Post #352363 by VampiressRN on Tue, Jan 1, 2008 6:06 PM

Thanks for the great pics and explanations of stocking the fridge. I need to stock my lounge fridge up (right now I only have a slew of batteries, beer, champagne, and some fruity wines in it). Your organization is inspiring.

I was wondering if anyone has painted their fridge? The plain white fridge is worse than the off-white walls in my lame lounge. I was thinking of painting it like bamboo...has anyone done that?

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Just some insight into the Bond thang....

A traditional martini (as opposed to a vodka martini) is made with gin, dry vermouth and either an olive or a lemon peel. Nothing else. (Well, they used to make them with extra-dry white wine rather than the dry-wine variant vermouth we shan't address that age-old argument here) And a proper martini is stirred, not shaken.

A vodka martini substitutes vodka for the gin (or adds it to the gin, as Bond does) and sometimes allows other ingredients. Why? Well, because martini purists such as your correspondent are snobs, whereas vodka martini drinkers are more open to experimentation and allow more variations to carry the name of their drink. But both martini drinkers and vodka martini drinkers agree that one is not the other. Bond is the only person who takes both spirits--he is unique!

There are three main differences between a martini (or a vodka martini) which has been stirred and one which has been shaken. First, a shaken martini is usually colder than one stirred, since the ice has had a chance to swish around the drink more. Second, shaking a martini dissolves air into the mix; this is the "bruising" of the gin you may have heard seasoned martini drinkers complain about--it makes a martini taste too "sharp." Third, a shaken martini will more completely dissolve the vermouth, giving a less oily mouth feel to the drink.

In a vodka martini, cold is key: a vodka martini that is not ice-cold tastes like lighter fluid. So you shake them. The experience of a traditional martini is more dependent on it being smooth and on not ruining the delicate flavors of the gin. Ergo, one stirs it.