Last night, The Wife had a test for her paralegal class, and I knew she would be done early. She had talked about getting a drink after work. Coincidentally, our friend Andrew called just after I got home to feed our critters, and asked if we could join he and Pam for a drink. I agreed but did not tell The Wife about the plan to meet up with them until as late as I could, so it would be a fun surprise for her.
The Wife figured out something was up by my selection of places; actually, at Pam’s suggestion we went to a local jazz-and-martini bar. The place was pretty hip and decidedly not Knoxville in its feel and look. There was a four- or five-piece jazz band doing a set, which was actually a little louder than permitted for comfortable (sober) conversation. But as my opinion of jazz is well-known, The Wife knew that I wasn’t voluntarily hanging around there for no particular reason. She first asked if Pam was going to play, as we are both excited for 
her that she has switched her educational direction to follow her passion rather than practicality, and as it turned out Pam was not playing but two of her professors were.
As a martini bar, though, I was quite pleased with the place. The flavored martinis were not nearly as good as the classic ones; Ketel One makes for a superior drink, and dry vermouth helps a lot. I think my first martinis had sweet vermouth or were dirty with olive juice, which makes the drink taste oily and salty. That’s fine if you’re going for that, but not me. Vodka and dry vermouth alone have a clean, watery taste and a smooth, silky feel in the mouth.
So it was a great surprise for The Wife to meet up unexpectedly with our friends, and a great pleasure for all of us to get together and catch up on things. Both of them are so busy, between school (both are completing their college degrees) and work (Andrew has two jobs and a great attitude about that) and other activities (Pam is in the University of Tennessee Marching Band and has to play at all of UT’s games) it’s hard to get time with them. But we have some future plans lined up and a wonderful night was had by all.
Ahem … a martini with vodka (rather than gin) is not a “martini,” it is a “vodka martini.” Still a very good drink in its own right. However, I don’t think it can even have “martini” in the title if it’s got *sweet* vermouth. I tried that once, back before I knew what I was doing. Sweet vermouth is red and syrupy; it was not a subtle difference. It was horrible, just horrible.
Quibbler.
My favorite recipe is five parts gin (Bombay or Tanqueray) to one part vermouth with one olive. Shaken of course.