Three Things to Do with Fresh Asparagus

Asparagus is in season here and even grows locally. (It's not going to be in season much longer, I don't think; the stalks have already morphed from the slim bright-green ones that I got in early to mid April, grown thicker and darker and more fibrous.) I love asparagus, and I've been getting a lot of it in my organic delivery boxes, and here's how I've been cooking it.

(Note: These are emphatically not asparagus recipes to convert the asparagus-hater. I love asparagus, therefore they are recipes that jump up and down and shout ASPARAGUS really loudly at you. Mostly they involve just cooking it in different ways and eating it with very little else on top.)

( Steamed in a Packet )

( Roasted )

( Sauteed )

You can also cook asparagus in hot liquid; this is mostly useful for adding to dishes that already are a hot liquid, such as soups and risottos. Just toss it into the hot liquid 3-5 minutes before the whole dish will be done; adding it right at the end prevents it from overcooking. And you can use the above methods in conjunction with other things: for instance, since asparagus reacts well to dry-heat roasting, you can put it on a pizza as a pizza topping. Just add asparagus (chopped up bite-sized, but otherwise unseasoned) at the same time you add the pepperoni or mushrooms or whatever, and bake as normal. Or bake fish in a foil pouch, and add some asparagus along with it, and it'll steam just as nicely as if you'd just put it in on its own. Like that.

(It's a good thing I'm posting this on my lunch break: it's making me hungry.)

(no subject)

Hmm.

Movies I Definitely Want To See On The Big Screen, in decreasing order of inevitability

* Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I think if I don't see this one, my thirteen-year-old, crush-on-Harrison-Ford self will come forward from the past and strangle me. So clearly it's inevitable. Also, of all of them, this seems like the one most likely to lose something in the conversion from big to small screen.
* Wall*E. It's Pixar.While Pixar movies vary some in quality, the track record is so good I am willing to go on faith these days. (Sort of like the way I'll buy Pratchett books in hardcover, on faith.)
* Get Smart. The original 60s show is what put me onto my fannishness about irreverent secret agents, I have a great deal of nostalgia value for it, and the trailer looks promising.

Movies I Will See If There's A Group Going, But I Can Wait For DVD Too

* Prince Caspian. I enjoyed Lion, Witch and Wardrobe in the theater, but it didn't really stick in my head, so while I think I would enjoy this one, I don't feel strongly about seeing it.
* Mamma Mia. Love love love love the stage production, but I doubt it'd lose that much in the conversion to the small screen, so it's not urgent.