I was warned about these drinks, advised that they would be everywhere in Italy and rather addictive.
That was truth. I had one the first night I was in Venice and never looked back.
Aperol Spritz:
- 3oz Aperol
- 3oz Prosecco, chilled
- 1 orange slice
- Seltzer, chilled
Pour the Aperol in the bottom of a wine glass. (It really doesn’t taste as nice in a Solo cup.) Add Prosecco and ice. Top with seltzer (Or use more Prosecco, like I do). Garnish with the orange slice.
Enjoy.
On the surface, an Aperol Spritz would not be my jam. Aperol can be a little bitter and herby. Bad experiences with Chartreuse have left scars, and I’ve never been a huge fan of Champagne or Prosecco. (Heresy, I know.) Yet there’s something about the combination that I adore.
And the drinks are everywhere in Italy and Greece at a reasonable price, which says something in tourist areas. In the above picture, I was sitting in a cafe in Oia on Santorini. Both the cafe and the drink would become a part of Holding Out for an Eros. It is in a cafe like one pictured that Christa Moorman meets an intriguing stranger who changes her life forever:
“A distant whisper caught her attention, too far away to be distinct. Another touch, stronger, warm, traced her jawline. She forced herself to stare at the page. This time, instead of picking her head up, she glanced to the side.
The man stared at her intently. When he realized he’d been caught, a smile crept across his face, sheepish and lopsided, a strange contrast to his urbane exterior. He wore a dark suit with an open collar shirt exposing a long neck. His neatly trimmed beard and mustache were streaked with white, but only fine lines around his eyes gave any indication of his age. The gold-brown eyes twinkled with mischief. He shrugged and tilted his head as if asking a question she couldn’t hear.“
Try an Aperol Spritz for yourself. (Though I will warn you, Aperol is not cheap, but it does last a while.) Maybe a handsome stranger will appear. If not, curl up with Christa and Eros.
D. S. Dehel 