Do you love a masquerade?  Are purple, gold and green your favorite colors?   Well, roll on down to Central Market Fort Worth, where we are ready for Mardi Gras. Be here at the Fort at 1:30 on Saturday, Feb. 21 for our annual Partner Parade, where we get decked out in costume, build our own floats, and dance in the aisles for this Cajun celebration. Bring your kids and yell out the traditional "Throw me something, Mister!" and you just may get some beads!

We're ready to party, and you can be, too, with these traditional favorites:

The muffuletta sandwich originated in 1906 and has been described as "one of the great sandwiches of the world."  A typical muffuletta consists of one loaf, split horizontally. The loaf is then covered with a marinated olive salad, then layers of capicola, salami, mortadella, emmentaler and provolone. The sandwich is sometimes heated through to soften the provolone. The olive salad is considered the heart of the sandwich, and consists primarily of olives, along with celery, cauliflower and carrot. The ingredients are combined, seasoned, covered in olive oil and allowed to marinate for at least 24 hours.

Visit our Olive Bar for Divina Alfonso Olives. Grown in the Azapa Valley in Chile, these olives are large, soft and distinctively fleshy. With their vibrant purple hue and gemstone-like beauty, they have great visual appeal and are perfect as a colorful appetizer. Mellow, winey and tantalizingly tart, pair them with a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese or add to your muffuletta sandwich!

The King Cake of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition is a ring of twisted bread topped with sugar icing colored purple (Justice), green (Faith) and gold (Power). The "king cake" takes its name from the Biblical three kings. Tradition states that their journey to Bethlehem took twelve days (the Twelve Days of Christmas), and that they arrived to honor the Christ child on Epiphany. The season for king cake extends from the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Twelfth Night and Epiphany Day), through Mardi Gras day. Your cake will come with a small plastic baby charm. Hide the baby inside the cake and the person who finds it in their piece of cake is declared king or queen of the party. The monarch is usually obligated to supply the next king cake, host the next party or both.