana known as “No Man’s Land” in the 19th century. Vernon Parish and the region along the Sabine River that borders with Texas was once a land of dispute between the Louisiana Territory belonging to the Americans and the Spanish in Texas. Pioneers of this “Neutral Ground,” many from the Upland South, attempted farms while criminals, runaway slaves and military deserters were attracted to the lawless country.

Istre Cemetery

            Meanwhile, over at the Istre Cemetery in Mermentau Cove, down in deep Cajun Country, “Petite Maisons” cover the graves of Cajun settlers. These cypress structures resemble homes that live people use — only on a miniature scale. The houses the size of a child’s playhouse one might see in a backyard often include windows, doors and working locks and shingled roofs. Peek inside and you’ll see the graves.

            Istre Cemetery is one of the last remaining examples of this unique custom; there used to be grave houses all over Cajun Country. The cemetery began in 1886 and was home to nearly 40 of these petite maisons, but today only three remain. South Louisiana filmmakers Zach and Jeremy Broussard examine these last remaining houses and the culture surrounding them in their documentary, “Little Houses.” Proceeds help preserve the remaining structures.

            Broussard has also written a book about the phenomenon.

            "There are theories that they were purely practical, to protect the graves from animals or the elements,” Broussard said in a 2013 interview with WVUE TV in New Orleans. “And there are theories that they were meant as shrines."

Talbert-Pierson Credit: Stacey Scarce

Cheré Coen is an award-winning travel writer specializing in the Deep South. She is also the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.