Cocktails: the Martini edition (Unlocked)
and a swig of 1956
Originally published for paying subscribers June 26, 2022. Unlocked now with a big announcement!
Announcement!
I am unbelievably excited to announce my next book — a collection of a dozen short stories and a novella to be published by @hartsfieldhomesteadpress
I’m very proud of these stories, and I’m honored to be published by this up-and-coming press. Right now, we’re focused on making this collection the best it can possibly be, but I can’t wait to share it with you when it’s done.
The short story below will be included in the collection. I hope you enjoy it as a taste of things to come! Click here to see my publisher’s announcement.
Conversations at a Party: April 1956
“You changed your hair,” he said.
She smiled to herself and turned around. “Hi.”
“Hi, yourself.”
She swirled her drink and watched the liquid spin to a stop.
He pointed at the drink. “You need another one?”
She held up the still half-full glass, her lipstick stuck firmly in a half-moon to the rim.
“Oh,” he said with a nervous chuckle.
She held the glass to her cheek and smiled.
“Who’s this?” he nodded toward the man at her elbow.
“Oh,” she looked to the left at the man whose eyes had been ping-ponging back and forth between the two of them. She took a sip of her drink and giggled to fill the space. “Roger.”
Roger’s eyes ping-ponged again. He stuck out his hand. “Yeah, Roger.”
“Rog, how’s everything?” he said, shaking his hand warmly. “Be a dear and get us a couple more drinks?”
She drained her drink in a gulp, obligingly.
Roger ping-ponged, took each glass, and walked toward the hosts’ bar cart.
“Jimmy,” said the woman.
“Wanna go for a smoke?”
“It’s April.”
Jimmy laughed. “You’re right, it’s April.” He put his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor. “So, there’s a Roger now?”
“What’s it to you if there’s a Roger now?”
“I don’t mind if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Then let there be a Roger.”
“There already is a Roger.”
“And I don’t mind.”
“You already said that.”
“So did you.”
Patsy Cline said, “You belong to me,” on the radio.
They listened.
He said, “Good. We don’t mind Roger.”
They both looked at the ground.
She tossed her hair and straightened up. “Do you have a Roger?”
“You know I don’t have a Roger.”
“Fine, I just thought I’d ask.”
“I’m not trying to bite your head off.”
“Then don’t open your mouth so wide.”
“Sorry,” he scraped his foot back and forth, “Jesus.”
She tried to burn a hole in his head with her eyes. She softened. “I’m sorry.”
“You always packed a punch, honey.”
“You know what I mean. I’m sorry.”
He shrugged.
“I mean it.”
He shrugged again. After a moment, “Good to see you, honey.”
She nodded. “Jimmy.”
He tipped his hat to her.
“Why you gotta wear hats inside?”
He winked.
She winked back.
She watched him melt into the rest of the party-goers like a drop into a pond. Roger came out of the crowd holding three drinks. Very carefully. Roger looked around.
“Where’d he go?”
“Nowhere,” she said.
Roger looked at the drinks in his hands as he passed hers to her. “You want it, or should I?”
“You can have it.” She took a sip, staring straight ahead. She blinked and stood up on tiptoe, brushing Roger’s cheek with a kiss.
He smiled, his cheeks going a shade redder as he wiped the lipstick off with his hand.
“What’s that for?”
“Nothing,” she said.
Whether you shake or you stir, strain out the vermouth or drink it, a martini is a classic. I am by no means a martini connoisseur, and while I’m much more likely to be seen drinking something with a little tonic in it, a good martini (taken with gin and a twist, personally) is still always a treat.
The basic formula is this:
Martini
You will need:
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
3 ounces gin
1 or 3 olives (according to Stanley Tucci, never two!) or a twist of lemon peel
And lots of ice
What to do:
There are many different ways to make a martini. My method is to shake together the gin and vermouth in a cocktail shaker full to the brim with ice, strain it into a chilled glass, gently rub the lemon peel around the edge of my glass, drop that into the drink, and enjoy! But you may shake or stir your ingredients together. You may strain the vermouth off the ice before adding the gin (add your ice and vermouth to your cocktail shaker, shake or stir for 30 seconds, then discard the vermouth before adding your gin to the shaker), or you may mix it all together. Play around with it and find your preference!
People from James Bond to Winston Churchill have appreciated the martini. Churchill reportedly advised making a martini by “glancing at the vermouth bottle briefly while pouring the juniper distillate [gin] freely.”
But I’ll leave it to a true martini-lover to talk about the drink — I highly recommend Pat Willard’s recent essay on the subject. You can read it here.
How do you take your martini? Let me know by leaving a comment! And let me know if you enjoyed reading some of my short fiction!
I hope you enjoyed this story — this swig of 1956 — with a chilled martini in hand.
That’s it for this week. If you liked this post, consider sending “Food & Fodder” to a friend who you think might enjoy it! Tune in next month for lots of summery recipes.
Thanks,
Juliana
PS —
Have you guys heard about Bookshop?
If you love supporting smaller, brick-and-mortar bookstores but love shopping from the comfort of your home (or, like me, you live in a teeny tiny town with a lovely but sometimes limited book selection) you’ve got to check them out. 10% of their sales go to local book stores, and 10% goes to their affiliates (like me!) every time you buy a book. They’ve got all the selection of a big online bookstore, and they’ve donated $20 million and counting to bookstores!
I now have a little “storefront” on their site, so if you’re wanting to see or buy some of my favorite books, head on over to my Bookshop site! Right now, my Bookshop lists include my Cookbook Collection, My Work, My Top 10 (always changing), and My New Foray into Scary Books.
You can find the cookbook I mentioned above, “Half-Baked Harvest: Super Simple,” there!
Make mine a 50/50, dirty.