King Cake...

I'm not going to bore you with the details of what a King Cake is and its history.  I grew up in Jubail, Saudi Arabia and I grew up King Cake deprived!  Since I've been back in the States, I've tried to make up for lost time.  I have tasted and sampled lots of King Cakes: plain, filled, stuffed, Zulu...whatever, I've tried them all.  However, one day the Holy Grail of King Cakes showed up at my former job.  This Holy Grail, was homemade and it was filled with cream cheese and raspberry.  The King Cake, was perfect...super moist and fresh, not stale or overloaded with cinnamon.  Since then, no King Cake has ever compared to or even come close...until yesterday.  Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making my own King Cake.  This recipe will be my go to from now own.  It was amazing!     

The Dough Resting...

Filling...Note to Self: Spread it next time!

Ready to Bake

Cooling...

Sugar Glaze...

King Cake!  

Summer Wishes...

We have had rain for, what seems like, ages now in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  This evening, however, we're supposed to have a wintry mix.  You know, just to mix things up!   When I lived in the Northeast on snowy days, I would crank up the heat, and wear shorts and flip flops around my apartment.  Mind you, I would do that while watching movies with a summer theme.  Today, using some lemons and a few oranges from my parents' citrus trees, I made my own version of this recipe.  If you don't have basil on hand, you can always create your own flavored simple syrup.  I used rosemary and I was pleased with the results.  I know it's not quite spring or summer yet  but this helped me get through the day.  Bring on Summer, Mother Nature, you can keep your wintry mix!    

 

Elusive Moose...

My obsession with moose began at summer camp in Craftsbury Common, Vermont.  I'm not really sure how it came about but my goal that summer was to see a moose.  My campers would mail me care packages after their sessions at camp had ended.  In one of my care packages, was a stuffed moose and a note stating something like, "...this is the only moose you'll see this summer..."  Although I hate to admit it, still to this day that camper was right- there was no moose sighting that summer.  Sure you see street signs for Moose Crossing but I've still yet to see a moose crossing the street.