I hardly ever have a drink these days. The occasional glass of wine to accompany a meal, sure- and maybe one or two glasses of Bailey’s on the rocks at get-togethers with girlfriends… but nothing like when I used to go out to clubs and bars. In those days, one of my favorite ever things to order was a Martini. With an olive, maybe two. Can you tell that I love olives? Delicious.

Because we like to entertain regularly, we keep our home bar pretty well-stocked- and the other night I felt myself hankering for a perfectly made Martini. And here’s what I did:

Perfect Olive Martini Recipe

1 oz dry gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz olive juice or brine (straight out of the jar of olives… yep)
ice cubes
1 or 2 olives

Fill your cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Pour gin, sweet vermouth and olive juice into it, cover, and shake well. Strain into a martini glass, and add olive(s). It’s shaken, not stirred (cue James Bond music).

Making two of these and handing one to my husband as he walked in the door made me feel very worldly and grown-up somehow.