Squid Mixes: Dirty Martini

As noted in last week's post, I've been curious about Dirty Martinis for a while.  A Dirty Martini combines gin, dry vermouth and olive brine with an olive garnish.  My favorite part of a regular Martini is the dregs at the bottom, so it makes sense to include the brine as a more prominent feature. 

 I got my recipe from The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan.  The author's blurb for the drink is funny:  "This is probably one of the world's worst drinks when made incorrectly, but when prepared properly, with not too much olive brine added, it can be a sterling potion."  I get the sense Regan's idea of "too much olive brine" is rather different from mine.  Bear in mind, I have been tempted more than once to drink pickle juice straight from the jar.

He suggests "olive brine to taste."  I could have added a lot more to mine.  My wife was surprised that I only included one olive - definitely could have done with more in that regard, too.  Regan suggests Dirty Sue's Olive Brine for those who want more exact measurements.  I may need to check it out.

Star Trek: Paradise

Episode: "Paradise"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 2, Episode 15

Original Air Date: February 13, 1994

via Memory Alpha

Commander Sisko and Chief O'Brien are stranded on an uncharted M-class planet.  The human inhabitants - apparently stranded themselves - have built a pre-tech utopian society.  Ben and Miles are welcomed but the two quickly learn that any transgressions against the founding principles are punished swiftly and brutally.  

"Paradise" is based on all-too-real-world cults.  Alixus, the community's leader, is a chilling antagonist:  charming, earnest and uncompromising.  She believes in what she's doing and genuinely pities our Starfleet heroes for their unwillingness to submit and join the cause.  The episode doesn't leave much to build on for future stories but certain elements, like the punishment box - very Cool Hand Luke-esque, stay with you.

via Memory Alpha

Acting Notes

via Night Court Wiki

Gail Strickland (Alixus) was born May 18, 1947.  To me, her deliberate, H-heavy delivery suggests someone working hard to cover an accent.  Yup, Southern.  Strickland is from Birmingham, Alabama.  

Films include The Drowning Pool, Norma Rae and The American President.  Strickland has numerous guest appearances on high-profile TV shows over several decades, going back as far as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, M*A*S*H and The Bob Newhart Show.  She has been married to Neil Baker since 1990.  The couple have one daughter.

Squid Mixes: Empress Martini

I got my Empress Martini recipe from the Empress Gin website.  It combines Empress 1908 Gin with Lillet Blanc.  The recipe suggests a grapefruit twist garnish.  Not having a grapefruit on hand, we went without.

My wife has a puzzling attitude towards martinis.  She requested this drink.  In fact, I generally only make martinis - or really any cocktails - at her request.  And yet, she doesn't actually like martinis, describing them as "a chore to drink."  She feels she should like them, even though she doesn't really.  This one was alright, she said.  I feel a touch of citrus helps a lot with gin so the Lillet's a winner.  As standard practice, I add orange bitters to a martini.  I didn't this time but see no reason not to should I make an Empress Martini again.

The trouble is, I'm deeply curious about dirty martinis at the moment.  I've liked them quite a lot when I've had them in restaurants or bars.  I might just have to make one for myself sometime.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Episode: "Lower Decks"

Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Season 7, Episode 15

Original Air Date: February 7, 1994

via Memory Alpha

"Lower Decks" is told from the perspective of four junior officers and their bartender buddy.  Through them, we learn what it's like to work for our usual heroes.  We also learn what life is like aboard the Enterprise when you don't understand everything that's going on because you're not involved in the top secret meetings in the observation lounge.  

I love "Lower Decks" for so many reasons.  Just as the creators seem to be running out of gas in the stretch run, they knock one out of the park [I enjoy mixing sports metaphors].  The new characters are a breath of fresh air and the behind-the-scenes view of a familiar world is ingeniously executed.  In hindsight, one imagines this could have been a path forward for NextGen.  For the first time in what feels like ages, we're left wanting more - not better, more.  Big difference.  Thank goodness, the concept was finally resurrected 26 years later with the delightful, self-parody animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks.

How can one not be charmed by the episode's principals?

L to r: Taurek, Ogawa, Ben, Sito, Lavelle via Memory Alpha

Fortunately, we already know Nurse Ogawa (Patti Yasutake).  In "Lower Decks," she gets both a promotion and a fiancé.  Originally, her first exchange with Dr. Crusher was supposed to be about a mistake Ogawa had made in the lab.  Instead, it was about her love life.  Bechdel Test fail!  Ogawa is the only one of the junior officers we'll see again.

Sam Lavelle (Dan Gauthier) is a mini-Riker: handsome, talented and ambitious.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have his CO's calm self-assurance just yet.

Taurek (Alexander Enberg) is a bright, young Vulcan in engineering.  A bit of a know-it-all, he clearly gets on La Forge's nerves but Geordi does, grudgingly, admire Taurek's creative problem solving skills.  There was talk of bringing Taurek back as a recurring character but it never happened.

Ben (Bruce Beatty) is the new bartender.  Seriously, why didn't we get more of this guy?  A town gossip who could give Riker a run for his money at the poker table?  Yes, please.  Especially with Guinan out of the picture for Season 7, a new face in Ten Forward is most welcome.  Alas, this is Ben's only appearance.

And the greatest gift of all: the story of Sito Jaxa (Shannon Fill).  The character was previously introduced in "The First Duty" as a member of Wesley Crusher's scandal-ridden flight team at the Academy.  Once she convinces Picard she has the nerve for it, he assigns her to a dangerous mission.  Spoiler - she doesn't survive.  The loss is one of the most genuinely painful moments in all of Star Trek.  The initial expectation was that her death was final but, in the end, the creators fell in love with her, too.  We never see a body, only taking the Cardassians' word for it that she died.  There has been talk of bringing her back over the years, particularly as a Cardassian prison survivor in a DS9 episode.  But it hasn't happened.  Yet.  Even in Memory Alpha, she's listed as "presumed KIA."

via Memory Alpha

Game Notes

On top of everything else, "Lower Decks" is a fantastic episode for a game enthusiast.  When the junior officer group first appears on screen, they're sitting around a Terrace board in Ten Forward (see top photo).  Riker and Troi, seated seperately, have a board on their table, too.  Terrace is a frequent prop on NextGen.  It's a real-world strategy game, invented in 1950 but not published until 1991.  It's futuristic-looking but plays a lot like chess.  I've played once.  In the mid-'90s.  I lost.

Poker games feature in the story: one game for the junior officers, one for the seniors.  Ben, a civilian, floats comfortably between both.  

And then, in the final poignant scene, Worf, Sito's CO, sits mournfully at a table by the window with a 3-D chess board in front of him, no opponent to play the other side.

Acting Notes

via The Mentalist Wiki

Dan Gauthier was born in Prineville, Oregon, December 2, 1963.  He went to San Diego State University, recruited by the track team.  He was a decathlete.  He worked as a model after graduating.

In primetime television, Gauthier had recurring roles on several shows including Tour of Duty, Melrose Place and Friends, in which he played Rachel's high school boyfriend Chip.  From 2003-2006, he played Kevin Buchanan on One Life to Live, earning an Emmy nomination in his final season.  Films include Teen Witch, Son in Law and Groom Lake, written and directed by William Shatner.

On the Coffee Table: The Customer Is Always Wrong

Title: The Customer Is Always Wrong

Writer and Artist: Mimi Pond

via Amazon

The Customer Is Always Wrong is a continuation of Over Easy.  The two books combine to form a memoir (with a few artistic liberties) of the author's experiences as a diner waitress in 1970s Oakland.  Ideally, one should probably read the two books back-to-back as no reminders are given at the beginning of the second book about story details from the first.  No matter.  Nothing is so complicated that it isn't easy to catch up quickly.  Most of the other diner employees are quirky at best, drug-addicted at worst.  The world is held together by Lazlo, the philosopher/manager/father-figure.  Madge's goal is to save up enough money ($2,000 is the goal) to move to New York and have a real go at an art career.

I found myself less sympathetic towards Madge in this second book.  She's highly judgmental of people she shouldn't be: "whores and drunks" who call for cabs when, in her opinion, they should have friends or family to come pick them up.  Then she's not judgmental enough of the people she should be: a loser, lying boyfriend first and then more tragically, her heroin-addicted colleague/neighbor Camille who constantly takes advantage of her.  In short, she's over-trusting and still expects other people to take care of her.  She's an entirely believable character.  I simply don't like her very much.

Even so, I'd read more Mimi Pond books if she writes them.

On the Coffee Table: Jeff Lemire

Title: The Underwater Welder

Writer and Artist: Jeff Lemire

via Amazon

Jack is an underwater welder for an oil well off the coast of Nova Scotia.  He's about to become a father and he's not handling the impending life change well.  He'd rather spend time fixing the rig than with his imminently expecting wife.  Meanwhile, he's haunted by memories of his own father who drowned in the ocean when Jack was a boy.

Jack has an accident on the rig and while he's blacked out, his subconscious dances between the present, the past and a supernatural dreamscape in which he's the only one left in his quiet coastal town.  The latter is seemingly what he wants, or at least the sort of existence his choices have been leading him to: no commitments, no betrayals, no emotional risks.  

via Goodreads

Lemire's style generates an intimate atmosphere.  People are crudely drawn, almost ghoulish, befitting the story.  The backgrounds are deceptively simple, suiting the desolation of the Nova Scotia seaside.  I would say the promotional materials - the back cover blurb and the intro - oversell the supernatural aspects of the story.  The dreamscape is clearly an hallucination, probably oxygen-depravation inspired.  Even so, the story is well told, based in raw emotion.

Squid Mixes: Empress & Elderflower Tonic

The English Prof recently introduced my wife to Empress 1908 Gin, an 85-proof, Canadian concoction dyed indigo with butterfly pea flower.  My wife liked it enough to score us our own bottle.  I'm always delighted to add a splash of color to the liquor cabinet.  The gin pairs nicely with Fever-Tree's Elderflower Tonic Water.

I used 2 ounces of the Empress and the full 6.8-ounce bottle of the tonic.  The gin flavor is gentle and the elderflower brings delightful sweetness to the mixture.  No doubt, it's also quite pretty.