This past year has been an effort to up our Catholic liturgical living, which means more solemn events AND more feasts. Win/win!
Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)
This year I am making a King Cake from a mix I bought at Feastday.co (check ’em out, they have lots of great subscription boxes & food products). Last year I just went to Publix & bought one…baby steps.
Read more on Feast Day’s blog post: “King Cake & Mardi Gras in New Orleans”
I am also doing a slow cooker New Orleans gumbo and making deliciously alcoholic sazeracs. I freaking loved sazeracs after I tried them in New York this past summer with my uncles. I’m excited to bust out my bartending skills tomorrow night.
And if that’s not enough, I’m going out for drinks with a friend and I promised someone in my run club (which meets on Tuesdays) that I would make bacon brownies so add that to the decadent Fat Tuesday list! Honestly, the Ash Wednesday fast might be a welcome respite from all this Mardi Gras activity.
Read more: Catholic Culture: Pre-Lenten Celebrations
Ash Wednesday & Lent
If you’re doing liturgical living, then you know every feast is balanced by restraint. Ash Wednesday consist of a light mushroom soup from my Hobbit cookbook (yup, I’m that kind of Tolkien fan) & a our 6-year traditional sushi date after getting ashes at the 4:45 pm liturgy of the word service. Kicking us off into a hopefully fruitful lent. Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving!
Read more: Catholic Culture: Ash Wednesday Trumps Valentines Day
I am traveling again during spring break and this time I am making sure to set an alarm to remind me of when it is Friday (I totally lose track of the days of the week while on vacation) so I can make sure to properly abstain from meat. I’ve already mapped out a Catholic Church in Athens (the cathedral no less!) for mass on Sunday morning.
Read more: Catholic Culture: Traveling during Lent
I’ve got a couple of things I am giving up and taking up this year; one of those things is something I totally failed at last year so I am hoping I have some renewed strength this year. Keep me in your prayers & keep those fingers crossed!
JMF
I’ve never tried King Cake before – I wonder how terrible the gluten free version would be. I’m praying that you have a Lent that allows you to further abide in Christ – good luck with whatever it is you’re giving/taking up!
I’ve seen other people talk about gluten-free King Cake, so I’m sure it exists. Ultimately you can make any gluten-free cake or bread and then just add the Mardi Gras colors if you really need to