Monday, April 5, 2010

Spring is Catching On

The Japanese Maple on our patio knows it's safe to send out those buds. Leaves aren't far behind.

Wow, what a wonderful weekend we had here. The weather was sunny, highs of mid to high 70s F, just perfect.

Some friends invited us over for an Easter dinner so I ended up making our ham dinner on Saturday. Skip has been watching a TON of the Food Network lately and had seen a couple of chefs prepare asparagus by grilling it on the stove with just olive oil, salt and pepper. I did that with our asparagus and I don't think I'll cook them any other way again. I love asparagus and this was easily the best version of it I've ever had.

Great to visit with our friends. After dinner, we sat out on their deck and had a relaxed chit-chat until the early evening. By then, it had cooled off quite a bit so I was getting chilly. And, we needed to get Skip back in bed after being up and about for 6 hours.

I got us all settled in time to watch the Red Sox take on the Yankees in their home opener. I went to sleep expecting the Sox' first game would end up an L as they were behind 5-1 when I drifted off halfway through. I found this morning that they had rallied and ended up winning. Good way to start the season.

7 comments:

awb said...

Never count the lads out! Now, you take that grilled asparagus, place a little aoli mayo on grilled bread, thin sliced ham, grated sharp, melt it on the grill, good meal! A bit of crab or lobster makes it a party.

Andy

Webster said...

That sounds good, Andy.

Cranky, What I do is sprinkle a little olive oil and a little garlic salt on the spears and put them either in the oven until almost fork tender or under the broiler turning once or twice until they -just- start to brown. Delicious. Also, asparagus is one vegetable it is proper to eat with one's fingers. Thus, it's best that they are not limp spears.

At Easter dinner my cousin once again cooked the spears well past done, boiled in a pan of unsalted water, just like my Mom used to do. Mom really knew how to kill vegetables.

kmilyun said...

What I did was eat all the asparagus I could. KRP did the bake thing and our friend's did the oil in the pan thing, and ME LOL I did the eat it all up thing! YUM

There is a bundle just waiting to be cooked in the fridge and I keep hoping someone else will cook it cause I am lazy lazy - oh yeah and a pig.

Webster: did your mom know my mom? I can see the book now - how to kill a vegetable.

zoomdoggies said...

One of the things I miss most about springtime in Michigan is the asparagus that grew wild in the fields around our house. Cooking method was rarely a concern, since most of it was eaten on the spot!

Muffie said...

Go, Sox!! The Phillies also won their opener against the Nats-- oh how I love the baseball season. Oh, and asparagus, too. Your way is great, but I love all kinds.
Peace,
Muff

Cranky said...

Looks like I'll have to cook asparagus again right away as you folks are making me want some more.

Andy - that sounds like a great dish.

Webster - fortunately, not too much vegetable killing by my mom. My father had a huge garden and we often had 3 vegetables fresh from the garden at dinner. It was great.

Jan - hope you got someone to cook that bunch in the fridge!

Zoom - I've never eaten asparagus raw, I wonder why not? In my dad's garden, he had an asparagus patch but I never thought to eat a spear fresh as I was cutting them off.

Muffie - I love baseball season too! Go Phillies! I'm thinking, despite the cost and Skip's wound, we may have to take in a game at Fenway this year.

Diane J Standiford said...

Baseball season already??? Our team is awful, so I don't get involved. LOVE me asparagus! No spice or sauce needed. Funny how life goes on as normal when some of us are fighting to see "normal."