The Still Moment

Making a James Bond martini

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:54:03 -0800

"Just a moment [Bond said]. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?" �Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

A few things to note about the Vesper martini, as many things have changed since it was first penned down.

Gordons no longer makes gin at 94 proof, it's been diluted down to 80 proof.
The drink is shaken to remove potential oiliness from what was then inferior potato based vodka, something that is much less common now.
Kina Lillet no longer exists. Its replacement Lillet Blanc does not have the quinine bitterness that was a key component of Kina Lillet.

When I made this drink using the instructions as directed, (with Gordon's gin, Smirnoff Vodka, and Lillet Blanc) one thing became obvious. The Lillet Blanc was so light as to be overpowered by the gin, even when diluted by a measure of vodka.

The solution, as suggested by Esquire, was to increase the percentage of vodka, which I upped it to 2 measures. With this the light citrus of Lillet Blanc became more apparent. However I'm always reminded that this drink is after all, a martini, not a cosmo. So the Lillet Blanc should never be more than a hint in the drink.

However this didn't solve the problem of the missing bitter taste. As I don't have quinine powder just yet, I attempted two potential remedies. One was tonic water, which does have quinine, the other being Angostura. Both are lacking in their own way.

First Angostura bitterness is not the same as quinine bitterness. Where quinine is medicinally bitter, the Angostura has a distinctive root/bark flavor in addition to its bitterness. It just makes the drink taste like a root beer martini with a hint of juniper and orange.

As for tonic water, it was not a good substitute since it instead increased the sugar content, thus sweetening the drink.

A thought occured to me why Bond's formulation was why it was. When making an old fashioned, only 1-2 dashes of bitters are needed, as the flavor is pungent enough to change the taste of the bourbon. If Kina Lillet was Lillet with quinine bitters, then in the past half a measure would be strong enough to power past the gin, especially at a 3 to 1 dilution.

The other thought I had was, did historic Kina Lillet even taste as citrusy? Surely the quinine would've been the predominant taste in that vermouth. Kina Lillet stopped being produced in the 1960s because bitterness went out of fashion in drinks, to be replaced by the more sweeter, floral tastes we're accustomed to now in cocktails.

In a way, my search to approximate the taste of the original Vesper martini reminds me of re-enactment historians. It's an attempt to understand the past by experiencing in as close of a way as possible the conditions of that time.

But one key insight is still missing from me. What did Kina Lillet really taste like? What were its primary characteristics, bitterness or citrusness? Until that piece of the puzzle is known, all our guesses at approximating taste will just be random darts thrown on a wall.

The Haiku Manual

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:11:11 -0800

For those who've ever wondered about the mechanics behind how I write my haikus, here's my manual of style.

Traditionally, haikus are written in the syllable form of 5-7-5. This can be restrictive at times, given the differences between English and Japanese. I allow myself more flexibility by expanding my syllable options without doing it away with altogether. My accepted formats are, 5-7-5, 5-6-7 and 6-6-6, but what I'll frequently do with the 5-7-5 and 5-6-7 is mix up the order, so it may be 5-7-6, 7-6-5, or 5-5-7.

Haikus were originally an expression of zen philosophy, so they had a particular set up outside of the syllable count.

The first line sets up the scene, and in Japanese haikus invoke a season word called a kigo. So many times, in lieu of just a scene setter for the first line, a season can be evoked to impart a particular mood to the rest of the poem.

The second line is the moment. When an action has occurred in that setting. I equate this to the act in photography of trying to catch the decisive moment. Whenever you watch a scene, there's always an ebb and flow. You look becomes something is about to happen, and you try to catch the haiku right when "something" has happened. This is also in line with Buddhist philosophy, regarding the zen of the moment, and haikus as an expression of zen in writing.

The third line is the enlightenment. A realization that takes place because of that moment that has changed your understanding of life. Basically every poem needs a point, or else its a collection of words.

The other rules that I've come to adopt (sporadically) is that haikus are meant to be pure expressions of zen moments without the floweriness of other poetry. It's meant to be an anti-poem. The best haiku will let the moment explain itself, rather than have you describe your feelings on it. The tight syllable count requires you to stay simple, so a good haiku will have a preference for words of anglo-saxon origin over the latin.

Obviously these rules are subject to variation, but these are the rules I strive for, and I hope they give you the reader more of an idea of what I look for in my haikus.

Best of 2005: New York City Part 2

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:04:59 -0800

flickering colors
trace the shapes of names
scratched into subway windows

midnight summer breeze
through the windows of a cab
eyes closed, just feeling

floating gently down
spent wadding from the fireworks
lands on my shoulder

lit by neon signs
rain arcs down from the sky
drops I feel before I see

a plastic bag drifts, confused
around the corner
then changes its mind

I can't believe it's been more than a year since I've updated this site. For all who've been waiting patient for part 2 of the "best of New York City," here it is, and my apologies. The theme of part 2 is NYC at night.

Fighting the Taliban

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 07:58:40 -0800

This was the first serious collaborative multimedia slideshow we did for the Reuters.com site. It involved photos from our wonderfully talented World Press winning photographer Finbarr O'Reilly. He was embedded with a Canadian Armed Forces unit when it came under fire from Taliban forces, and shot these photos. I mixed the ambient sounds from a soldier in the unit who happened to be recording the video and audio from the firefight and overlayed it with Finbarr's narration.

This project was the first time I ever did any audio mixing or production, and I have to say I'm quite pleased with the results.

Photography and multimedia

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:16:05 -0800

Personal work

PHOTO: My portfolio

Reuters

MULTIMEDIA: Fighting the Taliban

My portfolio

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:56:57 -0800

This was my portfolio from five years ago, shortly before I decided to switch from being a photographer to a photo editor. Brings back a lot of memories.

Weekend in New York City

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:29:00 -0800

This was in 2002 after me and some of the other photojournalism students from San Jose State University finished attending the prestigious Eddie Adams Workshop in upstate New York. We decided to spend some time in NYC exploring, as generations of photographers have done before.

Best of 2005: New York City Part 1

Sat, 5 Jan 2008 13:06:26 -0800

camera flashes
the tourists gawk, not at stars
but at subway rats

late for work, running
buttoning up my shirt
like a reverse superman

the bullhorn. "please dont..."
as the crowd fills the park grass
paying no heed "...run."

how many passed by
not seeing the dead until
the towel said he was

her hands off the wheel
into her face, screaming
the bus passes, me, puzzled

To me, New York City is the center of the universe. Everything there is the best in the world. You have the best art, the biggest financial companies, the tastiest (and most expensive food). Even the homeless there have to work hard. Everybody has to hustle, and that makes the city burst from its seams with life.

There was always something happening in the city to write about. So much so that I've divided this best of '05 into two parts: one during the day, the other at night. It seems harsh to categorize the city in such an overtly blunt way, but New York definitely has different flavors between when the sun is up and when the sun goes down.

Best of 2005: Weather

Thu, 3 Jan 2008 13:23:02 -0800

storm clouds overhead
under the fierce wind, I hear
an ice cream truck pass

a warm summer night
with windows down, the air brings
memories of the past

slow, heavy breathing
smoke firing out the nostril
dragon in the cold

empty appliance box
sitting in the snow, frozen
like jack nicholson

it snows in the bus
is it magic? no,
a small window opening

Now that this site is up, I'm finally getting around to editing some of my daily haikus. For those that don't know, Jan 1 2005 was when I started this haiku project and I've been cranking them out ever since. I'm going to try to organize my favorites by theme starting with weather, a very typical one since the days of Basho and Buson.

Side note: "frozen like Jack Nicholson" is in reference to the end of The Shining. If you haven't seen it, go rent it.

Selected early haikus

Thu, 3 Jan 2008 03:46:20 -0800

grazing her hand
she tries to catch, but misses -
a butterfly

ignored
by homecoming festivities
the full moon

hazy autumn night
through the mountain's mist
a blinking radio tower

mere seconds from death
the bug shits on my windshield
and then flies away

autumn afternoon
the smell of tea
from freshly swept leaves

These were written long before I decided on a format for my own haikus, so they don't obey the conventional syllable form I've set for myself. At first, I thought my Hollister haikus were the first ones I wrote, but looking at the date stamp on my haiku file, I realised these were written before Hollister. Since this is also before I began to date my haikus, my best guess is these were all written sometime around 1999-2000.

These earlier haikus stay much truer to the zen form advocated by Kerouac. Of course, back then I didn't attempt to force myself into the habit of writing one a day, so they were jotted down when inspiration arrived rather than under the deadline of looming morning.

To date, the butterfly haiku is still my favorite, and one of a few I can recite by memory.