Devon (and Liz) are Cooking...Wounded Maries

After our amazing trip to Annapolis, we capped off our trip with a couple of days in Washington, DC. We stayed with Liz and Jeff (of amazing wedding fame) and made the most of our short 36 hours in our nation's capital. On Friday night, Tommy and Emily (of Tommy and Emily, DC roofdeck fame) helped us have the experience of a lifetime when they took us on a private tour of the West Wing. We got to see amazing artwork, the presidential rose garden (which, incidentally, had very few roses in it), the press room, the West Wing bathroom (my bathroom had an empty roll of toilet paper in it-- a sure sign that there's a recession going on!) and the Oval Office. It was pretty amazing! We also had a great dinner at Bourbon which, surprise, surprise, has a lot of Bourbon on the menu...but they also have TOTS! Sold.

On the 4th, Liz and I went for a great hike/rock-climb in Maryland and while on our outdoor zen jaunt (with Long Island women bitching about how hard the rocks were to get up-- stairmaster and rockclimbing apparently are NOT the same thing), we were inspired to make a 4th of July cocktail. We settled on homemade bloody marys which turned out so well-- the best drink I have ever had! We used fresh tomatoes and, subsequently, were "missing" the viscosity we're used to in Bloody Marys, as well as the canned tomato taste ("I wouldn't say we were missing it, Bob."), and thus decided that a new name was in order. Our new name was Wounded Maries, in homage to the weak bull fight that Jeff and Liz saw in France. Make this drink.

WOUNDED MARIES
Ingredients
6 lbs ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
6 celery ribs, coarsely chopped + 8 ribs to garnish
2 cups coarsely chopped fresh parsley
4 Tbsp Kosher Salt
3 Tbsp bottled Horseradish
3-6 tsp tabasco
3 tsp fresh lemon juice
3-6 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
fresh ground back pepper
16 oz. ice-cold vodka

Directions: Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender, but you'll have to mix in batches) blend tomatoes, celery, parsley and 1 Tbsp Kosher salt. Chill at least 1 hour. Strain out the juice using a food mill or a sieve and discard chunky leftovers (or make a yummy gazpacho or tomato sauce out of the leftovers). Mix remaining salt, horseradish, tabasco, lemon juice, Old Bay, worcestershire sauce, and black pepper. Taste and add in any taste you think is missing. Incorporate vodka and serve in salt and pepper-rimmed glass mugs with lots of ice and a sprig of celery. Cheers!