Image of the Day

. Lillian Bassman: The V-Back Evenings (Model Suzy Parker in a dress by Pauline Trigère, from Harper's Bazaar, July 1955. Courtesy of the artist). From Cocktail Culture: Ritual and Invention in American Fashion, 1920–1980, opening tonight at the RISD Museum of Art.

On Drink, or, How's Your Glass?

I have been somewhat obsessed by this little book (I wish it were pocket-sized so I could bring it with me when I need it most) and having just finished it and some of the recipes within, I thought to share it with you too. Sir Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) was well known for his writing, his humor, his misogyny, and his love of drink – particularly what he called the English workingman's liquor: gin (what I call crazy juice). This collection of short essays, recipes, hangover helpers and a questionnaire on all things drink-related comes from years of experimenting, dinner parties and mishaps. On more than one occasion I found myself laughing outloud on a plane ride from Albuquerque to Seattle last month. An excerpt:

The Copenhagen
4 or 5 parts Vodka
1 part Danish Aquavit
Blanched Almonds
Ice Cubes

Notes.
(i) Use a British Vodka, the cheapest you can find, in pursuance of G.P. 4: For any liquor that is going to be mixed with fruit juices, vegetable juices, etc. sweetening, strong flavoured cordials and the like, go for the cheapest reliable article. Do not waste your Russian or Polish vodka, etc.

(ii) The character after whom I have named this drink would probably make his Clement Freud face if offered one, but he would be among the first to appreciate that its apparent mildness might make an excellent love-philtre to press on shy young ladies, if there are any of these left anywhere in the land.

Proceed as before (making a standard martini) dropping an almond into each glass as you serve. Wondering what the almond is doing there (I believe it is a Scandinavian love token) will keep your guests tongues wagging until the liquor sets them wagging about anything under the sun. Distilled out at 79 percent, Aquavit is a strong drink, so much so that it seems to extend its power over the whole.

Enjoy your drinking and "enjoy it in moderation." For further reading and viewing, Amis' first and most famous book is Lucky Jim. In closing, a joke (NSFW) by the aforementioned Clement Freud, son of Sigmund:

In the Mix

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Consider the following an apt intro to what will hopefully be an extensive series of posts from our good friend Matthew McDonald.

But first, by way of introduction: Matthew has lived all over the place (Philly, D.C., Brattleboro…Scranton) and went to school for printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design. After that he did a bunch of other stuff including co-founding the Brooklyn record label Sound-Ink and producing tracks for MF Doom (aka Viktor Vaughn – Vaudeville Villain, pick it up). After that he worked for venerable furniture/design purveyors Moss and Cassina. Matthew would not like it that I'm listing all this stuff but since it's the first post I feel like it's good to provide an intro. Matthew is a great DJ and producer (if you're familiar with Visionaire SOUND you know him as Max Billions) and a truly unique individual. Matthew and his wife Lily moved from Brooklyn to Seattle at the same time as us and he now runs the business side of her fashion label Sunshine & Shadow. Am I allowed to say that Sunshine & Shadow is working on a capsule collection for Urban Outfitters? Lily and Matthew have a studio in an old metal foundry in Georgetown and they're about to move to Beacon Hill with their dogs Fittybucks and Carmine.

Is that enough of an intro? That's pretty good.

I couldn't be happier to have Matthew do some blogging up in here.
So, with all of that out of the way, an appropriate first post:


Matt’s in the Market Bloody Mary recipe

In the interest of passing along a tasty drink recipe from one lush to another; as a public service announcement; here is the recipe for Robbie McGrath's signature Bloody Mary:

Served in a pint glass with bar ice:

1.5 ounces Aquavit, preferably Linie Aquavit as it is not too anise-y. This brand of aquavit supposedly has to cross the equator line twice before the liquor is ready to drink, giving it enough time in its oak casks, with temperature fluctuation and rough seas slosh to impart the desired flavor.

A healthy dose of Sacramento Tomato juice (don’t be a fool and use an inferior brand)

A dash of Worcester sauce

A healthy dose of Melindas Habanero Pepper Sauce, XXXtra reserve (don’t skimp)

Salt and Pepper

A pickled green bean

Shake well and serve with a sidecar of beer, otherwise known as a snit.

You could probably get away with substituting a celery stalk for the pickled green bean but you have to have one or the other. Attached are supplemental pictures.

M.

A Saturday in May

The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow, and for the first time in recent memory we won't be watching the race at our friend Susan's place in Brooklyn. Susan's hospitality is second to none, and we're especially sorry to be so far away on this Derby Day, when Susan and her husband Steve will also be celebrating their wedding with a reception at Belmont Park (Congratulations!).

Strath at Belmont, 2008

I grew up riding horses and when I was little I read just about every book about horse racing that I could get my hands on, but I've never followed the sport as an adult – except when the Triple Crown races roll around every year. Despite the fact that horse racing too often seems to serve up tragedy and beauty in equal measure, there's something about the tradition, the pomp and circumstance, and the hope against hope that this year will be the year that produces a new Triple Crown champion that is undeniably infectious...it all somehow seems to me like Spring incarnate.


Strath has previously recommended John Jeremiah Sullivan's Blood Horses, part memoir of Sullivan's father, a sportswriter, and part history of horses and thoroughbred racing. I won't add to that except to agree that if you're looking for a great read this May, look no further – and to share a passage from the book that I always think of this time of year. In it, Sullivan describes watching footage of Secretariat winning the final leg of the Triple Crown at Belmont in 1973, decimating the previous world record time for the distance by 2 3/5 seconds and finishing 31 lengths ahead of the second place finisher, Twice a Prince:

There is a passage on the tape that I noticed only after watching it dozens of times. It occurs near the end of the race. The cameraman has zoomed up pretty close on Secretariat, leaving the lens just wide enough to capture the horse and a few feet of track. Then, about half a furlong before the wire (it is hard to tell), the camera inexplicably stops tracking the race and holds still. Secretariat rockets out of the frame, leaving the screen blank, or rather filled with empty track. I timed this emptiness – the space between Secretariat exiting and Twice a Prince entering the image – with my watch. It lasts seven seconds. And somehow each of these seconds says more about what made Secretariat great than any shot of him in motion could. In the history of profound absences – the gaps in Sappho's fragments, Christ's tomb, the black panels of Rothko's chapel – this is among the most beautiful.

Secretariat, the Belmont Stakes, 1973

So, tomorrow we'll be raising a mint julep or two (recipe below) to our two- and four-legged friends here and elsewhere, to Spring, and to the hope that this year is the year. Cheers.