Originally a tripleheader, the show will now feature two televised bouts, with super middleweight prospect Brandon Gonzales (14-0, 10 KOs) facing veteran Ossie Duran (26-8-2, 9 KOs), and 2008 U.S. Olympian Javier Molina (9-0, 4 KOs) against Artemio Reyes (13-1, 11 KOs) in an eight-round junior middleweight bout.
“It’s always disappointing when you have a fight with a lot on the line and one of the fighters gets hurt. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s part of the sport,” Dan Goossen, who promotes Thompson and Chambers, told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “It’s one of the breaks of the game. I just hate to see Tony Thompson putting all this hard work in and now he’s faced with not fighting next Friday.”
“This has been an ongoing thing and it just caught up to me,” Chambers told ESPN.com. “My back has always been tight and that’s a very stubborn area in your body. But it’s really gotten to me. I was sparring last week and it really got to me.
“I don’t think it was any specific move or punch, but it became unbearable. I just don’t want to get in there with a guy like Tony and half-ass it. You’re asking for either a bad performance or a loss, and I don’t want either of those. It’s unfortunate. I worked really hard, but I’m injured.”
“In camp, my back was tight,” he said. “I would do some rounds and then I couldn’t move. I was going to tough it out, but I just couldn’t perform. My back was tightening up when I was just walking around.”
“If we can’t reschedule the fight, I believe Tony should just become the mandatory because he has performed within the guidelines of the tournament,” Goossen said. “Or we can try to reschedule the fight for later in the year.”
King Cakes: A New Orleans tradition makes its way to Toledo.
The Blade (Toledo, OH) January 17, 2006 Byline: Kathie Smith Jan. 17–King Cakes long associated with Mardi Gras are relatively new to the Midwest. They are more popular the farther south you go, but that may be changing.
“They are catching on more each year,” says Andy Haas of Haas Bakery in Oregon. “The Retail Bakers of America have been trying to promote the cakes.” And Haas Bakery is among the Ohio bakers, including those at The Andersons and Servatii Pastry Shops of Cincinnati, who bake and sell King Cakes to interested Ohioans.
This year, Mr. Haas and his father, Dennis, now semiretired, have been baking and selling King Cakes since Jan. 6, Epiphany. As is the custom, they will sell the cakes throughout the period of Mardi Gras until the day before Ash Wednesday, when the Lenten season begins.
Epiphany is referred to as the 12th day of Christmas or the King’s Day. Twelfth night is the celebrating of the coming of the wise men bearing gifts to the Christ child. It marks the start of the carnival season that runs through Fat Tuesday, which also is known as Shrove Tuesday.
According to one version of King Cake history, French settlers brought this tradition to New Orleans. The cake dates back to the 12th century, when people feasted on round cakes that resembled the modern version. The cakes were eaten on King’s Day and soon the Feast of the Epiphany developed into a major holiday complete with a royal theme celebrated throughout France. Shortly after, a tiny bean was put into the dough before the cake was baked. The bean was eventually replaced by the modern-day plastic baby to symbolize the baby Jesus whom the three kings or wise men were going to see. King Cake is now served throughout the entire carnival season. go to website king cake recipe
In the New Orleans tradition, King Cake consists of a rich dough that is baked and topped with icing and sugar in the traditional Mardi Gras colors – purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power). The decoration has been called gaudy by some, but it is a much appreciated tradition by those who love it.
Haas bakers also add the yellow, green, and purple beaded necklaces, and plastic coins to the decoration.
Many King Cakes are made plain, but can have fillings. Haas Bakery has lemon and raspberry with cream cheese, apricot, blueberry, cinnamon, and others. The 20-ounce cake costs $13.95 and serves 12 to 15 people; the 40-ounce cake costs $21.95 and serves 24 to 30 people. Mr. Haas recommends that customers order a King Cake in advance, then serve it the day it is baked.
Today many bakers are worried about liability and thus will not put the tiny plastic baby in the cake for fear that a consumer will choke on it. Thus, bakers – including those at Haas – put the plastic toy on top of the cake. go to site king cake recipe
The Andersons bake shops use a cinnamon yeast dough, according to Dianne Shomody, deli and bakery buyer. “It is frosted with white icing and sprinkled with colored sugars – green, purple, and yellow. They throw in a necklace and a plastic baby so the buyer can hide the baby in the King Cake,” she says.
After Feb. 1, King Cakes may be special ordered at The Andersons in the Toledo area 24 to 48 hours in advance. But they will be on the shelf at The Andersons Feb. 24 to March 4. “Our Columbus stores sell them year round,” says Ms. Shomody. “It’s a trend that’s moving north.” King Cakes are very familiar on the Bowling Green State University campus, according to Chef Sonja Kehr of the university’s food operations.
“We often make them from scratch and they are used at various catering events and our retail operation and restaurant,” she says.
New Orleans bakeries have long shipped King Cakes throughout the United States for those longing for a taste of the tradition, writes Linda Stradley in I’ll Have What They’re Having: Legendary Local Cuisine (The Globe Pequot Press, $18.95). Originally objects such as coins, beans, pecans, and peas were hidden inside King Cakes. Wealthy plantation owners in the late 1800s sometimes put a precious stone or jewel in the King Cake.
“The recipient of the plastic baby is ‘crowned’ king or queen for the day and are obligated to host the following year’s party,” she writes. She dates the tradition to the French settlers in New Orleans around 1870. Ms. Stradley includes a New Orleans King Cake recipe in her cookbook iced with Lemon Frosting and sprinkled with colored sugars. She does not use a filling in the recipe.
When The Blade tested the recipe, it produced a “huge” cake. Although it was best when served warm, the leftovers could be used to make great French toast.
Father Dominic Garramone, host of the Public Television series Breaking Bread with Father Dominic and author of the companion cookbooks, developed another version of King Cake.
Noting that King Cake recipes and customs are as diverse as the cultures of the world, he drew his inspiration for the dough from the orange and spices flavors of Spain. He uses a mixture of cardamom and nutmeg in a sweet moist sour cream dough spiked with orange zest. The sweet surprise inside is 11 chocolate-covered almonds evenly distributed throughout the cake. In the 12th piece is a single coin or trinket carefully wrapped in parchment paper.
“This was my own invention,” he said of the chocolate filling in a phone interview from his office at the St. Bede Abbey in Peru, Ill. He also used rapid-rise yeast, which is designed for higher temperatures (120 to 130 degrees) compared to the 110 to 115-degree temperature and instant active dry yeast used by Ms. Stradley in her recipe. He noted that richer doughs like the sour cream dough in his recipe sometimes take longer to rise and that they should always rise in a warm and protected place like the inside of an oven with a pilot light.
Another unique feature is the pull-apart “crown” form made from 12 separate pieces of dough. Use a ring mold to hold the pieces together as they rise into a golden crown in the oven. The cake is brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with sugar. Candied cherries or gumdrop “jewels” are affixed to each point of the crown.
The King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook by Brinna B. Sands (Countryman Press, $24) also has a recipe for Twelfth Night Cake. It is described as a variation of a pound cake (no yeast) that is rich in butter, honey, and eggs. With the honey as an ingredient, the cake bakes more slowly at a lower temperature of 300 degrees. It is baked in a Bundt pan.
Kathie Smith is The Blade’s food editor.
Contact her at:
food@theblade.com or 419-724-6155.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
