"Throw Me Something, Mister!"

The greatest culinary undertaking of my life was baking a king cake from scratch this weekend! When I was in elementary school, my grandparents from New Orleans would send this traditional Mardi Gras delicacy along with some beads so that my class could have a party. I wanted to share this cultural experience with the children in my Saturday afternoon English class, so after we studied the story of the Tower of Babel and practiced greetings in English and Spanish, I explained the Mardi Gras festivities, and we had snack time. Carnevale (the Italian equivalent of Mardi Gras) has its own set of special desserts and is celebrated with lots of confetti (which will remain in the piazzas for weeks afterwards). Children dress up in costumes similar to Halloween in America. At the train station this afternoon, I saw a group of young people wearing capes and masks; they were probably headed to Venice, the Italian equivalent of New Orleans.



Getting to the final product was quite a saga. Finding food coloring to make the essential purple, green, and gold sugar entailed journeying to a second supermarket outside the center of town; on the return trip, I could not find the bus stop and ended up wandering in the rain for an hour with more groceries than I should have been trying to carry. C'est la vie. Buying ingredients in metric units and measuring them with American measuring spoons was also part of the fun. Since my largest measuring apparatus was a tablespoon, I learned very well that sixteen tablespoons equal one cup, and its various derivations. Thankfully, the yeast dough, cream cheese filling, icing, and colored sugar all came together in the end to create this special treat.

Since my oven has no temperature markings (and neither supermarket sells thermometers) and is a little too small for a cookie sheet, I baked the cake at church, returned home to add the icing and sugar, and then brought it back to church for the English class snack time.

A plastic baby Jesus is hidden inside each king cake. Traditionally, whoever finds the baby is responsible for providing the king cake for the next party. In this case, the lucky winner traded the plastic baby for a chocolate egg with a toy inside. The name of the king cake comes from the wise men who visited baby Jesus.

Above is the Mardi Gras coloring sheet I made! When the kids said the requisite phrase, "Throw me something, Mister!" I threw them pieces of candy. The class size doubled this week to twelve, ranging in age from five to sixteen. My Sunday school class also saw an increase, as I had nine students learning the story of Hannah and Samuel. The church has a lot of books and curriculum, which has been a helpful starting point as I seek to come up with creative ways to present each story. If you have ideas for games (Bible- or English-related), I would love to hear them!

Saturday evening was a church meeting to discuss upcoming plans; this reunion is typically held the first Saturday of each month. Several conferences are scheduled in the next few months, which should be an uplifting time for church members as well as an evangelism opportunity. The church is full of ideas of how I can help, which include periodically changing the display in the case outside the building and updating the website. I have also inherited the task of compiling the first-ever church directory. I am glad that the church is so full of enthusiasm!

Right now I am watching the New Orleans Saints in their first ever Super Bowl appearance! Yes, the game started after midnight. A wonderful American family, who is stationed here with the military and hosts a Sunday night English devotional in their home, is letting me watch the game at their house and spend the night :) GEAUX SAINTS!!!