laissez les bon temps roulez!

To celebrate Mardi Gras, I decided to bake a king cake for my office. And not in the "bake some cinnamon rolls in a circle" way...but in the "almost entirely from scratch" way. Yes, that way. The way that involves rolling out dough on my countertop (with a wine bottle, because I apparently don't have a rolling pin)...mixing the cinnamon filling...stirring the lemony sweet glaze and drizzling it on...feeling the colored sugar between my fingers as I sprinkled it over the glaze. The way that was amusing and challenging and fantastic all at the same time.

But as fun as the baking was, the absolute best part was watching the king cake disappear from the pan one slice at a time today...seeing the looks on my colleagues' and students' faces as they tasted what turned out to be a blissfully delicious treat. I was so happy to share this tradition with them (even if I was also surprised at how few had heard of it)!

Happy Mardi Gras! Hope you enjoyed the spirit of the day, wherever you are.

Where I am: home
What I'm reading: the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education