Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

King Cake Giveaway Winners

Oh my gosh!

I think this has been my favorite of giveaway answers!

Y'all were so creative in answering the giveaway question.

This week's winners are:

Phil

&

KS

Send me your addresses kiddos!

Ps. I want photos of you & your king cake babies!

Heyyyy Baby! King Cake Giveaway #3 - 2 Winners!

***TWO WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN***

As I was searching for the internet for a formal explanation of King Cakes, I came to the realization that sometimes the all-knowing internet... just doesn't know.

As I was searching for an articulate bit on the symbolism of the Baby Jesus that gets hidden in each cake, I've read some people saying if you get the baby you'll get "knocked up" (yes...thats the terminology used) or some even saying that the baby is bad luck and to avoid it!

Um. Hi. We're the South.

For the most part, we're a friendly happy people who wish you well.

Trust me! You WANT to get the baby in your slice!

Finding a little plastic baby in your slice of cake grants you the title of King/Queen of the party!

((But with great power comes great responsibility! Get the baby and it's your job to bring the king cake to the next party!))

As you already know, I absolutely love sharing bits of my upbringing and culture with others. So when my Canadian friend Jess came down last year for Mardi Gras - I had a list of things that she hadddd to experience.

First up? King Cake.

And in order to let her get the full experience, I not so stealthily hid Baby Jesus in her slice. And then I told her about it. If you're not on the lookout for him, Jesus can be a bit of a choking hazard.

Insanity ensued as we exchanged not so politically correct jabs at each other's religions - "You do realize you're licking icing and sprinkles of your Lord and Savior, right?"

And in a hazy moment of truce and genius, we decided to make King Cake Baby our third wheel for the weekend....

Check him out.

The Before Shot

"OH JESS! You got the baby!"

Cleaning the baby up

So what exactly do I do with him now?

King Cake Baby Jesus (KCBJ) surfing on the North Shore.

Audience with his people from his papal balcony

Looking for tigers in the jungles of Costa Rica

Squashing grapes in the wine region of China

Camping Trip to Sweet Tea Reserve

Tasting the sensation...

Exhausting Photo Shoots at the Wal-Mart Picture Studio

Blowing up the club with his boy, Hot Boy Ronald

Writing a little poetry at the local Art Bar

He's with the band...

Even (unknown) rockstars want to get a photo with him...

"Jess... Why is KCBJ always picking on me?!?"

Here's the Details:

• A post will go up each Thursday about King Cakes.
• Leave a comment on the King Cake Post telling me you're a follower for one entry.
• Leave another comment answering that posts question for a second entry.
• Post about the giveaway on any social media outlet, and leave a comment with the link to it for a third entry.
• Each entry must be left in a separate comment, or it will all be counted as one entry!
• No one is exempt from the contest! Anyone and everyone is encouraged to enter!
• If you don't win one week, come back and enter the next week!
• That weeks entry deadline is the Tuesday following the post at noon CST.
• I will draw the 2 winners at random and announce it at 1pm CST on Tuesday.
• That weeks winners will have until midnight on Tuesday to send me their mailing address.
• King Cakes will be shipped out on Wednesday and the whole thing will begin again the next day.

**I feel silly for posting this, but it must be said. I have nothing to do with the making of the king cakes, therefore, please know that Dixie Lust is not responsible for any food allergies or reactions that may occur**

This week's Q: If you got the baby in your slice of king cake, what would you do with it? Carry him around for good luck? Tape him to your computer monitor? Send him in a care package? Paint him on a little Saints Uniform??

King Cake Winner: Round 2

This weeks winner of a King Cake from Meche's is:

Comment #4

otherwise known as

LYLA, my coworker and adventure co-pilot.

Thats right, y'all. No one's exempt from this one - cause really... EVERYONE deserves a little King Cake in their life.

So if you didn't get a chance to enter, or if you haven't won yet, come back on Thursday for your chance to win a King Cake from Meche's Bakery.

"Sum" More King Cake Madness

my ollie getting ready for some mardi gras fun.

***

It's that time again, folks! Yes Mammer Jammers it is. It's me, Summer doing a "pass by" to help my sista out. She is busy at the moment but will return soon!

It's King Cake time.

(via)

Y'all ready?

The Deets:

~ A post will go up each Thursday about King Cakes.
~ Leave a comment on the King Cake Post telling me you're a follower for one entry.
~ Leave another comment answering that posts question for a second entry.
~ Post about the giveaway on any social media outlet, and leave a comment with the link to it for a third entry.
~ Each entry must be left in a separate comment, or it will all be counted as one entry!
~ No one is exempt from the contest! Anyone and everyone is encouraged to enter!
~ If you don't win one week, come back and enter the next week!
~ That weeks entry deadline is the Tuesday following the post at noon CST.
~ I will draw the winner at random and announce it at 1pm CST on Tuesday.
~ That weeks winner will have until midnight on Tuesday to send me their mailing address.
~ King Cakes will be shipped out on Wednesday and the whole thing will begin again the next day.

This week's Q: King Cakes have lots of yummy fillings. What filling(s) would you choose?

man with big mardi gras balls, i mean beads.

First King Cake Winner Announced

The very first winner of my multi-week King Cake Giveway is....

Breanna from A Southern Girl With Curls!

Breanna - Be sure to send me your shipping address before tonight!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and remember if you didn't win this week, round 2 of King Cake Posts and another chance to win will be coming on Thursday!

Yum Yum... Gimme Sum! King Cake Giveaway

It's time to face the facts. My little Dixie Lust can't do it all. I can detail carnival traditions that I've taken part of since I was a toddler. I can take you along on this year's Mardi Gras adventures with my tweets. Hundreds of uploaded photos can draw you in to the flashy metallics of the beads and dublooms. Weekly music playlists can make you want to dance in the streets along with the second line.

But you and I know both know the best way to experience something - to experience something like a true southerner is to taste it!

So! I'm so super excited to announce that every week between now and Mardi Gras I will be giving away one of these babies....

((hey hey baby Jesus!))

((so this isn't a Meche's King Cake but its all I have on such short notice. Check back next week for actual photos))

That's right. Every week between now and February 16th, Dixie Lust is going to be giving away a King Cake along with some other Mardi Gras goodies.

Everyone around here is fiercely protective of their favorite bakery when the talk turns to King Cakes. There are entire conversati...*ahem* arguments over which bakery in south Louisana has the best cake. And I'm no different. I absolutely love the King Cakes from Meche's Bakery. I grew up on them and to this day they're my go-to cake. If you win, you'll get to see what all the fuss is about!

Here's the Details:

• A post will go up each Thursday about King Cakes.
• Leave a comment on the King Cake Post telling me you're a follower for one entry.
• Leave another comment answering that posts question for a second entry.
• Post about the giveaway on any social media outlet, and leave a comment with the link to it for a third entry.
• Each entry must be left in a separate comment, or it will all be counted as one entry!
• No one is exempt from the contest! Anyone and everyone is encouraged to enter!
• If you don't win one week, come back and enter the next week!
• That weeks entry deadline is the Tuesday following the post at noon CST.
• I will draw the winner at random and announce it at 1pm CST on Tuesday.
• That weeks winner will have until midnight on Tuesday to send me their mailing address.
• King Cakes will be shipped out on Wednesday and the whole thing will begin again the next day.

**I feel silly for posting this, but it must be said. I have nothing to do with the making of the king cakes, therefore, please know that Dixie Lust is not responsible for any food allergies or reactions that may occur**

Got all that?!

Good. Now enter!

This week's Q: What's one thing you're looking forward to learning about Mardi Gras?

Despite Everything that Happened Today....

Despite every craptastic thing that happened today (frozen um... everything, bloody filing fingers, slow drivers taking up 2 lanes... really depsite it all)...

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day.

Wanna know why?!

((SKing + Me - Mardi Gras 2009))

It's KINGS DAY!

As in the FIRST DAY OF MARDI GRAS!

Oh yes... It's upon us! and for those of you who no nothing about Mardi Gras - or for those of you who know it as "binge drinking on Bourbon" consider Dixie Lust as your one-stop Mardi Gras Education headquarters. From Mardi Gras trees to the second line, from Al Hirt to Bacchus, from Krewes to King Cake - I'm covering it all!

And now is not the time to hold on y'all so we'll start with Kings Day!

If you're wondering how we Loozianians know it's time to start partying or how we know our favorite bakery is whipping up King Cakes, let moi explain.

Today is the twelfth day of Christmas or for the Christian folk, the Epiphany...which in part celebrates the three Magi or the three Kings visiting the baby Jesus. Here in Louisiana, the Epiphany or King's Day is known to mark the start of the Mardi Gras season. While a lot of people know Mardi Gras as Mardi Gras Tuesday - the day before Ash Wednesday, we actually celebrate for a couple weeks. The time between Kings Day and Mari Gras Tuesday is jam packed with masquerade balls, parades, and my favorite - king cakes! And while Mardi Gras is celebrated all throughout the Southern Gulf Coast, tonight the New Orleans Krewe Phunny Phorty Phellows will commandeer a streetcar for its traditional stroll through Uptown to announce the Carnival Season.

Laissez les bon temps rouler, y'all!

I Do What I Want...

((via))

And today, I want to listen to a Mardi Gras Station I made on Pandora.

No ones around to judge me - even if I did accidentally drip ketchup on my sweatshirt as I was dancing through lunch.

Ladies and Gent (cause I'm sure there can't be more than a lone boy reading this thing), I have a one track mind - and right now its visions of Mardi Gras Indians and an out of this world second line.

This Girl Gets It...

Sometimes the things that make me cry surprise me.

Sometimes I read something that seems like it was yanked right out of my jumbled little head

And sometimes some one just gets it...

I started this blog

because I want people to see what I see.

I want the world to really see

this beautifully eccentric place that has the courage to be exactly what it is.

No excuses.

And I want you guys to long to visit here...

But I want it to be because the side I show you.

So many outlets focus on New Orleans and Mardi Gras as a place to lose yourself and get piss drunk as you flash someone for cheap plastic beads.

Tourism based on disgracing yourself and a beautiful historic city.

What a thought...

For those of you not from around here,

you're wondering what all this Mardi Gras talk is about (especially around Christmas time)

But its nearing.

And we're preparing ourselves to celebrate our culture - to celebrate life.

And I know this is a little deep and heavy for a Monday night,

but its whats in my heart right now.

I was over at Confessions of an Indie Bride tonight,

and for some reason her post struck a chord.

It made me cry.

Jen gets it.

Chris Rose gets it.

It's in our blood.

It's our history.

It's a beautiful celebration of who we are.

Whether its your first Mardi Gras (like Jen's Hubby to Be) or your 24th,

we'd love to share the reaaaal Mardi Gras with you...

the Mardi Gras we grew up on

the Mardi Gras that makes you feel like family

the Mardi Gras that you'll actually remember on Ash Wednesday

....the Mardi Gras that you'll never forget.

Bow Down to the King

With 64 days til Mardi Gras, I'm starting to get excited y'all!

and to make it even more exciting...

The Krewe of Bacchus has just named my beloved Drew Brees as King Bacchus XLII. he will be joining the list of Bacchus Kings that includes Hulk Hogan. Elijah Wood, Larry King, Dick Clark, Charlton Heston, and Bob Hope.

((Photo via the Krewe of Bacchus))