Chapter 5 Section 4 Mojito

"I guess you don't like straws when you drink mojitos," John retrieved a pestle from under his handsome bar, then turned to take a thick-bottomed glass from the wall cabinet behind him, "It's too feminine to drink like that." He went to the small refrigerator by the door and took out two good limes (author's note: also Lime, a juicy lemon variety often used in bartending), a small bottle of syrup and a dozen ice cubes: "But the way of drinking too male is often confused by those lovely mint leaves?" He said while putting all these things on the work surface of the bar.Then, he took out an ice bucket from under the bar, and after rinsing it for a while, he shook off the large chunks of whole ice in it, and smashed them with a small ice crusher.

"Yeah, that's right?" our detective mumbled, surveying the room. This is a medium-sized room, about forty square meters.There is a large floor-to-ceiling window directly opposite the door, and the garden of the owner of the villa is outside the window - if you look out from here during the day, you should be able to see a good view; unfortunately it is night, because of the reflection of the window glass in the bright room , I can't see the outside scene at all: However, if I open the windows now, the sky is not yet dark after all, and I may still be able to see a few tall sycamores stained black by the night.

These sycamores are hypothetical, they probably don't exist - our detective saw a lot of sycamores while driving over.Therefore, behind this floor-to-ceiling window, even if it cannot be seen, there is also the familiar shadow of the French plane tree in the imagination (Author's note: In fact, careful readers should find this seemingly insignificant discourse—it is correct Insinuating generalizations of certain important plots afterwards (laughs)) Fortunately, our detective was not so curious as to open the window because of such a trivial matter—his sight was quickly overwhelmed by the master's room. Another unique display attracted:

There is a rather conspicuous mahogany wine cabinet next to the floor-to-ceiling windows.The wine cabinet is not high, but it is large: the corners and supporting parts are subtly bent into streamline-like arcs, and delicate and noble patterns are engraved just right.The sliding door of the glass window is made of expensive quartz glass. The surface of the glass is shallowly etched with complex and exquisite frosted lines, and the pattern on the wine cabinet is matched with the pattern on the wine cabinet through the unique and precise edge connection. The handles of the sliding doors are hand-carved from mahogany and deliberately asymmetrical.The most admirable thing is its fixing method: a part of the mahogany on the handle is embedded into the surrounding quartz glass by the craftsman in the form of a branch? The glass and mahogany are closely connected, leaving no gaps in the middle, and no glue can be found Traces - as if the mahogany had grown into the glass.

The interior of the entire glass window is divided into upper and lower layers by a thick mahogany partition: each layer displays countless types of tequila. In addition, there are more than a dozen bottles of wine in a mess on the wine cabinet: some of the wine bottles are still tied with elegant ribbons, and some are even attached with unique little cards with such and such congratulations—no doubt , These should be the gift wines just given by the guests. "So the best way to drink a mojito is to sip it—sip after sip, you know," said John, carefully plucking a few slices of the freshest mint from a pocket mint tree on the bar. Ye Zi, "Is this the most Cuban way to drink?"

At this time, the host of the reception walked into a compartment facing the direction of the bar—it should be a small utility room: he came out quickly, holding a long silver spoon in his hand: "Of course this is for stirring." He smiled and explained to the detective in front of him, "In this way, we have all the props except for the wine." Then he went to the large liquor cabinet by the window and looked at the pile of gift wines—seemingly intending to find among them a bottle of white rum that could be used in a mojito; or, to be more precise, ——It can be seen from his confident expression: he has already determined that there is a bottle of white rum like this in this pile of wine, and all he has to do is to pick it out from the pile of wine.

"I remember Ewer gave me a good bottle of 'Havana Club', which bottle is it?" He rummaged through these various wine bottles, From time to time, one or two praises: "Ha! What a nice bottle of bourbon Hyner sent me! Top 'FOUR ROSES' (Author's Note: A well-known brand of bourbon whiskey with four red roses arranged in a diagonal square is its trademark) Look at this beautiful color - which is rare in Liberty City? Oh my God!The Riesling from Presman comes from the Giulia Hospital Estate, which, you know, is one of the best estates in Germany.Check this out: a chic and delicate dark green Franconian traditional flat bottle that thrills me every time I come across it.And Clu? Hey, these three really put a lot of thought into choosing gifts. "

As he spoke, he picked up the bottle of "FOUR ROSES" at the same time, chose a suitable angle, and let the bright light shine through it.With the flow of fine wine in the bottle, under the reflection of the light, those seductive liquids outline changing wonderful curves. "Look, my closest friends all know my temper - I hate cumbersome packaging: extra fine wooden boxes and layers of wrapping paper are completely unnecessary and a waste of resources!", he held Putting down the wine, he explained to the detective, "However, the ribbon and the card represent the heart of the friend, and it does not affect my appreciation of these works of art: such simple packaging is just right."

He picked up another bottle—at this time, the host of the party happened to have his back to the detective, so he didn't see which bottle he picked up.John held the bottle of wine and seemed to be reading the card above: "'To the honorable Mr. John Baines'? Huh! A stubborn person would say such words—" He put down the bottle of wine, turned to Wenzel and complained, "I also Had to invite some people I didn't really like. Still, it's easier to resolve to get out of some nasty relationships after all?" Regarding this vague complaint, our detective intended to ask a few more questions, but he always felt that it was not polite to inquire about other people's private affairs.In addition, John quickly turned away and continued to admire his gift—when he spoke again, he was already very excited to talk about the brandy that Captain Harlem gave him.

As a result, our detective never knew which bottle of wine and which "stubborn person" he was complaining about - thankfully, this doubt is nothing compared to the joy of waiting for a good mojito what. The host of the reception almost looked at all these wines, and then carefully selected a bottle out of them: "This is the bottle! My dear Mr. Detective, this is the bottle!", he excitedly held up the bottle of "Havara Club", "15 years old super vintage (author's note: marked as Spanish Añejo Gran Reserva - the most expensive top product in the "Hawala Club", very rare in the European market.)! Let's not use the white rum this time, try the golden noble - believe me, this But the ultimate enjoyment in distilled wine!"

John put the bottle of wine on the work surface and started cutting the limes with a sharp paper knife he'd found somewhere.Every time one was cut, a large amount of juice was squeezed into the thick-bottomed glass. At the same time, one or two halved lemons were also thrown into the small trash can by the temporary bartender-he Using one of the most common plastic juicers to make lime juice, the sound of limes being squeezed is particularly harsh in this relatively quiet room: “Stingy bartenders tend to make lime juice with limes by the dozen — it seems like it saves on booze,” he says, mixing a teaspoon of the syrup with enough soda, stirring well, and pouring it into the glass as well. In the glass, "God knows what to save on that cheap Barcadi: and it still tastes completely different?" He turned around again, took out a small brown plastic bottle from the wall cabinet, unscrewed the cap, and carefully squeezed two or three drops of the thick liquid into the wine glass: "This is the secret to the 'authentic Cuban taste' - the original Angostura Bitter, without which it wouldn't even be called a Cuban Mojito!" John proudly said, taking the The bottle of "Hawala Club" just now, unscrewed the bottle cap, put the mouth of the bottle under the nose immediately, enjoying the wonderful aroma emitted at the moment of opening the bottle: "This is the best!", he exclaimed, "no more, no less—we want forty milliliters." Without resorting to any measuring tools, John poured the absolute right amount into the glass—"a top sommelier is also a top bartender," our detective now fully believes. John squeezed the freshly picked mint leaves with a pestle and added them to the cup: "Never use peppermint! Those have too much menthol in them, so they're not suitable for mojitos at all?", the casual bartender explained seriously, "Hemmingway-Minze is naturally the first choice ?”, he thought for a while, and then said, “You can also see that it is not necessary to follow the Cuban practice completely—that would be too rigid: as a qualified bartender, no matter when and where Should you use your creativity properly?” He finished with a generous amount of crushed ice on top of the mint green.Seeing that the wine glass was almost 80% full, he immediately put the ice bucket aside, picked up the long silver spoon, and began to stir evenly from top to bottom, while adding a little soda water until the bubbles felt satisfy him. Finally, he used a paper knife to cut off a sprig of Hemingway's mint for garnish, and handed our detective a freshly made mojito: "Try it!" He wiped the sweat from his brow, "You know that the size of crushed ice also has a great influence on the taste?" Our detective thanked the host of the reception and happily took a sip of what could be called a top-notch mojito. My friends, I must say: fortunately, we don't need to taste it ourselves - just look at the expression on the detective's face at this moment, and you can tell that the taste of this glass is really good. It's too late: "You're a genius!" Wenzel praised sincerely, "This is definitely a unique taste? It tastes better than all the mojitos I've ever had!" Of course, this sentence is not polite. "You are too polite." The host of the reception went to the wine cabinet and gently closed the curtains in the room. "Alcohol always brings some harmony, my dear Mr. Detective?" He used Said in a rather strange ambiguous tone. It's a pity that the harmonious atmosphere was broken in an instant - the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and a middle-aged man hurried in.The detective who saw us tasting the wine seemed to be a little hesitant, but he still spoke to the host of the reception: "That thing? I still have to talk to you." He glanced at Wenzel again—our detective knew, of course, that he couldn't stay here any longer: "Thank you so much for the wine!" Wenzel bowed to John, "I'll go out first—if it's convenient, we'll talk later." "I'm really sorry? You are too polite." The owner of the villa nodded to our detective, looking rather regretful. Wenzel raised his glass to the host of the reception and politely left the room.