Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun we’ll have big fun on the bayou.

We’re over a week away from the real Fat Tuesday, but that didn’t stop our family from celebrating Mardi Gras yesterday in typical fashion: lots of food and lots of fun. Son of a gun.

My day started out early as it always does, only this time, at 6 o’clock yesterday morning, I was chopping, chopping, chopping — preparing what Cajun cooks call the Blessed Trinity. Onion, green pepper, and celery. My job was to prepare the red beans and rice for our Cajun dinner…..

As in years past, Bec hosts our family for this celebration of good food. Erik is the prime cook, and he did himself well this year with his jambalaya, prepared with chicken, andouille sausage, and shrimp. Yum. Bec made her traditional maque choux — creamed corn on steroids. Jen pitched in with Cajun cole slaw, a cooling match to the spicy jambalaya and my red beans and rice.

As usual, however, we started out our meal with muffaletta sandwiches — ham, salami, swiss cheese, provolone cheese, and yummy chopped olives…..

While, we love the food, what we most enjoy is the gathering of family…..

This year, Carter was the lone boy. He made the best of it all, however, and spent much of his time watching the NASCAR race on his nana’s television.

l-r: Lexi, Kelsie, Jenna, Kenzie, and Ava.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mardi Gras celebration if it wasn’t for the King Cake, a traditional cake that includes a tiny baby doll somewhere within. This year, there were two cakes, thereby offering two opportunities to bite into a baby! The kids, in particular, await with hope to be the lucky one with the baby in their piece of cake…..

This year, Lexi was the first one to find a baby in her cake…..

Carter was lucky enough to find the second baby in his piece.

When all is said and done, we all agree that this particular gathering is perhaps our favorite of the year. And it couldn’t happen if this amazing woman didn’t make the necessary arrangements. Thanks, Bec, for a wonderful day. We have big fun, even if we don’t have a bayou…..