slkinsey

I actually don't use that one professionally, because "my people" said it made me seem unfriendly and kind of evil-looking. I've always liked it, though... primarily because I am kind of evil. Oh yea... and, by the way: bite me. That goes double for you too, Tommy.

For me, the acid test for long strand pasta is whether or not I can twirl it on my fork, take a bite and feel the "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" of my teeth cutting through each individual strand of pasta. Overcooked pasta does not allow one to sense the cut of each strand, and undercooked is crunchy.

Just to add another point of data: different brands of pasta vary widely as to the accuracy of the recommended cooking times. I find, for example, that De Cecco pasta is almost always perfect if I have it out of the water and into the sauce 3 minutes before the recommended cooking time, and off the heat 1 minute before the recommended cooking time. I Latini, on the other hand, has ridiculously short recommended cooking times and I find that I often have to almost double the recommended time.

Exactly my thought as well: "this is not a great gin for martinis, but a great one for other mixed drinks where you want the flavor of the gin to come through." Hendricks, on the other hand, really is a "martini gin" IMO. The flavor is fairly delicate and the things that make it interesting would probably be largely lost in a drink with more assertive flavorings.

Oh boy do you have some fun reading in store for you. A calorie is a calorie?

Hazel, but with a peculiar quality that can make them appear green, brown or blue depending on the lighting and what I am wearing.

Hendricks is actually one of my favorites... I float a paper-thin slice of cucumber in the martini instead of an olive or twist as the garnish. Serve it with a little dish of cucumber slices with coarse salt sprinkled over it. I recently tried Junipero myself... wasn't crazy about it for martinis. It was a little hot and the juniper flavor was a little too up front and harsh for my taste. Would be great in a G&T, though, where the stronger juniper flavor would cut through the tonic.

The ban, of course, has nothing to do with protecting customers or pedestrians. It is there to protect employees. Of course it will run roughshod over certain situations where a more gentle approach might be more appropriate, but that is the nature of this kind of law. It has to be fairly strict and inflexible to have any balls. Anyway, acording to this article it probably has to do with the fact that your club's terrace is enclosed. If it were open, I think smoking would be allowed there. From the article: I also found the following passage of interest: The emphasis is mine, of course. This is a common straw man example intended to make the smoking laws look like the beginning of totalitarianism, but in fact there is a big difference here. Number one, no one is forcing the employees at a steak house to eat the food that is served there. One could concievably be a complete vegetarian and still work at a steak house. Second, it is possible for employees at nightclubs to protect their hearing from the damage of long-term exposure to loud sounds very easily. It is not so easy for the employees of that same nightclub to protect themselves from secondhand smoke, short of wearing a hazmat suit.

Yes, it does seem reasonable to provide for things like dedicated ventilated smoking rooms in private clubs and also "cigar bars" that generate more than a certain amount of their revenue from tobacco sales. And, AFAIK, this is exactly what was allowed by Bloomberg and Co. whom you wrongfully malign in this case. It was, in fact, Pataki and Co. with their stricter state law that are to blame for your particular complaint. Mind you, it may be that the real reason your club doesn't allow smoking even in the private smoking room is that the Board didn't want to spend the money on the duct work, etc. in that room it would have taken to comply with the NYC law. As it turns out, in light of the state law, it was a pretty good financial decision.

Cecil Adams, the self-proclaimed "world's smartest human being" and writer of The Straight Dope column "fighting ignorance since 1973 (it's taking longer than we thought)" weighs in. I found the following pretty much says it like it is:

This one only calls for the petals from 5 red roses.

Oh, I've had it. Liked it, but it didn't blow me away. Great bottle, though. Cool. I'll have to try and find some.

Average is 5:1. (2.5 ounces of gin & 0.5 ounce of vermouth. Sometimes, I'll go wetter.) I go about 8:1 if I 'm using Vya, 6:1 if Noilly Pratt (the Vya has such a strong flavor, I find that I need to use less). Of course, this ratio changes somewhat depending on how strongly flavored a gin I am using. Of course! Their regular bitters is really good too (although perhaps not for a martini). I don't often use bitters in a martini, but it's absolutely necessary in a Manhattan, IMO.

Interesting. I've always considered Carpano an amaro rather than a vermouth, although obviously there is some overlap between these two beverages. I'm with you on the Lillet Blonde... the rouge is good too. What's the deal with Duckhorn's King Eider? Never seen it. How does it compare to Vya?

My eye. The guy who did my headshots uses a digital camera. I copied out the eye, downsampled to the right resolution and that did the trick.

Interesting. What's your ratio of gin to vermouth? I like the orange bitters idea. I don't do it often, but I do occasionally... just did it last time, in fact. I keep my glasses in the freezer too. Makes a small difference, although I sometimes wonder why they don't make martini glasses where the bottom of the bowl is quite thick before tapering to a thin rim (the idea being that the thicker glass at the bottom could hold more coldness).

Hah! I am a crusader for truth, justice and taking a realistic look at this thing.

Thanks, everyone. No one has mentioned my main qualification, which is that I am a self-important, over-educated arrogant ass who talks too much. I hope to fit right in. After all, that's why I moved to NYC!

What would be the point of that? Oh, I know: "let's allow smoking in all the poor areas of Manhattan and not in the rich, tourist and business areas." Horrible idea.

Um... well, it's been about 20 years. And at that time, I was filling the thing with whatever I could get my hands on. Personally, I wouldn't want to ruin any decent liquor by turning it into bong water. Although maybe bong technology has progressed greatly since the mid 80s.

Foie gras is available at Citarella. Expend to pay $50-$80 for one lobe, depending on size and grade. I would imagine there is no reason not to go with grade B (usually used in terrines, mousses, etc.) for French kisses.

Depends on how long you stir. I tend to stir approximately 30-40 seconds for one to two martinis. I get the proper dilution--for me--*and* a very chilled martini. Given your preference for a fairly wet martini, as mentioned here, this may be a technique that works well for your particualr style. Any more dilution, and your martinis might start to taste watered.

Vya Vermouth, both red and white. Hands down. Nothing else even comes close. The only vermouth I like to have just on the rocks with a twist. This may be a little difficult to get, so for "easy availability" you're down to the mid-level vermouths. Noilly Prat for white, Cinzano Rosso for red. These are available everywhere. Since the mid-range vermouths only cost around 8 bucks a bottle, and Vya is only about twice that... why get anything cheaper? It's already cheap. Because most bars/restaurants use 95% of their vermouth in vodka "martinis" that include a miniscule amount of vermouth only as a nod to tradition. Since no one can detect the presence of vermouth -- never mind tell the difference betwen good and bad vermouth -- in a 50:1 vodka martini, why bother using the good stuff?

No. The only intoxicant in these beverages is alcohol. Anything else is a figment of your imagination... although sometimes a nice figment. I have always understood that it was a bad idea to keep gin in the freezer, because a proper martini depends somewhat on the dilution provided by the melting of the ice -- and I do tend to find that the gin is "thicker" when it has had some ice melted into it, even when compared to frozen gin. Frozen gin would minimize this effect, as it would not melt much of the ice.