Some chapters ago, this week

  Straying from customary context,
  and leaping whole hedgerows of
  principled discernment in cock-
  tails, one could not miss that
  Amanda Hesser had included in
  her updated Claiborne the news-
  paper's recital of ingredients
  for the Vesper apéritif, named
  for the enchantress of Casino
  Royale, who introduces herself
  in the dining car of the VSOE
  wagon-lit with the demure con-
  fession, I'm the money. Never,
  since Eva Marie Saint correct-
  ed Cary Grant's introduction
  in North by Northwest, had any
  repast of the rails aroused 
  such a staggered, fiery thirst, 
  even among the plenteously in-
  fused patrons of an academic
  sanctuary.



I witnessed the screening 
of this film in the col-
lege down the road, in the
company of a paid-up sub-
scriber to its tuition, 4 
years after the newspaper 
published a cocktail Bond
ordered in Montenegro. Now,
I'm in no position to say,
that the gasp which swept
through the cineplex as 
Vesper identified herself, 
was for Her Majesty's Trea-
sury; readers will recog-
nize, rather, the bibulous 
responses we resort to, in 
deference to climate change,
indeed the lengths to which
we'll go, to keep its secret.

3 oz vodka

1 oz gin

1/4 oz Lillet

twist of lemon

Amanda Hesser

  editor

The Essential New York

  Times Cookbook

  Classic Recipes for a

  New Century

    The Vesper

William L. Hamilton

Shaken and Stirred

  East Meets West

December 15, 2007

The New York Times, 2010©