On February 28^th, the city of survivors, New Orleans, will celebrate the merrymaking carnival called Mardi Gras.  As an employee at Celebrity Foods, I am always curious about how holidays with so much emphasis on food came about.

According to InterCommerce Corporation, Mardi Gras “originated in the middle of the second century in Rome when the Fast of the 40 days of Lent was preceded by a feast of several days during which time participants delivered themselves up to voluntary madness, put on masks, clothed themselves like specters, and considered all pleasure allowable.” Mardi Gras was just simply called a “Carnival” back then. Mardi Gras was born in 1827 in New Orleans when a group of students back from going to school in Paris started dancing in the streets of New Orleans one day wearing costumes.

Now, that’s student activism.

According to AmericanCatholic.org, “its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the ‘last hurrah’ before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.”  The official colors of Mardi Gras signify justice, faith, and power – purple being a symbol of justice; green being a symbol of faith; and gold signifying power.”

Justice looks quite flamboyant then to me….

The phrase “mardi gras” is French and means “Fat Tuesday” - implying the notion of eating a lot or indulging the day before Lent starts.

The traditional desert – King Cake

If you think you’re the king cake at Mardi Gras or know of any Mardi Gras trivia you’d like to share, indulge us.

Since I can’t usually get to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, my buddies and I usually organize a big festive party of our own. We turn on the heat lamps out on the patio and fire the grill up. This is our version of Mardi Gras.

Supplies:

Paper & plastic everything – plates, napkins, silverware

We don’t want to have to clean up the aftermath of the party, like New Orleans does after Mardi Gras Day.

Everyone brings a signature dish. Since I’m an employee at Celebrity Foods, I have always had scrumptious food to choose from. The following are some of my past offerings to the crowd:

Appetizer - King Crab Legs

This appetizer is known far and wide beyond my crowd. Because of its tremendous flavor, friends of friends have been emailing me about trying this dish out since the first year I brought it out.

Entrees

-         Flounder Del Rey

Stuffed with the most delectable crabmeat, I think this is my choice dish for this year’s party. It takes a little longer to prepare, about 20 minutes in the oven, but it’s worth the wait.

-         Cajun Spiced & Grilled Rainbow Trout

Tender and full of  the spice Mardi Gras is known for, I can’t go wrong using this as my traditional dish to bring to grill up for the party if I want to socialize a bit more. It’s ready in about 10 minutes.

A Side Dish

-         Red Beans & Minute Rice w/ a tad bit of  Medium Pace Picante Sauce & Chips

Classic taste is always welcome such as this, but it’s more of a compliment to one of the main dishes I usually bring.

Have any Mardi Gras plans? Do share. Let’s party like we’re in New Orleans! 

“Dining is and always was a great artistic opportunity.” – Frank Lloyd Wright

Now and then, I like to surprise a group of friends by inviting them over for dinner. Sometimes they return the invite. Being an employee of Celebrity Foods, some friends think I have an advantage. But my recipes are pretty simple. It’s just the food that’s always guaranteed to be great. Last week, I spiced up Taco Night with Machaca Ranch Steak Tacos.

“Machaca” is a Spanish word meaning shredded.

Servings per recipe – 4

Makes: 12 tacos

Ingredients

1 ½ lb Boneless Ranch Steak

16 oz jar of salsa

12 corn tortillas

½ cup oil or non-stick spray

shredded lettuce

shredded cheese

diced tomatoes

diced onions

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place frozen Celebrity Foods Ranch Steak in a roasting pan, season with garlic salt, and pour a ½ jar of salsa on top. Cover with lid or foil and bake for 2 ½ hours or until meat is fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool for ½ hour with lid on. With two forks, shred and de-fat meat. Allow the juice to soak back into the steak. While the steak is cooling, start dressing the tortillas with the oil.

Tortillas:

Heat oil in a small pan until hot. Place a tortilla in oil, turning once. Each side should take 7 to 10 seconds. Place on a paper towel to soak up access oil. OR, spray the tortilla and then the hot pan with the non-stick spray and place sprayed side down and spray the other side. Turn the tortilla to cook the other side. Place on a paper towel.

Once the steak has cooled, fill each tortilla with the steak filling and fold each in half. Top with lettuce, cheese, diced tomatoes, and/or onions, whatever your favorite combo of tasty toppers may be.

If you have a special dish you like to share with friends sometimes that’s easy to make, do share!  All ideas for dinner parties are welcome. And maybe we could plan a dinner party together one day!  

Some people, like my friend Sharon, are able to take off work on Valentine’s Day to spend all day with their special someone, breakfast included. Like most people at Celebrity Foods and elsewhere, I don’t have the liberty of taking off work for V-Day. But I’m still going to suggest my friend Sharon’s V-day breakfast to my own special someone for the weekend after the holiday.

Sharon’s Valentine’s Day Breakfast: Celebrity Foods Potato Pancakes accompanying a delicious cheesy omelet. Made with fresh potatoes and whole eggs, these pancakes only take about 5 minutes to cook and go great with any omelet. They’re a treat that makes my breakfast bar seem like an old fashioned diner. Ah, the romantic-ness of a country diner, tucked away in an apartment complex far, far away……from the traffic lights.

If you have a breakfast treat in mind to enjoy around Valentine’s Day, do share. The more ideas the better.

As a Celebrity Foods employee, I have tasted some delectable desserts. This Valentine’s Day, after a romantic dinner, I plan to enjoy a glass of aged red wine with a slice of Celebrity Foods White Chocolate Decadence Cake. I simply take it out of the freezer prior to serving dinner and by the time the meal is over, the cake has defrosted. To give a more sophisticated, but easy look, I like to puree raspberries to top off each slice. This elegant, deliciously light, white cake has the tastiest white chocolate flakes making it a perfect compliment to my palate awaiting that second glass of wine.

If you have a specific dessert/wine combo you like to save for V-Day, let me know by replying to this post. Some things are saved for that once a year special occasion, but don’t have to seem to take up a lot of time in the preparation.

“If love is the answer, could you rephrase the question?”

- Lily Tomlin

Last Valentine’s Day, I was camping with my honey, who happens to be an outdoor junkie, in Joshua Tree. When we go on our camping expeditions, we always like to bring good food. That is one of the coolest things about working at Celebrity Foods. I always have great food to choose from. On our last outing, I packed the Burgundy Wine Peppercorn Beef Kabobs. As it turns out, those kabobs were the only thing easy about our trip. To start, we were missing a couple of tent poles and the junkie was a bit grouchy (in their defense they were just getting over a cold). Eventually we tied off two ends of the tent to a tree. It was like an episode of survivor. Albeit with a full belly, it was a long, cold wet weekend. Take it from me, check your tent prior to entering the wilderness.

This year I don’t have the same date for Valentine’s Day (I’m still reeling from the last experience). However, I do intend to share those tender kabobs with my new honey for this Valentine’s Day’s menu. Some things on a date should be guaranteed (I’m talking about food here, people).

If food saved your Valentine’s Day experience, let me know by responding to this post. We have all experienced dating’s unpredictable nature.

Have birds always chirped and have flowers always perked up on February 14^th, Valentine’s Day? Do all companies, like Celebrity Foods, decorate their offices with red hearts and streamers? The answer is no. Since Valentine’s Day only came into being in the 14^th century, prior to that it was just another day in the dead of winter.

According to a CNN special in 2002, the day dedicated to love started as a result of author Geoffrey Chaucer and Saint Valentine. At the time, Chaucer was writing a poem for an arranged marriage to be and searching for a saint to honor on the couple’s engagement day. He chose Saint Valentine because as the feast honoring him corresponded with the day of the couple’s engagement. So inspired, Chaucer chose to write a poem called “The Parliament of Fowls”. For his poem, Chaucer dreamed up the idea that all birds found their mate on this couple’s engagement day, May 3^rd. After Chaucer died, Valentine’s Day got pushed back to February because the first song birds that traditionally warble after winter tend to debut in mid-February.

If you know of any Valentine’s Day trivia, reply to this post. Share the love man.

“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”

- Author Unknown