Mardi Gras 2010

My annual Mardi Gras party is 4 days away! I’m not quite as enthused this year since it’s the perfect storm of Presidents Day holiday weekend, Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year AND Mardi Gras all the same weekend, so most likely only about 15 people are coming, but I’m sure we’ll still have plenty of fun. I’ve decided to do an easy costume this time, using tricolor costume bits I’ve gathered over the years to be a sparkly Mardi Gras Girl. I decorated my mask Sunday evening with some giant plastic jewels to go with the sparkly necklace I had. Most of the decorations are in place, but beads still need to be draped everywhere plus food tables set up, and the housecleaners are scheduled for Friday so everything will be nice & clean. Friends have volunteered to make the King Cake this time, so that’s a long project for Friday evening off my plate!

I think we’ll have plenty to eat…here’s what’s already done:

double-batch crab puffs in freezer
10 dozen spinach balls in freezer
5 dozen tricolor scrolls in freezer
2.5 dozen creole chicken skewers prebaked in freezer
40 life-size edible mask cookies baked, ready for decorating

Add those to the shrimp mold, pastry brie, sliced cheese & crackers, fruit & veggies, plus the King Cake coming, and we have a decent spread! Since there’s always so much punch leftover even for the larger parties, I’ve decided to forgo the punch this year & only have hurricanes plus the full bar. There is one more edible experiment I’m hoping to figure out, but that will remain a surprise. 🙂

Decorate your own edible mask was such a hit last year that I’m only going to decorate 10 as examples, leaving the rest with white basecoat icing, and more table space so more people can decorate at once. I bought reusable plastic candy/icing mini-squeeze bottles with tip covers so no one will have to wait for icing, I have extra decorating sprays in hopes we won’t run out, and I’ll get out my fun confetti sprinkles this time too. I can’t wait to see everyone’s creativity this year!

Bejeweled & Bling

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Even though the perfect storm of scheduling conflicts had a lot of regular attendees lost to other events, whether Chinese New Year, Valentines celebrations, or going away for Presidents Day holiday weekend, still 20 of us had a fabulous time, with Lyle bringing a delicious homemade King Cake, everyone enjoying decorating the cookie masks, and Kevin C playing bartender all evening with his hurricane recipe, much better than the one I found. Kevin, I think you have a new annual job! 😉

This year I only decorated 10 edible masks as inspiration for the 30 plain ones for guests to get artistic. I did try a new marbling technique with food coloring into the wet royal icing basecoat swirled around with a toothpick, but I didn’t think of the idea until most were already iced, so I only tried 3. I think they turned out very cool, but I would use other icing vs. straight food coloring since it was too dark, plus some spots didn’t dry properly. The effect looks a bit like feathers, and nice to have finer detail than you can ever get with a piping tip.

This year’s new idea was fried wonton Jester Hats…but as I feared, no one guessed what they were until I told them! Maybe little heads of something edible to be wearing the hats would give a better clue? They were cute enough & tasty without being super sweet or heavy, but they take forever to fold the wontons, and I used the deep fryer which is a bit of a mess. I may try again next year without frying them & see if I can make it easier and more identifiable.

Even more details if you’re curious…