Mardi Gras, Yeah Baby!

By Marilyn Hunter

Our family eats pancakes for dinner on Shrove Tuesday. You may know it as ’“Fat Tuesday” or “Mardi Gras.” “Gras” is French for fat and “Mardi” is French for Tuesday. However you say it, it’s a time to indulge because it’s the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, the season of fasting and abstinence. Pancakes are the traditional food of Shrove because they use up all the foods that are forbidden during Lent…fat, butter, sugar and eggs.

This year we’ll celebrate Shrove New Orleans-style with Bananas Foster Pancakes. For the pancake recipe, I always defer to the granddaddy of them all, James Beard. For the Bananas Foster topping, I’ve created a quick and easy version of the classic.

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Messy Meals

By Andrew Hunter

I coach our boys’ football, baseball, basketball and soccer teams. It’s the highlight of my day to be on a field running around with the neighborhood kids. They all enjoy learning to throw spiral passes, catch pop flies and kick goals, but they really, really enjoy getting dirty. They’ll dive for fly balls 10 feet from their gloves and slide into second when the play’s at third…all with the hope of getting dirty.

Dirt’s a badge of honor when you’re a kid. So why would the dinner table be any different?

Messy meals are popular in our house and Sloppy Joes are the perfect messy meal. They’re a saucy concoction of ground meat and vegetables perched precariously between a top and bottom bun. We spike our Joes with onions, tomatoes and fresh herbs, depending on our mood.

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