Buona Salute/Good Health

Although it is only August, many schools around here are back in session this week or next. So for me, summer is really over.  Luckily for us, however, the foods of summer don’t know kids are heading back to school, mall stores are filling with tights, sweaters, and scarves, and some are even beginning to display holiday ornaments and decor. (Yup…it is the truth)

More importantly,  I don’t believe the foods of summer realized that a very special day is fast approaching.  What day, you ask?  Isn’t August a fairly quiet month?  Maybe for someone who doesn’t know Duran Duran.  For the rest of us? August 10th is Duran Duran Appreciation Day! Yes, there is actually a day dedicated to the hunky Brits with the fab hair.  Can you believe it? I totally can!  Like many teens growing up in the 80s, I loved D².  In fact, I was convinced John Taylor was going to be my husband and the father of the children I never really planned to have.  Ha! Ha!

There are so many memories I have that are connected to D² songs, from dealing with puberty/moodiness (Cracks in the Pavement), teen crushes (Hungry Like the Wolf), weekend teenage shenanigans (Wild Boys), dealing with the passing of my grandfather (Ordinary World) to school.  Yup!  School.  I remember having the hardest time retaining information in Mr. McAullife’s Social Studies class.  Looking back (as an educator), I realize his old school ways of teaching from behind the desk,  having the class read from the text, out loud, one by one, up and down the rows didn’t work for this girl.  My mom, being the brilliant, hands-on, involved parent that she was, suggested I put my studies to music.  The Reflex helped me pass Mr. McAullife’s social studies class, as I replaced the lyrics with dates and reasons about battles and the key players

Well, to participate in my own event, Hungry Like a Wolf Food Blog Event I am bringing you the Taste of Summer, as I have had a wonderful summer love affair… with tomatoes. (Oh, how my admirations/objects of affection have changed over the years….)  Tomatoes and tomato dishes…heirloom with a little truffle oil and heirlooms stuffed, and tomatoes as gazpacho just to name a few. But, what’s a summer love affair without a drink, like a Bloody Mary Spritzer?  Now, all I need it John to deliver it to me.

Let’s toast to Duran Duran and the end of summer with a Bloody Mary Spritzer, yes? And, although Duran Duran Appreciation Day is fast approaching, you still have time to participate.  Won’t you channel your days of adolescence that inevitably included Duran Duran in some way?

Salute!

Bloody Mary Spritzer

1 46-oz can Tomato Juice
½ liter vodka
2 ½ Tbsp. freshly grated horseradish
1 ½ Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. Sriracha
½ lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp. celery salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp. A1 sauce
Lime Wedges and Celery salt for rim of glass
1 liter seltzer, chilled
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, frozen

Combine all the ingredients except seltzer & cherry or grape tomatoes. Shake well.

Rub the rim of a tall glass with lime and dip the rim in celery salt.  Add frozen tomatoes. Fill ½ the glass with the tomato mix, ¼ with seltzer.  Garnish with a fresh lime wedge and a celery stick.

Serves …. a lot (depending on the size of your glass) *wink*