Another Thin Man

[xiphias]

So, Lis and I went to the Boston Athenaeum for their pre-Valentine's Day showing of Another Thin Man. Fun movie.

While I was waiting in line for a martini before the show (which I didn't get, because we got there after they'd run out of gin, so they only had vodka martinis, which I won't drink, for philosophical reasons), I thought I recognized the person standing in line beside me.

It was Christopher Kimball!

Okay, so I'm a real geek. After the movie, I did get his autograph.

The movie was a lot of fun, too.

Comments

Re: Vodka Martinis are really the only way to go...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

While vodka and vermouth may well form the basis of a pleasant cocktail (I wouldn't know, personally), to call such a drink a "martini" is clearly stretching the point. Just as "a glass of cold gin" is a lovely thing, on its own terms, that, too, is not a martini.

A martini is a cocktail of 3 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. While I do believe that it must be shaken, not stirred, I am not truly dogmatic on the point, and I am almost completely agnostic on Nick Charles's claim that it "must be shaken to waltz time." I've experimented with that, although, as I was both experimenter and experimental subject, I admit that, in the later parts of the experiments, my rhythm may have been somewhat off.

I am even willing to accept that a "dry martini" may change the ratio to as much as six parts gin to one part vermouth. I feel that eight-to-one, however, is really too much -- at that point, you're verging into the "glass of cold gin" approach -- which, as I said, is a fine thing, but not a martini.

Re: Vodka Martinis are really the only way to go...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Following up to myself:

I just wanted to make it clear, however, that I am far from a dogmatist with martinis: I am very willing to make changes in the classic recipe if I see fit.

For instance, I often use olives with pimentos in them!