Thursday, December 24, 2009
Of Saints cakes, king cakes, powdered sugar, and Susan Powter

Yesterday, I mentioned my general aversion to holiday traditions, but there is at least one that I like to keep (other than watching certain TV specials): limiting king cake consumption to Carnival season. Sadly, that tradition is being broken right and left this year.

It all started pretty innocuously. I was in the Robert's grocery store three weeks ago and saw some tell-tale king cake boxes on display. Curious and quietly furious, I marched over to discover that the boxes in question didn't contain king cakes, per se: yes, the objects were oval-shaped, and they were drizzled in goop and pounds of powdered sugar, but they looked...dirty. Unlike bright, shiny, gaudy Carnival king cakes, these were black, like the mold New Orleanians came home to after living on guest beds, sofas, and floors for six weeks (or more) of their Katrina hurrication. Eventually, I figured out that these were meant to be "Saints cakes", in honor of our hometown NFL team -- which would've been much clearer if Robert's had bothered to lay on some gold frosting like Gambino's did. Or, you know, if they'd put up a sign.

Anyway: the fact that king cakes had been repurposed didn't really bother me.  I have a friend who leaves her Christmas tree up all year long and decorates it according to the seasons. I see Carnival beads reprinted with corporate logos and tossed out all year long. Carvel's infamous Cookie Puss secretly doubles as the less-infamous Cookie O'Puss. These things happen.

However, since my first spotting, the whole "Saints" pretense has been dropped, and some of these grocery stores and corner shops are selling "real" king cakes -- the kind layered in thick slabs of purple, green, and gold frosting that are, in theory, only available from January 6 through Fat Tuesday. That's just wrong.

I am glad that our friends at Blog of New Orleans see the error of these ways. Together, we can stop the insanity.

Speaking of: whatever happened to Susan Powter? To judge from her website, she's either suffering from Alzheimer's, or she's writing in Ukranian and Google Translating back to English.  Or perhaps she's chosen to stop everyone else's insanity by absorbing it -- like at the end of The Exorcist when Satan leaves Linda Blair and goes to live in the body of that priest, who promptly defenestrates himself. Either way, something's off.

archives

May 2000   June 2000   July 2000   August 2000   September 2000   October 2000   November 2000   December 2000   January 2001   February 2001   March 2001   April 2001   May 2001   June 2001   July 2001   August 2001   September 2001   October 2001   November 2001   December 2001   January 2002   February 2002   March 2002   April 2002   May 2002   June 2002   July 2002   August 2002   September 2002   October 2002   November 2002   December 2002   January 2003   February 2003   March 2003   April 2003   May 2003   June 2003   July 2003   August 2003   September 2003   October 2003   November 2003   December 2003   January 2004   February 2004   March 2004   April 2004   May 2004   June 2004   July 2004   August 2004   September 2004   October 2004   November 2004   December 2004   January 2005   February 2005   March 2005   April 2005   May 2005   June 2005   July 2005   August 2005   September 2005   October 2005   November 2005   December 2005   January 2006   February 2006   March 2006   April 2006   May 2006   June 2006   July 2006   August 2006   September 2006   October 2006   November 2006   December 2006   January 2007   February 2007   March 2007   April 2007   May 2007   June 2007   July 2007   August 2007   September 2007   October 2007   November 2007   December 2007   January 2008   February 2008   March 2008   April 2008   May 2008   June 2008   July 2008   August 2008   September 2008   October 2008   November 2008   December 2008   January 2009   February 2009   March 2009   April 2009   May 2009   June 2009   July 2009   August 2009   September 2009   October 2009   November 2009   December 2009   January 2010   February 2010   March 2010