Friday, February 6, 2009

Friday Night Happy Hour: The Vodka Blush

There's a scene in Rosemary's Baby (probably M's favorite movie, of all time, ever) where Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are having dinner at their new neighbors', the Castavets.

Roman Castavet toddles into the living room balancing a tray of four very full, very tall pink drinks. "Generally I pour these out as precisely as a bartender, don't I Minnie?"

"Just watch the carpet," scolds his wife, played by Ruth Gordon in her Oscar-winning role. "Vodka Blush?" Roman asks, handing one to Rosemary, then Guy. "Have you ever tasted one? They're very popular in Australia."

A few seconds later, Roman ends up spilling some Vodka Blush on the carpet. A few hours later, Guy has embarked on his deal with the Devil, brokered by the cheery witches next door. And nine months later, Rosemary has given birth to the son of Satan.

In between is one of the classiest horror films in the genre, all of it played out in a mid-sixties Manhattan of Danish Modern design and psychedelia-inspired fashion (including a radical-for-the-time Vidal Sassoon pixie cut on Farrow) that make us yearn for a time and place that's 40 years and 800 miles away from Rogers Park today.

Fortunately, a Vodka Blush (or two) and the Rosemary's Baby DVD can bring it all back.

2 1/2 ounces Vodka
3/4 ounces freshly-squeezed lime juice
Dash of grenadine

Fill shaker 2/3 full with ice. Add ingredients. Shake and strain into cocktail glass.

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