Do forgive our absence. Under-the-weather + busy (+ some fun) = Oof A quick mention of the last day of Carnival. Of course, this takes place all over the world but a favorite is Venice (or anywhere in Italy), so a few links for some fun. A visit to The official Venice site is well done, wonderful graphics, photographs, & ideas. (Venice Carnival 2012 has a nice site, as well.)A visit to Juls' Kitchen takes you to the Tuscan countryside & the talented Giulia's house. Beautiful photographs, wonderful recipes. Here's one for cenci, a Carnival treat. You probably have all the ingredients on hand & they are so good.
A GG pal, Merisi travels to Venice often; she's there right now snapping wonderful photographs of mysterious masked people. Go & then hang around for her daily updates of life in Vienna.
ciao-meow/GGCM(photograph by Stewart D. Halperin)
Carnival (pre-Lenten goings-on) is ongoing in many places where it's not much part of the culture - except for treats. One such place is Sweden, where we have yet to visit for real. But trips to IKEA, Swedish blogs, & House of Sweden will have to do for now. But enough non-productive swooning at photographs of semlor (the plural of semla). We finally found a recipe that looks simple, straightforward & authentic. Here's a good post about semlor (& fika) via the official Sweden site (it has several wonderful blogs, too). Better than making semlor, though? Being able to pop into a bakery where most Swedes buy their treats.ciao-meow/GGCM(photographs by Le Portillon)
Love these black & white ensembles. Hop over to Venice via Michelle Fabio's article in Go Italy. There's even a little video. GG & her editor may have to go next year - this is the last of the lovely 2009 photographs by the mysterious (& generous) wax0r.
ciao-meow, amici!
Carnevale, Fasching, Mardi Gras over very soon (especially in Europe. You know who you are, mad Twitterers. Wrap it up!) Photographs by wax0r, still uploading from Venice. GG's running around with Mardi Gras bead necklaces in her mouth. Seriously. Buona sera, buona notte, bambini...
baci from DC,
GG & her editor
What the devil is going on here? Well, it has flowers & it's not as scary as some of the traditional masks (they scare GG). Without the mask part, one could imagine someone wearing it to the Queen's garden party. (Yes, we can imagine it.) Must have been fun to make it. We do have a mask from Venice (of a cat, what else?)...but no one will be wearing it today. Be good (well, not too....) (photograph by the mysterious waxOr who is in Venezia as we type.)
baci, baci, baci
GG Carnevale Central
Our friend Maria Caterina di Perugia went to the Festa del Gatto in 2004 (in Perugia, of course!) when she was attending the language school there. These images are from the brochure/schedule that always makes us smile. Maria di P. brought us a lovely original watercolor of a family of gatti rossi (red cats) from an art gallery, the name of which escapes us at the moment. The painting still requires a frame; we'll wait until it can be done properly at our favorite framing shop.
Here is a fun link to the Gatto-Web site (it's amusing even if you don't read Italian). Here's Perugia's official site; we can't find a mention of this year's festa (there are gatto festivals in other Italian cities, particularly Florence & Rome), but perhaps you can. Our head hurts from too much Googling with dial-up. This is a tie-in to Carnevale, ongoing. (Also called Fasching in German-speaking countries.) Can you imagine how wild Venice is right now? Yikes. Michelle Fabio of Bleeding Espresso has a Carnevale in Venice article in Italy Magazine (UK), here.
The "Cubista" kitty painting above does not have a title (on the brochure, anyway); the other painting is Il gatto, la luna, le stelle ("Cat, moon, stars"); both paintings are by Valentina Trona. Bella! The photograph of the person in the maschera is uncredited, however the brochure was created by Umberto Frascione & Rita Persichini for Il Comitato della Festa del Gatto di Perugia. That's some committee name, huh?
Tina Daunt, columnist of the L.A. Times' Cause Celebre has a pre-Awards column on the documentaries, here. Typical of a Washingtonian, Giulia's editor has seen all but one. Hey, free screenings:) In Tina's other life, today her charming The English Muse blog features a gorgeous rose dress photograph about which we are fantasizing. More about Tina & her blog in the future. As everyone knows, GG looks fabulous every day in her version of the LBD (only it's red/orange & white, accessorized by a rose-pink nose.)
ciao-festa-meow!
GG's stylist
