Clamp

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues” - Abraham Lincoln

Karakuri Creation Group artist Tatsuo Miyamoto has been at it for a while. At 79 this year, he is the oldest current living member of the group of Japanese puzzle box artisans. He learned the craft of puzzle box making from his father, and carries the tradition on magnificently, having created some of the group’s most iconic works over the past two decades. While he has certainly earned the right to slow down, he is still crafting, at least up until last year when he released his most recent work.

“He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.” - Winston Churchill

Miyamoto-san has always drawn inspiration from the things around him, his daily life and emotions, his childhood, even his workshop. Being a woodworker, he was surrounded by his tools of the trade, and at one point decided to recreate a few into themed puzzle boxes. In 2007 he made a hinge, and followed that in 2008 with a latch and a Japanese tool box pencil case. The following year he got even more abstractly metaphorical, and made a wood clamp. He would have used many actual clamps to create the puzzle box clamp. The clamp is even clamping down on a block of yosegi, the technique of planed wood parquetry  which uses many colorful and geometric pieces of wood bound together to create beautiful patterns, that was invented a thousand years ago in Hakone, where the Karakuri Group is located. Miyamoto managed to capture some expectations about how the clamp should work, and then managed to play with those expectations, too. It’s a lovely piece and there is something about it that just won’t let go.

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.” - Napoleon Bonaparte

I’m playing to my vices for the toast to this wonderful work of art, with a modern classic that his risen above the “craft” cocktail renaissance and resisted all attempts at being refined or “improved”. Purists insist there is no better frozen drink. Slushy, frozen cocktails had their heyday in the seventies and eighties, thanks to the invention in 1971 of the frozen drinks machine by Mariano Martinez, a Texas restauranteur (and let’s face it, a marketing genius). His frozen margarita set the stage for the slushy goodness that followed in the form of daiquiris of every flavor. I’ll step off my daiquiri purist’s high horse, just this once, to enjoy a guilty pleasure.

“Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.” - Walter Scott*

The Miami Vice is the simply brilliant merger of a pina colada and a frozen strawberry daiquiri, popularized in the eighties during the peak of the era defining television series. What makes this combination so good? The rum running through the base of each is the same spirit, which makes the overall drink seamless, and the pairing of flavors is ideal. Strawberry and pineapple are natural companions, and lime plus coconut is another no brainer. Even better, the admittedly overly sweet colada gets balanced by the daiquiri when made properly. But in the end this drink is not about balance and skill, although it can be a serious pain to create from scratch – it’s over the top! It’s also worth all the trouble, if you don’t happen to have two separate frozen drinks machines handy. Take my advice and give in to this vice. Cheers!

Miami Vice (ala Shaun Traxler)

For the Pina Colada

1 ½ oz aged rum

2 oz cream of coconut (eg Coco Lopez)

2 oz pineapple juice

5 chunks fresh pineapple

6 oz crushed ice

For the Strawberry Daiquiri

1 ½ oz white rum

¾ oz lime

¾ oz simple syrup

8 strawberries

6 oz crushed ice

Blend each drink individually until smooth and slushy. Pour both simultaneously with a removable divider in the glass to achieve the ultimate split effect, or create the poor man’s version with a tilted glass layering one on the other a seen here. Traxler also recommends using frozen fruit rather than ice to achieve the best texture.

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