Mardi Gras

Today is Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday- also called Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday. We've come to the end of the season of Carnival, which starts on Epiphany (January 6) and ends at Lent. Fat Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday. 

Agenda Today:
1. Make a screen mask
2. Make carnival corn soup with dumplings

1. Make a screen mask:
The Cajun celebration today in rural Louisiana is called the Courir (pronounced Coo-REER) de Mardi Gras, or the Mardi Gras Run. It’s a begging ritual, similar to Halloween; people ride around the countryside on horses, wearing masks and costumes, and beg for ingredients to make a gumbo.

My students with their wire masks.

The traditional disguise is a painted wire screen mask, a conical capuchon (pronounced cap-e-shon) hat, and a raggedy fringed shirt and pants.

Many Cajuns make their own masks from window screen. The face is painted or sewn onto the screen; it can be simple or very elaborate, but it always looks eerie, because you can see the wearer’s real face through the screen.

Supplies: 9x7-inch piece of screen, wire snips, paper, pencils, hot glue, double fold bias tape, scissors, oil pastels, texture paint, acrylics, yarn, needle, thread, fabric scraps, trims, rickrack, pompoms, fringe, elastic

1- Hold the screen to your face and decide on a shape- Round off the two bottom edges to create a “u” shape. The edges of the screen might be sharp; you can sew or use hot glue to attach double-fold bias tape around all edges of the screen.

2- Draw your mask face onto the screen with oil pastel, and check how it looks in a mirror.

Tip: You can put the mask eyes where your real eyes are, but then they need to be left free of paint so you can see; if you want to fill the mask eyes in with paint, place them above or below your real eyes.

3- Decide how to make each facial feature:

• You might cut some features out of felt and sew or hot glue them in place.
• You might paint some features with acrylics and outline with texture paint. Use unusual colors- aim for eerie or creepy.
• You might sew some features (like a nose) and stuff them so that they stand out.
• Finishing touches might include a beard and moustache of fringed fabric or wool fibers, hairy eyebrows, ears with pipe cleaner earrings, or a bell on the nose.

4- When the paint is dry, sew on a piece of elastic to the sides of the mask to hold it on your face.

2. Make carnival corn soup with dumplings:

You can see three dumplings in the center of the bowl.

One place with a fantastic Carnival season is Trinidad and Tobago, an island republic in the southern Caribbean, off the coast of Venezuela. They celebrate for a month, with calypso music, steel band contests, limbo competitions, and fêtes (French for parties), and finish with street parades on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

This is a favorite Trinidad carnival food, served by vendors outside of fêtes and street parties. It is one of the most delicious soups I've ever eaten.

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme
• 1/8-c. fresh cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium potato
• 1 carrot
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• red pepper flakes to taste
• 4 c. vegetable or chicken stock
• 1/4-c. dried yellow split peas
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• can of cream-style corn

Dumplings:

• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. cornmeal
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• pinch of salt
• pinch of cayenne
• 2-3 Tbsp. water

Yield: about 6 servings-

1. Chop the onion, celery, fresh thyme, and cilantro. Mince the garlic. Also, peel and dice potato and carrot.

2. Heat oil in a soup pot. Add onion, garlic, carrot, and red pepper flakes. Sauté 3 minutes. Add the celery, potato, and thyme and cook five minutes more.

3. Add stock, yellow split peas, cilantro. and salt and pepper. Simmer partially covered for about 1 hour.

4. While the soup is simmering, make the dumplings: Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, a pinch of salt and a pinch cayenne, then gradually stir in just enough water to make a stiff dough. Knead until smooth then let sit for 10 minutes.

5. When the split peas are tender, add a can of cream-style corn.

6. Roll the dumpling dough into a thin log, and pinch off small pieces to roll into fat, short worms. Drop them into the soup, and wait until they rise to the surface. If the soup is too thick, add a little water.