Mardi Gras King Cake rich in taste and tradition

by Chris Owen on
It’s been called Portuguese Christmas Cake, Bolo Rei and a bunch of other names but Mardi Gras King Cake is the colorful bakery creation, rich in taste and tradition, that serves as a symbol of the pre-Lenten season of Mardi Gras.

The tradition predates Christianity and was taken from the Roman celebration called Lupercalia. Mardi Gras celebrates the period between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent (Ash Wednesday) as a period of merriment and excess. Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday, is the final day of this period of festivities since Lent will begin a time of fasting.

As the story goes, the King Cake came about in order to use up ingredients that would not be consumed during the Lenten period. Sweet, rich pastries with lots of eggs and butter ended up being called the King Cake. Similar to a brioche dough and traditionally eaten during Mardi Gras, three colors of sugar are used to represent each of the three kings or wise men of biblical fame. Green is for faith, yellow (or gold) for power and purple stands for justice.

Inside will be some sort of toy, trinket or miniature baby Jesus inside and whoever finds it left duty-bound to provide the next cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.

That’s the basics. From there, like Mardi Gras, pretty much anything goes as bakers have taken great liberties with the original formula.

“The filled king cake trend started in the 1970s,” Liz Williams, president of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans told CourierPostOnline “People wanted things that were sweeter and sweeter, and bakers wanted to be different. Before that king cakes looked the same and were pretty much the same.”

Enter everything from chocolate to most nuts, cream cheese and almond paste. Pastry chef Jean-Luc Albin makes a Bourbon Street King Cake with chocolate custard, bourbon and toasted pecans, General Foster King Cake with a banana’s Foster-type filling and a Woodlawn Plantation King Cake with praline cream and Southern Comfort.

“Every year I do something a little different, something new,” Albin says. “It makes things interesting.

Mardi Gras King Cake rich in taste and tradition, no matter what goes into it.

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Flickr photos by syvwlch and Gruenemann

Tiger escapes zoo enclosure in Turkey, kills lion

by Meg Nesterov on

A Bengal tiger escaped his enclosure at a zoo in Turkey‘s capital city of Ankara, killing a lion in the adjacent area. The lion was killed in a single swipe to the jugular vein. The tiger had previously wounded the lion last year. Ankara Zoo officials say that the tiger reached the lion through a hole in the fence between the animals and did not knock down the fence. The zoo has a remaining six tigers and two lions and is safe for visitors.

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user chrisada]

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, anyone?

by Elizabeth Seward on

Fat Tuesday and Shrove Tuesday are one in the same. And if you follow Shrove Tuesday’s pancake-eating rituals, your Tuesday this week is bound to feel fat. Otherwise known as Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, the day before Lent. Lent is a Christian tradition and the term is used to describe the liturgical year, the time of fasting and prayer between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

This practice was widely embraced before the Protestant Reformation. Although many Protestant churches still practice Lent, some do not. Growing up, my family switched between Pentecostal, Nazarene, and Baptist churches–I never practiced Lent. And since the practice involved giving up something I liked, I was happy not to participate. But pancakes? Fat Tuesday? I’ll eagerly dig in for these kinds of festivities each year.

With Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day happening tomorrow, the internet is abuzz with pancake recipes for this day of decadence. Thinking about whipping up some pancakes tomorrow? Here’s a little somethin’ to help you along the way.

Consider Pancakes, an informative article on Pancake Day and the pancakes involved by The Guardian.
And for perfectly thin pancakes for Pancake Day, The Guardian offers up this delicious-looking recipe:

“This is the approximate recipe we use at home for thin, crêpe-style pancakes. The batter will thicken as it rests, so if necessary gently stir in more milk until it’s the consistency of single cream. Makes about 20.

200g plain flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
About 500ml milk
A knob of butter or a little vegetable oil, for frying
Lemons and caster sugar, for serving

Sift the flour into a bowl. Beat in the eggs and enough milk to make a batter that’s the consistency of single cream.

Heat a frying pan until very hot. Add the butter or oil and wipe off any excess with a wad of kitchen paper. Add a ladle of batter, tipping and tilting the pan so it’s evenly coated. The underside is done when you can lift it to see its golden underside. Flip or toss it over and cook the other side for barely a minute. Place on a warmed plate while you repeat with the rest of the batter. Serve with lemons and caster sugar”.

Read more pancake recipes from The Guardian here.

Marriott plans Autograph Collection openings in Europe

by Melanie Nayer on

Marriott’s newest hotel brand, the Autograph Collection, will make its debut in Europe with the opening of four hotels in Spain. The hotel company said it plans to have the Europe Autograph Collection open by May 2011.

The concept of Marriott‘s Autograph Collection has been a great success in the U.S. since it launched year. Independent boutique hotels, with a historical and elegant touch, join the collection to add rooms to Marriott portfolio and offer guests Marriott benefits. The U.S. hotels include the newly open Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, the Algonquin Hotel in New York and the Kessler Collection hotels in Orlando, Florida and Savannah, Georgia. As for Spain, travelers can look forward to the following:

  • AC Santo Mauro, Madrid, Spain: The first of two Madrid hotels will offer 50 rooms in an elegant late nineteenth-century building, which was once the residence of the Duke de Santo Mauro.
  • AC Palacio del Retiro, Madrid, Spain: The second Madrid hotel, also a 50-guestroom property – takes over a Spanish residence, complete with original mouldings, woodwork and stained-glass windows.
  • AC Palacio de Santa Paula, Granada, Spain: The 75-room AC Palacio de Santa Paula is located in the historic center of Granada and in what used to be the Santa Paula Convent, and within walking distance of La Alhambra.
  • AC Baqueira Hotel & Spa, Baqueira, Spain: For the more off-the-beaten-path traveler, 102-room AC Baqueira Hotel & Spa will be the first ski resort in Marriott International’s portfolio in Europe, located in Baqueira-Beret ski station near the Pyrenees.

Vietnam authorities suspend tour company over deaths

by Chris Owen on

Citing negligence, Vietnam authorities suspended a tour company responsible for the deaths of 12 tourists killed last month when the boat they were sleeping on sank.

AZ Queen Company had clients from nine different countries including Americans, Austrailans and Britons sleeping on a tour boat anchored in Ha Long Bay near the Vietnam–Chinese border when the aged vessel suddenly filled with water and sank February 17.
The unlicensed tour company was fined 15 million dong ($700) and was ordered to suspend all domestic and international tour services for operating without a license, Mai Tien Dung, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism told the Associated Press.

The boat’s captain and a member of the crew were arrested on the charge of negligence causing serious consequences, a charge that can carry a jail term of up to 12 years.

“The initial police investigation showed that the man in charge of the boat engine forgot to close the valve that allowed water in to cool the engine before he, the captain and other crew went to bed” said police spokesman Le Thanh Binh.

This is not the first time such an event has occurred in Vietnam. 40 people were killed on when a crowded river boat sank in central Vietnam in January of 2009.

In September of 2009, the same company was involved in a sinking that resulted in the death of three tourists during a heavy rain storm.

Flickr photo by flydime

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