Martini

Mario Andretti laughs."Martini is the star of the movie," he says. "He's getting fan mail. Three letters last week, addressed to Martini Andretti."Andretti continues with affection."

Daisy Anderson, 97, whose husband was a slave who ran away and joined the Union Army, died Saturday in Denver, leaving just two known surviving Civil War widows, one a Union widow, one a Confederate. She was 21 when she married a 79-year-old veteran, Robert Ball Anderson. Her husband died in a car accident in 1930.Henry J. Moore, 70, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist who helped select the landing site for the Mars Pathfinder, died of a heart attack Monday in Nephi, Utah, while en route to see relatives in Salt Lake City.

Joyce H. Snyder, 59, teacher, church workerJoyce H. Snyder, a former teacher who was active in the affairs of Towson Presbyterian Church, took her own life Aug. 21. She was 59.Mrs. Snyder, who lived in Lutherville, was instrumental in establishing and coordinating the Henry and Joyce Snyder Mission Fund for Mission Support at the church. The fund supports projects aimed at helping churches in Central America.At the time of her death, she was a member of the church planning committee and served on a task force that was working to improve access to the church for those with disabilities.

It must have been his plebe year at the Naval Academy, Roger Staubach recalled, and trainer Red Romo was pontificating on the importance of conditioning and nutrition."

James Bond looked carefully at the bar man. "A dry martini," he said, "One. In a deep champagne goblet.""Oui, monsieur.""Just a moment. Three measures of gin, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice cold, then add a large, thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?"-- "Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming (1954).That was then. This is now:James Bond looks carefully at the martini menu in the martini bar. "Hmmm. So many different versions. How's the Oreo cookie martini?"

A fire last night damaged the on-campus house of the U.S. Naval Academy's chief public affairs officer, who discovered the smoldering blaze after returning with his family from a fireworks display.Capt. Thomas J. Jurkowsky, his wife, Sally, and their two daughters arrived at the home on Upshur Road on the academy grounds just after 10 p.m. Jurkowsky, 49, walked into the house and smelled smoke, according to neighbors. He warned others not to go inside."No one was hurt," said Jean Martini, who lives next door to the house on the north end of the Annapolis campus.

It was a bright, sunny, cheerful Saturday morning, full of warm breezes and chirping birds -- in short, the kind of day that makes you glad to be alive.But that wasn't quite the way I was feeling as I lifted my throbbing head from the pillow. I had spent the previous evening investigating the lounge music revival with some friends and a number of martinis, and now each golden sunbeam felt like a dagger through my skull. Unless someone had sneaked in during the night and replaced my tongue with an old gym sock, I was beginning to suspect I had been a little too diligent in my research.

In the film classic "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Audrey Hepburn threw a great party. There were martinis. Cigarettes. Snazzy mood music. Smoking jackets.Last month, 25-year-old Dominic Vecchiollo, who wasn't born when the 1961 movie was made, threw a great party, too. There were martinis. Cigarettes. Snazzy mood music. Maybe a vintage smoking jacket or two.In the midst of near-beers and microbrews, the cocktail culture is making a comeback. After all these years, the 1940s and '50s have taken on an allure for people who grew up long after they ended.

After years of soul searching, wavering and tiptoeing around the issue of the death penalty, I've finally made up my mind once and for all. I'm firmly against it.That was my position when I was a young man. I went through my enlightened liberal phase and argued that it was wrong for society to take even a monster's life and that the threat of death didn't deter criminals.But then I evolved into my indignant taxpayer phase and argued that creeps like John Gacy, Richard Speck and Ted Bundy weren't worth the expense of food and lodging.

The baseball cap rests on a shelf in Navy trainer Red Romo's office. The Navy blue and gold are faded and the mesh is frayed. Discolored and stained with perspiration, it has never been cleaned, although Romo wears it every day during the football season.Given to Romo by football coach Eddie Erdelatz in 1956, the treasured cap is entering its 40th season.So is Romo. Fortieth at Navy, 50th overall, counting two at Colgate and eight at Columbia.Romo has worn the cap while treating some of Navy's greatest athletes, the Roger Staubachs and Joe Bellinos.

In spite of a few jokes about walkers and such that you had to expect, there was a good discussion on a post on my blog Dining@Large (baltimoresun.com/diningatlarge) about what 35-and-overs want in a happy hour. One of the main things, after meeting other 35-and-overs, was the chance to talk without being drowned out by loud music or TVs. The following is my list of places, in alphabetical order, with a little bit of information to let you know what's available there. (Specials are offered weeknights only, unless otherwise noted.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is less than a week away, and the bartenders at the Landmark Theater are quickly studying up on their film facts. Like the young wizards at Hogwarts, they will spend the coming days mixing various liquids until they discover the winning concoction. They'll analyze characters, major plot points, themes and colorful scenes from the movie's trailer to make the perfect cocktail. It has been this attention to detail that has wowed throngs of moviegoers at Landmark Theaters Harbor East for the past year.

A few days after this interview, Karlee Martini, the Knights' senior pitcher and captain, learned she had a blood clot in her right arm, which prematurely ended her season. Despite the setback, it's safe to say Martini got plenty of mileage out of her high school career. In her four years on varsity, Martini played every position for the Knights aside from first base and catcher. This year, she welcomed the responsibility of being the Knights' No. 1 pitcher while taking on the leadership role that comes with playing on a young team that has only four starters.

Afinely crafted cocktail, says Dale DeGroff, "is more than just a handful of ingredients poured into a glass. It is a marriage of creativity, history and expression." Moreover, he says, a cocktail often has a story that goes with it, and a technique for its proper execution. DeGroff knows his mixed drinks. During a 12-year stint as a bartender at New York's Rainbow Room and in the pages of his books, including the recently published The Essential Cocktail , he has revived the classic cocktails.

Harbor East's Teavolve (1401 Aliceanna St., 410-522-1907) has opened, and it's so much not a traditional tearoom. First of all, by the time you read this, Teavolve should have a liquor license. Co-owner Sunni Gilliam says she applied for one because she wanted to serve tea-infused and fresh-fruit-puree cocktails. "We have to have it by Friday," she adds. "We have a party of 200 coming in for cocktails." The new place is more of a lounge and much bigger than the first location, which is now open only for private parties of 20 or more.

Few high-end clubs reinvent themselves as fast as Mosaic. In two years, Mosaic has gone from an outdoor tent lounge in Power Plant Live's plaza to a million-dollar indoor club in the old BAR Baltimore space. And late last year, the owners cleaned house -- replacing general manager LG Concannon with Vincent Martinez, expanding the interior and retooling the musical lineup. It reopened in March. But for all the money, time and effort spent on Mosaic's newest incarnation, the club is under- whelming at best.

MARGARET L. "Peggy" MEISTER, 76, of Hampstead, died Sunday, February 24, 2008. Born May 30, 1931, in Baltimore , she was the daughter of the late William and Thelma Keithley Jacobs. She was the wife of Frederick E. Meister Jr., her husband of 53 years, who died February 5, 2008. She was a graduate of Southern High School in Baltimore and a member of the Phoenix Junior Choir of Baltimore. She was married October 2, 1954, at Martini Lutheran Church in Baltimore, and settled in Linthicum to raise her family.

On March 6, 2008, JOSEPH H.; beloved husband of Joan L. Griebel (nee Heagy); devoted father of Joseph P. Griebel and his wife Wanda and Judy F. Martini and her husband David; loving grandfaher of Jessica Griebel, Christopher Martini and Andrew Martini; dear brother of Margaret Tyler and Cora Chaney; dear brother in-law of Richard and Patricia Wagner, Tim Tyler and Clarence Chaney. Also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. A Christian Wake Service will be held at the Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk, Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue on Sunday at 7:30 P.M. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church, on Monday at 10 A.M. Interment Sacred Heart of Jesus Cemetery.

Pur lounge, Canton's crisp new three-story club, has an undeniable appeal. Since opening in mid-January where the GoodLove Bar used to sit, Pur has upped the ante more than any other city club. With swaths of white paint, patches of stone tile, brick and wood, Pur's decor is the polar opposite of GoodLove's dark and earthy interior. Almost everything about the lounge is over the top. Siamese fighting fish float in small glass bowls set into a wall near the back of the first floor. Water cascades down a stone facade from the third to the second floor.

The making of a martini raises so many alluring questions: Does shaking spoil the taste of the martini? Does stirring get the drink cold enough? Should the bartender put on an exciting show, or should he mix with masterly nonchalance? For a century or more, the shake-or-stir debate has raged among martini drinkers. But lately it seems that the current is running strongly in the stirring direction. Shaking has had its recent vogue. In the last several years, Tokyo has become a center for cutting-edge mixology.