Movies I’m waiting for: American Dreamz | Confetti
Reading: Kafka on the Shore | Grooving to: Confessions on a Dance Floor
Carnevale season has officially opened in Italy!
You can tell from the piles of chiacchiere in the windows of all the local bakeries. Chiacchiere, which I also knew as frappe in Rome, are one of the most addictive sweets I’ve found in Italy. Sweetened pieces of dough are rolled out into strips and fried or baked, then sprinkled with powdered sugar. They are quite light and so you end up eating several of them. I think the baked ones are even better than the fried ones – for once something baked tastes better!
Another Carnevale favorite are called castagnole which are dense balls of fried (sometimes baked) sweet dough covered in powedered sugar. Many times they are dipped in rum or, my favorite, limoncello, which I found in Rome.
I’ll try to get some pictures up – for now, you can check out recipes and pictures of Chiacchiere and Castagnole at Il Forno.
I’ve also experienced the Mardi Gras mania in the States which is becoming quite popular even in CA – another excuse to drink ourselves blind, show body parts and create short-term memories? Not to mention you may score a lot of free beads.
While in school in Texas, many of the traditions from New Orleans crossed the border, like the King Cake. This ring-shaped cake is decorated in green, gold/yellow and purple, and usually contains a coin, small doll, or some other trinket that sometimes considered a symbol of good luck. If your piece contains the trinket, you may also be the one to hold the next Mardi Gras party!
I have to say one of my guilty pleasures is looking at this site, Stuff on my Cat. I don’t really want to be amused – I want to think, “those poor cats, their owners are so mean to them!!!” But what I’m really thinking is, “that is HILARIOUS!!” I think the cats have such resigned looks on their faces, like “you’re sick, man, really sick.”
Plus, in their minds, I’m sure they’re also thinking, “I will enact my revenge when you least expect it.”
To leave you on an up “feeling” this weekend, this video of David Hasselhof singing “Hooked on a Feeling” is horrifying. Granted, though his voice is not that bad, I can’t detect any actual feeling (sorry!) in his voice – he could just as easily be singing about going to Disneyland rather than feeling in love (I can’t help myself). But really, it’s the video that’s so horrible. It could be the snowboarding scene, the superimposed African tribe scene, or just the flying, in general. (I especially like the part when he grabs the fake fish and puts it in his mouth while snowboarding) Folks, he was in Baywatch, not Superman!
Buona domenica.
Who in the world choreographed that piece of Hasselhof crap!? He