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King Cake
By
Brenda B. Covert |
 1 Cake
is a popular dessert. What wedding is
complete without wedding cake? What birthday is
complete without a cake and candles? We Americans
love to have our cake and eat it too. Bakeries and
grocery stores have ready-made cakes for us to buy.
Cake mixes help us make our own cakes, or we can
bake one from scratch. We often serve special cakes
for holidays. There are sheet cakes, layered cakes, pound cakes, bundt
cakes, and more. When Marie Antoinette supposedly said, "Let them eat
cake," she could have been talking about us!
2 You
have probably seen many cakes in your lifetime. Have you seen a king
cake? It's not a king- sized cake. It's a cake served for the
festivities of Carnival leading up to Mardi Gras. Carnival begins on
January 6th, which is known as Three Kings Day, Twelfth Night, or the
Feast of the Epiphany. It ends on Mardi Gras, also known as Fat Tuesday.
It is always 46 days before Easter. In 2007, Mardi Gras falls on
February 20. It is a day of parades, parties, and king cakes.
3 A
traditional king cake is a sweetened yeast bread. The dough is braided
and formed into a ring to look like a crown. After it has been baked, a
sugar topping is poured over the cake, and it is sprinkled with purple,
green, and gold sugar. Because people today love variety, king cakes are
often made with many different fillings and flavorings. Chocolate,
strawberry, blueberries and cream, and apple are just a few of the
filling choices.
4 Purple,
green, and gold are the typical colors of Mardi Gras. Purple stands for
justice, green stands for faith, and gold stands for power. The three
colors appeared during New Orleans' Mardi Gras in 1872 on a carnival
flag. The flag was designed for the visiting Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff
of Russia. Now the colors appear on everything from beaded necklaces to
king cakes!
5 A
fun king cake tradition involves hiding something inside the cake. It
used to be a dried bean, pea, pecan, or coin. The lucky person to find
an object in her or her slice had good luck all year. Better yet, he or
she was treated like a king or queen for the day! The custom changed
around the 1930's. That is when a tiny doll baby took the place of the
other objects. It would be slipped into a cake that had already been
baked. Why a baby? According to tradition, the doll represents baby
Jesus, found by the three kings on the night of the Epiphany. After the
person who finds the doll or other object is treated like royalty, he or
she has to provide the next king cake. In that way, the festivities are
drawn out for a whole month!
6 Do
you want to have your cake and eat it too? Then get the custom of king
cake started in your circle of friends. Soon you'll be taking turns
supplying cake for each party to follow!
King Cake
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1. |
What
are the traditional colors of Mardi Gras?
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2. |
When
does the season of Carnival, often called Mardi Gras,
begin?
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Short Essay Question:
If you have ever
had a piece of king cake, describe it. If not, describe your favorite
cake. Use your senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch to help the
reader get a complete picture of your cake.
King Cake: Math
Complete and show your work.
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1. |
Seafood gumbo, a traditional Mardi Gras dish, uses 15
cups of chicken broth for each 1 1/2 cups
of flour. Mr. Anderson used 10 3/4 cups of
flour for his gumbo. How many cups of chicken broth did
he use? |
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2. |
Mr. and Mrs. Allen are having a Mardi Gras luncheon at their house.
They want to give each person a strand of Mardi Gras
beads. They can buy 13 dozen strands for
$12.97. What is the cost per strand of
beads? |
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3. |
Nicole is making a model of a Mardi Gras float. She is making it from
a shoebox that measures 12 inches wide x
7 inches long x 5 inches high.
She will cover the bottom and all four sides with
velvet. How many square inches of velvet will she need? |
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4. |
Mr. Jones went to breakfast at Brennan's while he was in New Orleans.
His breakfast cost $29. He left a 17%
tip for the server and paid 7% sales tax on
the food. What was his total cost for breakfast? (hint:
He did not pay tax on the tip.) |
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5. |
Miss Jackson is going to four Mardi Gras parties. She bought a
different feather mask for each party. The costs were
$5.81, $6.86, $10.82,
and $14.79. What is the average cost of the
masks? |
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Select the
definition that most nearly defines the given word.
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1. |
confiscate
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Something that baffles
understanding and cannot be explained. |
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Taken without permission or
consent especially by public authority. |
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Obvious to the eye or mind. |
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2. |
gullible
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A retaliatory action
against an enemy in wartime. |
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A message expressing an
opinion based on incomplete evidence. |
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Naive and easily deceived
or tricked. |
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3. |
enhance
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Increase. |
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A deaf person who is unable
to speak. |
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A state of extreme
confusion and disorder. |
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4. |
refurbish
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Extreme mental distress. |
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Make brighter and prettier,
as of a house. |
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Surrendered as a penalty. |
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5. |
paramount
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Shockingly repellent;
inspiring horror. |
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Having superior power and
influence; of great importance. |
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Bring an accusation
against; level a charge against. |
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6. |
priority
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The state of being
contaminated. |
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Status established in order
of importance or urgency. |
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Easily tricked because of
being too trusting. |
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7. |
desist
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Cool and formal in manner. |
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Bring, lead, or force to
abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct,
and adopt a right one. |
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Choose to refrain. |
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8. |
regenerate
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Rude and boorish. |
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Return to life; get or give
new life or energy. |
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A copy that is represented
as the original. |
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9. |
reprisal
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Well in the past; former. |
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A retaliatory action
against an enemy in wartime. |
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(of an idea or opinion)
formed beforehand; especially without evidence
or through prejudice. |
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10. |
evoke
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Contaminate with a disease
or microorganism. |
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Call forth; of emotions,
feelings, and responses. |
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Act between parties with a
view to reconciling differences. |
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11. |
consensus
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Furnishing gratification of
the senses. |
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Agreement of the majority
in sentiment or belief. |
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The most powerful members
of a society. |
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12. |
discord
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Noticeable in an unpleasant
way. |
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Highly involved or
detailed. |
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Disagreement among those
expected to cooperate. |
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Complete the problems
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1. |
Men's
downhill ski times are usually somewhere around 1:50.00.
If a skier is 2.26 seconds faster than this time, what
will his time be? |
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2. |
A
women's hockey team outshoots their opponent 35
shots to 24. What is the ratio of each
team's shots to the total shots in the game? |
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3. |
If a
pairs skating team scores 61.44 points on
their routine and a competing team scores 62.17
points, what is the difference in their scores? |
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4. |
A
48-inch luge sled can be purchased for $341
plus 7% for shipping and handling. How much
is the shipping and handling for the sled? |
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5. |
Tickets for events at the 2006 winter games in Torino
range from about $400 to $1,000.
Assuming that the average ticket price is the average of
these two prices, how much money will be brought in by
ticket sales if they sell 907,000 tickets? |
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6. |
A set
of high quality curling stones made of special blue
granite called hone stone can sell for as much as
$12,000 for a set of 16. If a club
decides to invest in a set with the expectation that the
set will last 25 years, what is the annual
cost of using the stones? |
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7. |
A
certain country earns 23 medals at the
Olympics. Of those, 13 are in skating
events, and 7 are in skiing events. What fraction of
their total medals are not in either skiing or
skating events? |
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8. |
If a
hockey team scores a goal for every 19
shots they attempt, how many goals are they expected to
score if they take a total of 164 shots
during the tournament? |
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9. |
There
are 211 athletes on the 2006 U.S. Winter
Olympics team. Of those, 87 were on a
previous team. What percent of the team is returning to
the Olympics for at least the second time? Round your
answer to the nearest integer. |
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10. |
During
warm ups the day before her event, a snowboarder
practices her midair spins on the halfpipe. She makes
eight 360s, two 270s, four
180s, and three 540s. How many
complete circles did she spin? |
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11. |
There
are 211 athletes on the 2006 U.S. Winter
Olympics team. If 13% of the athletes win
medals, how many team members will have won medals?
Round your answer to the nearest counting number. |
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12. |
If a
bobsled team reaches a maximum speed of 120
km/hr during a run, how many miles per hour is that?
Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a mile per
hour. Assume 1 mile = 1.61 kilometers. |
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Language Arts
Rewrite each
sentence using the correct punctuation.
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1. |
Well do you want to be a squirrel
instead?
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2. |
Yes you and your sister may ride
with us.
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Circle all of the words that you would
find on a dictionary page.
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3. |
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Guide Words: |
developed |
dew |
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device |
dictate |
deteriorate |
dials |
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4. |
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Guide Words: |
aligned |
allergy |
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along |
allergic |
alcoholic |
alimony |
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5. |
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Guide Words: |
intoxicate |
invaluable |
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interrogated |
into |
interruption |
interviewed |
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Circle the correct Greek root for the
definition.
Mixed Review
(Answer ID #
0172306)
Add or subtract.
Write the answer in simplest form.
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1. |
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6 |
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2
4 |
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+ |
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5
9 |
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2. |
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2 |
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6
19 |
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- |
1 |
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8
16 |
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3. |
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3 |
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3
6 |
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+ |
8 |
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1
18 |
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Order the decimals from least to
greatest.
Complete.
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8. |
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61 |
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mi |
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1,101 |
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yd |
- |
20 |
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mi |
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593 |
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yd |
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9. |
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63 |
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gal |
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1 |
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qt |
+ |
23 |
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gal |
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1 |
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qt |
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