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Archives for February 2018

Cenci for Carnevale

February 13, 2018 by Barbara Leave a Comment

 

You will love cenci at Carneval time and they are easy to make.

Happy Fat Tuesday. Carnival time is here, Lent is near so it’s time to make some Cenci for Carnevale, those scrumptious Italian pastries made from rich egg dough, deep-fried and then sprinkled with lots of powdered sugar.

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: carnival sweets, cenci, deep-fried sweets, Italian sweets, Lenten pastry

Carnevale in Italy

February 12, 2018 by Barbara 1 Comment

Back during the Dark Ages, when I lived in Rome, I had been in town about a month when I experienced my first carnevale in Italy.  I was hot-footing it in high-heeled boots through Piazza Navona on a cold February afternoon, on my way from my apartment to my Italian language class.  Suddenly I was accosted from behind by a gang of prankster boys, dressed up in costumes and engaged  in a carnevale custom–they were beating me about the shoulders with soft paddles filled with white powder. They must have thought I was a fried pastry that  needed a powdered sugar drudging.  And in fact, I ended up looking like one. I’d never heard of this custom and only wish I could have thrown those kids under the bus I was heading to catch.  They went after their next victim after I batted them away with my purse.  I wish I had a picture of that.  Lo these many years later, I’ve tried to Google the origin of this little carnevale joke, but to no avail.  If anybody knows, I’m all ears!

Carnevale in Italy includes masks and merriment in Rome.

www.italymagazine.com

The Romans will tell you that this is the time of year when every “transgression” is allowed, every prank and joke and disguise.  I also learned that carnival originated in Rome, not Venice or Rio.

Ancient Rome had its December celebration of “Saturnalia” in honor of Saturimagen the god of growing and harvesting.  Eventually, this winter celebration was Christianized.  “Carnevale” means “without meat” as the merriment leads up to Shrove Tuesday and finally Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Lenten fast.

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Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: carnevale, carnival, cenci, frappe, galani, Italian carnival customms, Ivrea Italy, orange food fight, Roman carnivale

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Hi. I'm Barbara Francis and I hope you like authentic Italian food as much as I do. It's simple, fresh, seasonal. What's not to like? And it's part of my heritage. So join me in the kitchen of Italian Food Made Simple. Just step right over the dog, she won't move even if you ask her.

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