Toy train photography gallery (post your awesome shots here)

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The most important part is that you and your son built it together. Bet the villagers were were scared of the 50 foot Cat roaming their streets.

What is King Cake?

The villagers? Oh Dear God, the villagers! What happened to the villagers? I’m afraid to look in the litter box now!  

King Cake is the New Orleans-Louisiana-Central Gulf Coast version of the cake that was traditionally served from Twelfth Night until Ash Wednesday. Some versions are similar to fruitcake with a bean baked in to it. The person who got the bean was King For The Day. The NOLA version is somewhat like a large sweet roll with a plastic baby inserted in it. The tradition is that whoever finds the baby buys the next King Cake. It gets old pretty fast and even though I’ve lived here for nearly 30 years, I’m not super crazy about King Cake. However, the blueberry and cream cheese filled version from Paul’s Bakery in Picayune MS is pretty darn good, so I’ll indulge in ONE for Twelfth Night.

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LOL The person that gets the bean is King for a day...that is funny.

LOL The person that gets the bean is King for a day...that is funny.

I think that’s the British version of the tradition. In New Orleans and areas of the Gulf Coast that celebrate Mardi Gras, the person who gets the little plastic baby (and hopefully doesn’t swallow it or choke on it!) is supposed to buy the next King Cake. That gets old pretty fast and people start intentionally looking for and avoiding the piece with the baby. Like I said above, it’s never been my favorite thing to eat anyway. The old tradition was a cake with a texture that somewhat resembles a dry, slightly stale sweet roll which is covered with a heavy topping of colored (purple, green and gold) granulated sugar. As you can imagine, that has an unpleasant “mouth feel”. Fortunately, there are bakeries who do it right and by the early 90s, I was introduced to filled King Cakes with glaze icing instead of granulated sugar and fillings like blueberry cream cheese or chocolate (both my favorites). I’m still only in the mood for a couple pieces a season, at most.

I should mention that for many years, my favorite King Cakes were made by Randazzo’s in Chalmette LA (actually, it might’ve been Violet LA but I can’t remember). At the time, the business had been assumed by the second or third generation of the family and was called Good Children Bakery. Like everything else in St Bernard Parish, the business locations were completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and the family relocated to the North Shore (St Tammany Parish, north of Lake Pontchartrain), renaming the business Nonna Randazzo’s. Nowadays, my favorite King Cakes are (as I mentioned above) made by Paul’s in Picayune MS (which is still kinda-sorta the North Shore). Nothing against the Randazzo family but their baked goods have to be shipped to my present location and the King Cakes cost upwards of $60.

Sorry, I took this thread WAAAAAY off topic! 

I guess I’m going to have to post some sort of Twelfth Night-Epiphany-Mardi Gras themed photos in this thread, aren’t I? I might need to dig out my C-11 with the purple coaches.

too bad I sold my wooden Duncan many years ago. I had to settle with thomas instead

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I just tilted my cell phone camera by about 30 degrees and I got this cute shot of Harold in various sizes.  

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Harold triplets coming to the rescue...nice picture Leyland.

A layout with the new mega station. I like the sound of the SL mode, which sounds very realistic.
I've been away for quite a while since I'm building more lego than tomy with my son for the last couple months.

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Seems like the natural progression away from trains to Legos for a growing boy. Station looks good in that Layout.

Can I ask what manufacturer those neat storage drawers are?