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London Cocktail Week October 11 – 17

Oh, boy – London and liquor? Sign me up! London Cocktail Week is a new concept happening across London this year to celebrate the capital of cocktail culture. Seminars, cocktail classes, bar tours and parties will be hosted throughout the week for cocktail enthusiasts and professionals alike. Selfridges has confirmed as the central hub for all information during London Cocktail Week and the event headquarters will be located within Gordons Bar on the first floor. Events begin every day at 9 a.m. with various venues offering full English breakfasts and Grey Goose Bloody Marys (are there any other kind!?). In addition, 50 of the City’s finest bars will offer £4 discounted cocktails to those who sign up online to receive LCW wristbands. And, from Monday to Friday, 6 p.m. – midnight there will be special LCW buses to take you home (brilliant!). Check out the event website for more details. AND, the UK Rumfest will be happening simultaneously at London’s Olympia Hotel October 16-17th. There’ll be over 400 rums to sample and buy, cocktail demonstrations and live music including salsa, soca, reggae, zouk and samba. Over two days, visitors to the festival will be able to explore rums from countries such as Antigua, Barbados, Mauritius and Venezula as well as meet master blenders, discover the secrets of rum-based cocktails (I can’t stand it!).

In order to redeem myself and justify this post which, thus far, has been solely about lapping up liquor, I’ll throw in some useful historic cocktail facts –

1730 – There were over 7,000 gin shops in London.

1798 – Supposedly, the word “cocktail” first appeared in the English language in a London newspaper. No doubt this referred to those drinks into which were plunged the tail of a cock. Read the story at The Straight Dope for all possibilities for the origin of the word. Or try this article at the Art of Drink which references early newspaper mentions of the word.

1803 – The earliest known printed use of the word cocktail was in The Farmer’s Cabinet on April 28, 1803

1806 – The earliest definition of a cocktail appeared in the May 13, 1806 edition of the Balance and Columbian Repository, a publication in Hudson, New York.

1840’s – James Pimm, owner of a London oyster bar, invents the Pimm’s Cup using gin, quinine and a secret mixture of herbs. It was served in a small tankard as an aid to digestion (nudge, nudge) and known as a No. 1 Cup. After the Second World War, Pimms extended their range, using a number of other spirits as bases for new cups. Scotch lent its name to No. 2 cup while No. 3 used brandy, No. 4 rum, No. 5 rye and No. 6 vodka. Of these sequels, the vodka cup and brandy (now called Winter) are the only ones in production while original No. 1 cup still reigns supreme in popularity. To make a traditional Pimms No.1, take one slice of orange, lemon, apple and cucumber per person and one sprig of mint and add to two parts lemonade to one part Pimms.

1898 – The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel opens and introduces the concept of the “cocktail” as we know it today to London.

1919 – The classic Savoy Cocktail is introduced at the Savoy Hotel. Harry Craddock was the legendary bartender who came up with the drink. The following recipe makes one drink, served straight up in a cocktail glass, but the drink can also be served in a sours glass on the rocks, as long as you add a little bit of club soda right before serving:

Fill a cocktail shaker half-full with ice cubes. Add 1 ½ oz. dry gin, ¾ oz. French vermouth, ½ oz. absinthe and a dash of grenadine syrup to the cocktail shaker. Cover the cocktail shaker and shake gently for 10 to 15 seconds. Shaking too hard will bruise the gin, resulting in an unpleasantly strong juniper berry flavor. Strain the contents of the cocktail shaker into a chilled cocktail glass. Drop a maraschino cherry into the drink and garnish the glass with a fresh lemon peel.

1922 – MacGarry, a popular bartender at Buck’s Club, invents the Sidecar: Take 2 oz brandy, 1/2 oz Cointreau, 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice and shake with ice, and then strain into a cocktail glass.

1933 – Arthur Tarling, bartender at London’s Café Royal won first prize in a London cocktail competition with his recipe for a Red Lion cocktail – Take 1 ounce London dry gin, 1 ounce Grand Marnier, 1/2 ounce orange juice and 1/2 ounce lemon juice. Shake well with cracked ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass whose rim has been rubbed with lemon juice and dipped in sugar.

1952 (or thereabouts) – Author Ian Fleming has a martini at Dukes Bar and is inspired to write that immortal James Bond martini direction, “Shaken not stirred.” By the way, at Duke’s Bar, a small wooden trolley is wheeled out and parked beside your table while your waiter prepares your martini for you.

2007 – The Movida nightclub, a London hangout of celebrities, footballers and the super-rich offered patrons a Flawless cocktail consisting of a large measure of Louis XII cognac, half a bottle of Cristal Rose champagne, some brown sugar, angostura bitters, a few flakes of 24-carat edible gold leaf – and an 11-carat diamond ring at the bottom of the glass. Among the first to order the drink was Max Reigns, 28, a property developer and manager who gave the ring, and the cocktail, to his girlfriend for Christmas.

2010 – The Connaught Hotel introduces the Martini Trolley in its bar. Yeah, yeah, Dukes has had a martini trolley for yonks, but this one is different. At the Connaught, the trolley features an engraved Japanese crystal mixing jar which has been cleverly engineered to conserve freezing temperatures. Double frozen ice cubes from purified water ensure the martini is chilled to perfection. The stirring utensils are made of silver, while the martinis themselves are served in elegant engraved crystal glasses especially designed for the Connaught Bar by leading French designer Jean Jacques. They also offer seven flavors of bitters, including extracts of lavender, coriander, cardamom, ginger, grapefruit, licorice and vanilla.

2010 – A new, underground, 1920’s speakeasy-type bar called Purl opens in Marylebone, where gloved bartenders serve up martinis made using liquid nitrogen.

2010 – Brooke Hughes travels to London, where she visits the Absolut Ice Bar with friends. Everything inside is made from blocks of ice and temperatures hover at 5 degrees. Farenheit. You’re issued a protective suit upon entry and can only stay for a maximum of forty minutes. Drink fast.

Seeing as how the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel has played such a large part in London’s cocktail lore, I’ll have to sashay myself down there when I’m in London in December and hoist a Cuba Libre (with Appleton’s rum, if you please) to London drinkers past and present.

Honestly, the things I do for the sake of this blog . . . . . .

A Morning at the Milwaukee Art Museum

Victoria here, welcoming you to the Milwaukee Art Museum, one of my favorite hang-outs. In fact, I used to work here writing grant proposals for exhibitions and conservation projects. The building is the iconic winged structure on the shore of Lake Michigan designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, opened in 2001 as the second major addition to the original building by Eero Saarinen (1910–1961), a Finnish-American architect.

One of the current exhibitions on view at the MAM is Intimate Images of Love and Loss: Portrait Miniatures which continues through October 31, 2010. The Koss Gallery is filled with miniatures by British, American, French, Austrian and Argentinian artists and photographers. Click here for more information.

One of my favorites is this portrait, A Young Girl, with her hair unbound and blowing in the wind. It was painted by John Barry (British, active 1784–1827) ca. 1790. The gift of Richard and Erna Flagg, it is part of the museum’s permanent collection. Other examples come from the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University, the Charles Allis Art Museum and other local collectors, but cannot be displayed here under the terms of the loans. Sorry, but that is standard operating procedure for borrowed works in an exhibition.

Text panels explain how the works were created, usually painted on thin slices of ivory as illustrated on the left. Because of the nature of the surface, the painting was done with tiny brushstrokes or dots, which can be seen in the gallery in the enlarged photos, right of the slice.

Other text panels show uses of the miniatures for jewelry or bibelots. To the right, Queen Elizabeth II wears two portrait miniatures of her predecessors on her shoulder.

This tiny picture was taken from a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92) of Lady Smith and her Children, miniaturized and handsomely framed. Though is it a bit too large to be worn, it could easily have been carried on travels.

This lovely example is by celebrated miniaturist George Engleheart (1750-1829), Woman in a Hat, c. 1790. It is a recent addition to the museum’s collections. Engleheart was a miniature painter to George III and finished at least 25 portraits of the king himself as well as many others.

Here is the MAM’s official photo of the miniature.

George Engleheart, Woman in a Hat, ca. 1790. Gift of Edith Maclay in memory of Frederick H. von Schleinitz.
Photo by John R. Glembin

One of the special events planned during the exhibition was a discussion of Jane Austen’s Persuasion led by Museum Educator Amy Kirschke, at the right of the picture. Amy leads a monthly book salon at the museum with each book choice related to a current MAM exhibition. She looked to Jane Austen and her oft-quoted statement about her work being like a fine brush on a tiny piece of ivory.

In case you had forgotten (as I had), in Persuasion, Captain Harville has brought to Bath a miniature of Captain Benwick to have it reset as a gift from Benwick to his new fiancee Louisa Musgrove, though it had originally been painted for his late love, Fanny Harville. This sparks a discussion between Capt. Harville and Anne about the nature of love and fidelity, overheard by Captain Wentworth. Anne’s expressions further motivate him to propose again to her. How clever of Ms. Kirschke to find such a perfect example of a miniature in literature.

I was reminded of my recent visit to the Wallace Collection in London where I saw the famous portrait of Perdita, Mrs. Robinson, in which she holds a miniature of the Prince of Wales, her former lover.

Miniatures are ever so fascinating and this exhibition with its wide selection of examples is well worth seeing.

We've Won the Vetcy Award!

Huzza! Previously, Number One London had won the Vetcy Award for Blog Excellence in the Historical Category. This blog, along with three others in various categories, then vied for the place of overall blog winner and we are now pleased to announce that we’ve won the Grand Prize.

Of course, none of this would have happened without your support and votes over the past month and we once again offer a hearty `thank you’ to Patty Suchy, who brought us to the attention of the Vetcy Award judges.

Upstairs, Downstairs – The Remake

PBS and BBC will be offering what PBS is calling a “new production” of “Upstairs Downstairs” for debut in 2011 as part of the 40th anniversary season of “Masterpiece Theatre.” Winning seven Emmys, the 1970’s series was a landmark event that defined excellence in dramatic story telling on television. Dame Eileen Atkins (at right in a scene from Cranford), one of the creators of the orginal version, will star this time around, along with Jean Marsh, who will be reprising her role as Rose, the parlor maid/now housekeeper, in the new series. Marsh won an Emmy as best actress for her work in the original version. The new series will again be set in the house at 165 Eaton Place, this time in 1936 on the eve of World War II and will follow a different family, the Hollands, now living in the house. The house has been inherited by the wealthy Sir Hallam Holland, a young and well-connected diplomat, following the unexpected death of his Baronet father.

Holland is played by 35-year-old Ed Stoppard, the son of playwright Sir Tom, and takes up residence with his wife and his imposing mother Lady Maud, a free-thinking intellectual played by Dame Eileen who keeps a pet monkey called Solomon.

The series will see two new 90 minute scripts penned by writer Heidi Thomas (Cranford, Madame Bovary, Ballet Shoes). Actress Keeley Hawes will play Lady Agnes Holland and you can follow her blog here. Actress Claire Foy will appear as her temptress sister, Lady Persie.

Art Malik, Anne Reid, Ed Stoppard, Adrian Scarborough, Ellie Kendrick and Nico Mirallegro are also part of the cast. BBC is planning to screen the drama as early as autumn and it will be broadcast on Masterpiece in the US shortly after it makes its British debut. They hope to find similar success to the original, which was broadcast in more than 70 countries to an audience of more than a billion.

Writer Heidi Thomas, who also scripted the successful BBC’s drama Cranford, said: ‘The series will be shot through with sensuality. This is a drama very much about warm-blooded human beings. In a house like Eaton Place, there is a limit to what you can keep behind closed doors. The place is a pressure cooker and the tensions continue to rise and rise until they boil over. Whether the characters are upstairs or downstairs they are living in close proximity to each other and these are the dramas that will engage viewers.’

Oh, joy!

By the way, the setting for Upstairs, Downstairs, 165 Eaton Place, is in actuality the house standing at 65 Eaton Place (above). For the new series, a full-scale replica of Eaton Place has been built at studios in Cardiff, where filming began in August.

The Room by Emma Donoghue

Victoria here, lucky enough to have attended a recent reading and signing by Emma Donoghue at the Next Chapter Book Store in the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon. She read from her latest novel The Room, which has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, Britain’s most prestigious literary award.

She read from the first chapter of the book, in the unusual point of view of the five-year-old boy who has lived in the room alone except for his mother. I was almost unable to put the book down once I started reading it. I found it entirely gripping and extremely well written.

You can find more about Ms. Donoghue and her novel here. It was recently reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review Sunday, September 19, read it here. Although you will be unable to avoid some description of the story, try not to find out anything about it beyond the basic premise. No spoilers, please!

Following her reading, Ms. Donoghue answered many questions about the novel, it’s voice, it’s inspiration, and her newly found prominence. In all humility, she said, while talking of her attempts to work on her next novel, “Being famous is very exhausting.” She spoke about her children, a son and a daughter, and how her relationships with them fed into the novel. She was born in Ireland and now lives in Canada.

I first read Donoghue’s 2004 novel Life Mask, set in London in the 1790’s. Major characters include Elizabeth Farren, an actress; the Earl of Derby, her devoted admirer; and Anne Damer, a sculptress and society widow. It was well-researched and I found it fascinating that she has not returned to this period to investigate further interesting characters of the time. But she disclosed her next project will be set in mid-19th century California. Wow!

Best of luck to you, Emma Donoghue. May you follow in the footsteps of Hilary Mantel (see my post of 9/5/10) and win the Man Booker!