Orange Cauliflower. Golden Cauliflower. Cheddar Cauliflower. Do not adjust your set. Do not run from the room screaming. This is not an alien brain and I am not Orson Wells. To prove it I plan to take this oddly colored vegetable, the subject of this week's Market Matters from the Hollywood Farmers Market, and make Golden Cauliflower Soup with Curried Apple, then eat it.

Though I can promise that is not the tale of little-orange-brained-green-men and their plan to take over the earth. It is, however,  a mysterious bit of science non-fiction nonetheless. You see, this other-worldly cauliflower was discovered in a Canadian Marsh more than 30 years ago. The bright orange hue and the tell-tale shape announced to the world that a new breed of cauliflower had hybridized itself in that faraway marsh, without the aid of man. Dah Da Da, Duhhhh!

It was quickly harvested and sent to the laboratory for investigation. Cauliflower was confirmed. But the version found that day in Canada was lacking something in the flavor department so a few not so mad scientists began cross-breeding it with the more familiar, more tasty white version. Well, after decades of tinkering the orange cauliflower was born. It can range in color from a creamy yellow, through gold and all the way to outright pumpkiny! It is higher in several vitamins than white cauliflower, and is a good source of (you guessed it) beta-carotene too. The best part is it hold its golden beauty throughout all kinds of cooking.

James Thurber said: "One martini is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough." And wasn't it W.C. Fields who said: "Buy me a drink and I'll sing like a canary"? Only these days– with all this new technology, I think the more apt quote might be: "Buy me a drink and I'll tweet like a canary"

Which is a very funny line and one I have been using for a years, but nobody ever laughed at it before, let alone took me up on it. That is until the geniuses at Dirty Sue, got a slightly inebriated tweet from me several weeks ago. How many times have I said Twitter is not for happy hour, because those tweets can only lead to twouble?

Well maybe not always trouble, because it turns out I am going to live to eat those words, or rather I should say drink those words. Because my tweets led to the offer of a Sippity Sup sample of Dirty Sue Olive Juice, which in turn led to the lovely libation you see right here on this page, The Dirty Martini. Which further leads me to offer you a simple recipe for a classic cocktail that is having a resurgence right now. And I can't help but wonder if this product from Dirty Sue might have something to do with this cocktail's reintroduction to the hottest clubs and swankiest parties in Los Angeles.

Dirty Sue is The Original Premium Olive Juice. Like all great stories involving some sort of comeback kid this one came about rather innocuously. It seems that on an otherwise regular shift at the hip and happen' Los Angeles restaurant, Jones Hollywood. Bartender Eric Tecosky reached for the gallon jar of olives and realized it was full of olives but void of olive juice. He looked at his long time friend and co-worker Terry Faded and asked, "How come no one bottles olive juice?"

The Martini! The illustrious Martini. It has a glamorous allure few cocktails can match. It achieves its special brand of alchemy by balancing the sharpness of juniper berries in excellent gin, with the earthy herbal qualities of good vermouth.

The ratios are very important– and much discussed. Though Steve Allen may have famously quipped, ‘Do not allow children to mix drinks, it is unseemly and they always use too much vermouth’. In truth there is some room for personal preference regarding the exact balance of gin to vermouth.

Lately the style has been to make Martinis a bit too dry in my opinion. Many great mixologists recommend swirling the vermouth in the shaker, then discarding it. I personally disagree with this method. A classic Martini has 1/2-ounce vermouth to 2 ounces of gin; a dry martini should have about 1/4-ounce vermouth.

And speaking of shakers, despite what James Bond may have said, a true Martini is never shaken. It is always stirred. A shaken Martini is properly called a Bradford. I have another great quote that I believe puts the shaken or stirred question to rest. It comes from W. Somerset Maugham. He said, ‘Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously on top of each other’. I sensuously agree!