Shokufeh is... home

It's carnival time, everybody's having fun

This is one of my favorite times of year. Last night, as we walked down the neutral ground, between the streetcar tracks, I couldn't help but grin. Despite the cold, despite the hives on my legs, and despite the fact that twenty minutes earlier I'd seriously been considering going to bed. Last weekend, I found myself in a bit of a funk. I think that was because the only parade I made it to was one I will not be going to in the future - one that features dogs: Barkus. It was fine enough, except that it grew boring after a while. And going to it meant missing real parades. So, last night, after a leisurely dinner and some McKenzie's!!! king cake, Sam and I headed out, leaving MrMan with my parents. I was quite pleased with the fact that we could take things leisurely, since there were four parades last night, Muses having been postponed from the night before, due to weather. This was my first Muses. I now understand the appeal. I think this was also my first time being at a parade at 11:00 at night - even though we were not far from the start of the parade, with four parades, it's bound to backup.

Today, we went to Tucks (blessed by gorgeous weather), where MrMan particularly enjoyed the horses and the "jazz" - his new name for any music that involves horns. I think this is one of the aspects that makes me so happy - getting to share this with MrMan, who's appreciating things more this year. Last Sunday morning, we went to pick up Sam from church, and a parade was starting to lineup in the area. A band was practicing right in front of the church, so MrMan and I watched, both very much enjoying it. I didn't realize quite how much he liked it until Sam came out and MrMan called to him, pointing out the marching band. Good times. It's not all about the king cake. Though that is good stuff. My mom was laughing at me and my father last night, having a rather focused discussion about king cakes. This season, I've eaten (with ranking indicated):

1) Whole Foods' raspberry cream cheese - really tasty, in all of its components, except the excessive sugar on top
1) McKenzie's brand from Tastee Donuts - very enjoyable, even if they did make it a bit too thick and yeasty. But the awesome flavor still shown through, and I think they do the best colored sugar. I so appreciate my dad having gone to get this and waiting a good twenty minutes for it.
1) A tasty cream cheese one from PJ's on Camp Street - I'm not sure who makes them, but my dad thinks it's a bakery on the north shore. Somehow they had the flavor I so enjoy in the McKenzie's one, but maybe even did it better, if that's possible.
2) Whole Foods' berry chantilly - good, though not as good as the raspberry cream cheese one, nor as good as their berry chantilly cake
2) Randazzo's regular/plain - yummy. This is probably the one we made the biggest dent in in one sitting.
3) Random regular/plain I don't remember the source of - nothing to write home about
3) La Madeleine's french style - okay. Nowhere near as tasty as La Boulangerie's french style, and the weird part was that their pastry was a bit sour.
3) Rouse's super plain - we've discussed the error of their ways