Carnevale

When Rosa and I went out last week, she introduced me to "chiacchiere", a special sweet that we had at a nearby bar/ coffee shop. "Chiacchiere" is also the Italian verb to 'chit chat', but as a pastry, it is eaten mainly as part of Carnevale which is celebrated for 4 weeks, and begins 60 days before Easter. Chiacchiere look kind of like lasagna noodle shaped fried dough, covered in powdered sugar, and served w/ some liquid chocolate that you can dunk it in. I had one bite and Rosa said, "oh..you made a mess!". I looked down, and my black coat was covered in powdered sugar, as were my black shoes. Mamma Mia...you can't take me anywhere!ha! Anyhow, while Josh and I were out walking this weekend, we came upon Piazza Plebiscito and noticed kids running everywhere, shooting off silly string, and throwing tons of confetti. Then, shopping yesterday, I saw huge bags of confetti being sold at all the stores. I checked in with Rosa to learn more and she said that for Carnevale,for 4 weeks, especially during the weekends, you can see kids dressed up in costumes, throwing confetti (coriandoli) in the street and spraying white silly string..they can even spray it on you as you walk by minding your own business. Rosa also informed me that "the kids make jokes (some not nice at all), but you can not protest!" Ok..if I can't protest, can I at least throw a zinger of a joke their way?ha!