TOSO Fragolino Rosso ~ Bevanda Aromatizzata (A Base di Vino)

This is another way of saying Sweet, 9.5% alcohol by volume, Strawberry Champaign.
It was not, bad.
It was also not great.
Although, when mixed at a rate somewhat higher than the standard 2 - 1 champaign to succo di pesca Bellini recipe, it was... you know, sweet and red, and extremely easy to drink.

It was better than the Sante Bucciarelli Vino Liquoroso.
To be fair, I bought that one because it came in a bottle that looked like a bunch of grapes.
It does have a higher alcohol content (16%) and yet tastes almost nothing like the Vin Santos it's emulating. I mean, same idea, but it is watery where a true Vin Santos has that carmely burnt sugar tang.

***WARNING***
Don't buy alcohol because of the bottle it comes in.

We also ended up with a sweet 6.5% alcohol champaign that Ben bought for us at the gelateria because Danny wanted to go to a wine bar but didn't want to spend alot of dough.

***WARNING***
Don't buy cheap champaign at an icecream shop.
(stick to the profiterole gelato from Il Paradiso - which I finally got last night, because I had this feeling that it closed at 10:30, and it was 10:20, so Ben and Danny agreed to run on my suspicions.
We got there just in time.
- Running for gelato is really satisfying.)


And so ends another week here at the Accademia.
One week to go til fall break.
((Two and a half until my birthday))
(((- you know, in case you wanted to get me something. Or whatever)))
((((Not that my parents should think this is for them - because they actually did send me something, apparently. I was speaking more to the masses. Because I know they would feel awful if they forgot.))))


This week we did Pantalone and Zanni (the servant from Bergamo). I had a bunch of really awkward and uncomfortable failures, and one skit at the end that went pretty good, although she told us it went on too long, and I know that was totally my fault. I held us up because I wouldn't give Pantalone the coin. Ah well, you win some, you lose some. It's fantastic already to see people dissappear into the masks - to watch them on stage and not see the actor, but only the character. I laugh all of the time, which is wonderful, and, I dare say, would probably put me in a better mood if I weren't so exhausted from the work we do on the stances and movements of the Masks. Zanni, permantly bent over from a life of carrying heavy boxes on his back, is not easy to sustain...

Well, I don't have any food. And even though I went to bed at 2:30am, my body and my alarm both decided that I should keep my usual 7:30 am wake up. So I fucked around on Wikipedia for a while (I found out that my mask I bought is one of the 3 traditional carnival masks, called a Moretta, but the least often seen because it is impossible to eat or drink while wearing it, not being equipped with a mouth hole of any sort, and conforming to the face all the way around. Actually, originally, they were designed for french women to wear while visiting the convent, and were held on the face not with ribbon stays, but with a button on the inside of the mask where one's mouth would be, which was held between the woman's teeth, thus preventing the wearer from speaking. Apparently, they quickly became popular because they "accentuated feminine features".
... Like silence?
It's a black mask with two eye holes and a sort of ridge in the center that looks a bit like a turned up nose!

I mean, I bought it, didn't I?
fuck.

L.B.'s mask, though, is a Bauta, which was the favored mask not just for Carnevale, but all year long for privacy on secret (and dangereus?) liaisons, as it's strongly jutting chin line allows the wearer to eat and drink with out removing it. It is worn by both men and women, with a black drapey, cape-y sort of thing, and a tricorn hat. Tipically, the mask was white, although black was also used.




I have to walk into town to buy groceries.
My roommate just got up.
It's 1:40pm here.
That means I've been up for 6 1/2 hours. I've caught up on my journal, gone for a run, done Bryan's workout on the roof of the Teatrino roof, taken a shower, written another blog, checked to see who's changed their facebook picture, become, as I've just demonstrated, an authority on Carnivale masks, and, though I haven't mentioned anything about it yet, on the Nobel Prize for Literature to boot - the most recent recipient of which, by the way, was Doris Lessing, a British author I hadn't known anyone cared two bits for until today.

...
or maybe I'll have some water, read my Rum book, and take a nap...


I guess we'll just,
see.