Hello and welcome to my first episode of cocktail hour. If you’re loving this newsletter as much as I love writing it, why not let you friends in on the fun? The more the merrier!
Is it just me or have I always been this fancy?! When most people think of Martini’s they think 007. I think, Stanley Tucci. IMO nobody will ever master a tutorial half as well as his lockdown martini’s. There was just something so heart-warming about it, Katie Melua playing softly in the background, banter with his wife and a dead arm from filming. According to Tucci, Dukes is famously the best martini place in London, so much so, they are only legally allowed to serve you three - pack your bags Diego.
Aspiring to that level of sophistication, Diego and I decided to ‘get into’ Martini’s. This was around the same time we decided to paint our dining room luscious lemondrop yellow. I had decided I didn’t want to be like everyone else (highly unlike me). I was determined that it wouldn’t be a long, arduous task. I wanted painting to be a fun experience, a date night. I had a rose-coloured vison of a Martini in one hand, a paint brush in the other, our wedding playlist in full swing and occasional breaks to boogie.
When Friday came around, we were so relaxed that we didn’t even start till 9pm. Martini’s were poured, as was the paint. A game of rock, paper, scissors later and the deal was done; I would do the cutting in and Diego would power on with the roller. Morale started high, for the first 15 minutes at least. We felt smug that we were the ones to discover *this* approach - millions of people found decorating stressful but Diego and I were the perfect exception. Maybe it was honeymoon period? Maybe it was the new personality? Or maybe decorating really could be a blast? Who could say? We were having the time of our lives… until reality crept in. You see, no matter how much I manifested neat straight lines, my cutting in looked like child’s play. The squigglier my lines were, the closer I got to driving myself up the yellow wall. The frustration met an all-time peak when I glance over at Diego, rolling over the skirting boards I had just spent an hour painting around.
Yellow paint galore.
The next morning, I pick up my paintbrush and try again (no quitters here). This time, perfect-straight-lines. I scratched my head, dumbfounded by this enigma… then remembered “Oh yeah, martini’s”.
T HE M A R T I N I
I N G R E D I E N T S
60ml of your favourite Gin
60ml of Dry Vermouth
25ml of Water
A Handful of Ice
Optional: Cocktail sticks, Olives, Cocktail Cherries, Lemon Peel (this is the twist part)
M E T H O D
1.) Place your favourite glass in the freezer to chill
2.) Pour your gin, vermouth and water into a jug, add the ice then stir.
3.) Take you glass out the freezer, pour the martini into it.
4.) Place cherries or olives onto cocktail sticks. Or you could peel 2 strips of lemon, twist to release the oils and glaze the rim of your glass with this peel. Place Lemon peel in the drink.
This makes 1 drink, double or triple quantities as you see fit. I love mine with cherries and a twist but you do you baby boo!
Top Tips
- To me, there is something so fun about mixing the highbrow with the lowbrow. For example, a few weeks ago we had friends over for fried chicken and martinis, we loved it. It felt fun and carefree, as cocktails should be. You can enjoy playing around with your own take on this.
- When guests come around why not make a jug of Martini, set up a station with cherries, olives, little cocktails sticks and lemon peels. Let you guests pour and accessorise their own drinks, they won’t mind and after all, you’ve got enough to crack on with.
- If you don’t have Dry Vermouth, you can use Scotch. Apparently this is what England did in WW2 and who am I to question that?
Kitchen Disco
(in case you’ve listened ‘easy on me’ for the millionth time #guilty)
Have a scrumptious weekend you lovely lot!