In America, there might be better gastronomic destinations than New Orleans, but there is no place more uniquely wonderful. ~ Anthony Bourdain

Happy Mardi Gras my friends, Fat Tuesday is this week, the end of the Mardi Gras season, and for those of you who are practicing Catholics, Ash Wednesday and Lent begin the next day. Last year, I visited New Orleans on the weekend before the big (last) weekend of Mardi Gras and had a great time. It’s a weekend full of parades and the giant crowds the last weekend bring were not present. So this year, I did the same and have just returned from a wonderful week in New Orleans.

Last year it was a little rainy and very cold, this year, we had one day of really heavy rain, so much in fact they shifted all of the evening parades to early morning and even then several parades rolled through heavy rain. Which created an interesting situation, the parades rolled by at top speed trying to beat the rain.

Happily, the rest of the weekend parades rolled by in great weather. I was fortunate to be able to connect with some friends I’d made last year and like always happens made a handful of new friends that I spent time with. One of my big goals for this year’s parades was to catch a fourth grail from the Krewe of King Arthur, I’d been super lucky to catch 3 last year and wanted 1 more to complete a set of 4.  How I got that fourth grail is a perfect illustration of why I love Mardi Gras Parades so much. On a parade day you are often out on the parade route for five or six hours. So you get to know the people around you pretty well. This particular day, in addition to the folks I already knew I was seemingly in the international section of the parade route. I ended up hanging out with a couple of women from France, and a woman from Brazil who was eventually joined by her sister and father. 

Having worked in Brazil and knowing a good bit of Portuguese, I love meeting Brazilians and getting the chance to speak a little Portuguese, so we were having a good time. During the parades you catch so many things and people share, if you catch something you don’t want or catch multiples you share with the folks around you. So throughout the day I gave a lot of beads and throws to the Brazilian family who were at their first Mardi Gras. By the end of the day when the Krewe of King Arthur rolled everyone knew I was on the hunt for a grail. As the parade rolled by I was stiffed and didn’t get close to a grail but at one point the Brazilian woman caught one. She immediately turned and gifted it to me, it was a truly kind act that made my night.

I made a friend last year at the parades who rides with the Themis Krewe and we hung out at the parades with some of her family and friends. Themis’ signature throw, much like the grails, are hand painted umbrellas and my friend Dana, in honor of my 60th year gifted me a really amazing umbrella.

This trip to New Orleans and Mardi Gras was one of my best trips ever to New Orleans. It felt fantastic to be in a city I love, to be having a great time at the parades with great people and to be eating great food. It was a week where I felt like myself for the first time in a long time. I was having fun, telling stories, having great conversations and generally just feeling happy to be alive. It’s going to be one hell of a downer going back to work tomorrow.

Fat Tuesday is meant to be a day where you cut loose one last day before starting a period of self denial, and internal self focus. So my friends, take Fat Tuesday to do a little something special for yourself, even if you aren’t revving up for Lent. Have a nice cocktail, or a decadent desert and just take a few minutes to be selfish, sated and happy. It will make for a very happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane