Mel tried her hand at a lamb roganjosh, and I was planning on mixing up some gin and tonics; with my favorite gin, Hendricks (Actually, the only gin I really LIKE, vs tolerate).
One of our guests however decided they wanted a martini instead; and I decided to offer up something a little different.
I'm not a big straight martini fan, as it is corrently served. I prefer an original martini, or perfect martini; featuring a small amount of triple sec or orange bitters, along with both sweet and dry vermouth.
But I had this lovely lime juice, just sitting there...
Ok, what the hell, let's try an experiment.
I hadn't heard of it before I mixed one, but apparently this is called "the journalist martini", or just "the journalist"; or at least it is with slightly different proportions:
2 jiggers Hendricks gin
1/4 jigger sweet vermouth
1/4 jigger dry vermouth
1/2 jigger triple sec (I prefer cointreau)
1/2 lime juice (fresh, or clarified)
2 dashes bitters (I prefer peychauds, but angostura is fine)
Mix for two, over a full shaker of ice; stirred for 30 seconds, and poured straight into a martini glass.
By god that's a good drink. Seriously. Slightly bitter, slightly sweet, slightly sour, and totally refreshing.