You know what yesterday was, don’t you?  It was Free Slurpee day at 7-11.  It’s been 85 years of slurpees, hotdogs, florescent orange nachos and ring-dings, 7 days a week, 11 hours a day.  Incidentally, it was our anniversary, too.  Not quite 85 years, but nostalgic just the same.  Fourteen years ago we said “I do” and as my husband will tell you, we’ve had 11 wonderful years of marriage, not in a row; that joke gets funnier and funnier, each year.

For my funny guy and two funny boys, I made a summertime grill favorite, flank steak, marinated in a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  My groom grilled it perfectly medium-rare.  It was thinly sliced, laid over a bed of arugula, topped with quartered cherry tomatoes and then drizzled with the juices left over from slicing the meat.

While we waited for the meat to cook we sat on the deck, reminisced our courtship and had a lemoncello prosecco cocktail.  It was one part lemoncello and two parts prosecco.  I muddled mint in the bottom of the glass, added the lemoncello and prosecco and then added raspberries, (quickly chilled in the freezer for 15 minutes), and a cucumber spear.

For dessert, we had slurpees, of course.  Instead of serving them in the ubiquitous paper cup though, I hollowed out oranges, filled with slurpee and then topped with whipped cream.  I didn’t think the slurpee could be improved upon but the cream was the perfect complement to the cherry slurpee.  I might go so far to say, it was a perfect marriage, something I know a thing about.  I would say that my husband is a lot like a slurpee,  sweet, refreshing and the perfect road companion.   But, he’s more of a 24/7 kind of guy, so in that way, he’s better than a slurpee.  I count myself lucky that I found the perfect guy to spend 85 wonderful years of marriage with. In a row.

-Andra