Tuesday, February 20, 2007

For Your Consideration: Letters From Iwo Jima

Start off any Oscar bash with this smooth saketini (see recipe below) and you've got yourself a party! I thought the saketini would be a nice homage to Best Picture nominee "Letters From Iwo Jima."

This film is the second by Clint Eastwood that focuses on this famous World War II battle in Japan. (His first was "Flags of Our Fathers.") Critics say this second film, almost entirely in Japanese, is the better of Eastwood's two films. I didn't get a chance to see this movie so can't say whether it'll take it all on Sunday (my bet is on "Babel"). But I am a fan of Japanese actor Ken Watanabe, and I do believe Eastwood is so popular with Academy voters that he'll probably steal the best director award away from Martin Scorsese. (You heard it here first!)

In coming up with this recipe for my saketini, I primarily used sake as the chief ingredient. In most recipes I've seen on the Web, they use the traditional gin and then add just a couple of teaspoons of sake to call it a saketini. But I decided to give sake a higher profile. And I guess without the gin, it's not really a martini, but I serve it in a martini glass so does that count?

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Clint Eastwood over Martin Scorsese? No way! Oh wait, this is a food blog. The saketini looks good. Question: I have a bottle of unopened sake. After I open it do I refrigerate it? How long will it last? -- David

Single Guy Ben said...

Let's break it down:

Clint Eastwood: 2 Best Director Oscars
Martin Scorsese: 0

Any more film questions?

OK, about the sake, I usually refrigerate mines after I open it. Partly because I like to have my sake ready to serve chilled. But also because I think it helps keep it longer. The general rule is that sake can keep refrigerated for about six months, maybe even a year.

Sake, however, is not like wine so you don't necessarily want to keep a bottle of unopened sake for very long. You should drink your sake soon after buying it or getting it as a gift.