Jan-Feb-2016_Final-1-4-16-attempt2

MARDI GRAS

I ’ve always loved Mardi Gras. Costumes, parties, parades and pageantry are in my blood. Unfortunately, I’ve had to miss far too many Fat Tuesday celebrations because producers in New York and

lump crabmeat, bacon, smoked sausages, and hot sauces, plus anything else you want to jazz up your tomato juice. Take a good look around Rouses produce department — the Bloody Mary bar may be your only chance to have fresh vegetables during the season, so harvest the fields! A great craft project and conversation piece is to bedazzle skewers for all the accouterments to your Bloody Mary bar. Gather all your doubloons, king cake babies, and purple, green and gold anything, fire up that glue gun, and go. For me no Mardi Gras celebration would be complete without deviled eggs, especially when whipped up by my dear pal, writing partner, Hazelnut manager extraordinaire, and sister by choice, Katy Danos. I met this beautiful can do gal (she can do anything and everything — even run a small country) when we attended Tulane together. Katy hails from Rouses hometown of Thibodaux, Louisiana, by the way, so you know she’s good stock. I cherish my friendship with Katy almost as much as her delicious deviled eggs. Like Katy herself, the eggs can be sweet or salty. Sticking with our Boeuf Gras theme, I recommend a roast beef po- boy bar. Order a really nice roast from your friendly Rouses butcher, add loaves of hot French bread, gravy and all the condiments you wish, and you’ve got an easy, sure fire hit on your hands. Dessert is a no brainer during Mardi Gras: king cakes and queen cakes (I love that Rouses has added a queen cake to their royal lineup). Arrange the cakes on a separate table and employ cake stands or other service pieces of various heights to create levels. If you happen to have a tiara or crown just hanging around (and who doesn’t?), it makes a really regal centerpiece. Or better yet, place it upon your own noggin, and be the monarch for the day — you prepared the wonderful Boeuf Gras Brunch, and you deserve a fabulous and festive reign!

“We try to perpetuate the myth that the reason why beads cover the trees on St. Charles Avenue is that we grow them here!”

Hollywood view the day before Ash Wednesday as just another Tuesday. But now that I’m back in the Big Easy, I’m making up for lost time. Mardi Gras loosely means “a farewell to flesh.” (Now, I interpret that as the reason for refraining from meat consumption during Lent, but you can draw your own conclusions.) We like to celebrate Mardi Gras with a “Boeuf Gras Brunch.” It’s the perfect plan for a day parade and a great hair-of-the-dog meal after some raucous nighttime revelry. You can do all of the prep work in advance, even ordering the food from Rouses. Set a festive table or buffet. Old family Mardi Gras photos are an artistic and more personal touch. A big glass punch bowl filled with beads makes a great centerpiece and dumping ground for your catch after the parades. We also recycle beads by mailing care packages to the children of friends and families who live out out-of-town ... and try to perpetuate the myth that the reason why beads cover the trees on St. Charles Avenue is that we grow them here. Now bring on the grub. Mardi Gras parade going is a serious sport and one that requires proper nutrition and hydration fortification. Nothing beats a Bloody Mary bar.This libation station can easily transform a simple beverage into a full-blown appetizer, salad, or an actual meal in a glass. And, like Mardi Gras itself, it can be enjoyed by all ages (just keep the vodka separated, label the bottle or pour the hooch into a pretty decanter). What goes on the bar?That’s up to you.Make a run through Rouses to gather pickled and fresh veggies, wild-caught Gulf shrimp,

Boeuf Gras One of the oldest symbols of pre-Lenten celebrations was the fattened ox or Boeuf Gras, representing the last meat consumed before the fast begins. Societé de Boeuf Gras, in the French settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile, aka Mobile, Alabama, paraded with a large papier mâché bull’s head as its symbol (Boeuf Gras was the second secret society formed in Alabama; Masque de la Mobile, the first). The Rex Organization in New Orleans, which gave us the traditional Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold, used the whole bull as its model for its iconic float. Rex’s Boeuf Gras rolls through the street accompanied by masked riders dressed as cooks.

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