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October 31, 2007
The Current Obsessions
House of Games. I was a Mamet virgin. I hate this movie. I hate it so much it borderlines passion. I keep re-watching scenes when I'm by myself. The more I watch, the more I complain about that awkward theatrical dialogue and weird actor's directing. I groan everytime I hear an expressionless and emotionless actor say something like "Give me the God damn money" or "The bitch panicked and blew it" in a casual tone of voice. I loathe Lindsay Crouse. I read about Psychoanalysis and Con Games and how the whole last shooting scene is a dream like sequence in which the psychoanalyst is actually performing a purging therapy on herself. I read about Jewish Aporia or the rhythm of talking in Mamet and how the characters ask too many questions which are in their turn only answered by more questions. It's driving me nuts. Help.
*****
Cocktails. I was a cocktail virgin. Gone is the prejudice of seeing hard liquor as the monopoly of boozers. After slowly reading the brilliant collection of fictional articles by MEC about barmen and the art of mixing drinks, the refinement and gourmet skills needed to appreciate a good cocktail, I have surrendered. Throwing in some literary anedoctes about Hemingway's Daiquiris and Buñuel's Dry Martinis helped a lot too. Reading the simple statement that a cocktail is always composed of 1 or 2 doses of liquor, 1 dose of a liqueur and 1 dose of juice felt like deducing one beautiful equation. One of those evident truths you knew all along but never cared to systematize.
Tuesday night was my first visit to Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco. A 1920's speakeasy on a corner street bearing only an antique looking sign saying "Anti-Saloon League". A password is needed to get in. No cosmos are served. Only serious cocktails. Appropriately, the ground shook beneath my feet. Really. A 5.6 earthquake in the south bay area. The biggest since the 1989 one. I was an earthquake virgin.
The Menu
The Aviation: modified to be an amuse-bouche; the Gin was substituted by sparkling wine to give it an air of appéritif, Maraschino and lemon.
Negroni: Gin, Sweet Vermouth and Campari
1794: named after the year of the whiskey rebellion; whiskey, Campari, sweet vermouth.
Black Manhattan: a variation of the American classic; bourbon, Averna and home made cherry coffee bitters.
Posted by claudia
Comments
Posted by matt at November 1, 2007 03:56 PM
Posted by rrp at November 2, 2007 10:52 AM