My favorite way to eat asparagus

Complete recipe here.

Ingredients:
red potatoes (skins on)
asparagus
garlic
rosemary
thyme
extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
ground pepper

and just for this time, I added some chopped parsnips, because I had bought them at the farmer's market and didn't know how else to use them up.

Adventures with Rhubarb

Confession time: before tonight, I had never cooked rhubarb before.  I had never knowingly eaten it.  Before last weekend, I had never bought it.  But it was at the farmer's market, so I decided to try it.  It's one of those early spring vegetables (wait, it is a veggie, right?) that some people rave about.

Food with Friends

There are no pictures of dinner tonight, but it was wonderful.  After church, LH, LR, and SB came over to my house for dinner.  First we made Greek salad:

Lettuce (Farmer's Market)
Green onion (FM)
Spinach (my balcony)
Feta cheese
Cucumber
Greek dressing (LH made it without a recipe!  Way to go!)

Then it was time for the main course.  Pork tenderloin, asparagus (FM), and garlic-Parmesan mashed potatoes.  SO.  GOOD.  The tenderloin came out of the oven perfectly-- moist, but thoroughly cooked, thanks to LH's skills with a meat thermometer.  We hadn't even put any fancy spices or sauce on it-- just salt and pepper.  The asparagus we cooked in a pan with some oil, then sprinkled salt and lemon juice over it.  I have to say I did a good job cooking it for the right amount of time; it was neither too crunchy nor too mushy.  The potatoes were easy, although the garlic was kind of old and so didn't cook or mash exactly right.  Oh well.  DELICIOUS.

Then for dessert we had Choco-tacos and What-the-FUDGE? bars (made by Klondike, in case you're wondering).  I know, dessert sounds kind of lame after that amazing meal, but it's what I had, and they were quite tasty.

Then, the best part (IMO) of the evening occurred.  LR did ALL of my dishes.  Not just the ones we'd used tonight.  Oh no.  She did all the ones that have been piling up in my sink making me crazy.  She wins the gold star, blue ribbon, best-in-show prize of all time!

Dinner tonight

Tonight I used my George Foreman grill (from Goodwill) for the second time.  I grilled some chicken breasts I had, and then tried to figure out what to do with them.  Eventually I settled on salad, since I had half a bag of spring mix left that I didn't want to go bad.  Then I also decided to use up some of a white onion I had left in the fridge, so I sliced it and put in on the grill after the chicken was done.  Tas-tee!

Salvation Belongs to our God

When people talk about being Saved (and you know there's a capital letter there), I always get a little itchy.  Not because I'm uncomfortable with talking about it, but because often it seems the people who talk about it that way insist that there be a life-changing, spirit-altering Moment of Being Saved.  That's not how it's been for me.  Here's my best answer to the when-were-you-saved question.  It is not meant to be inflammatory, or rude, or critical.  It's just my experience and my interpretation.

I was saved when Jesus died on the cross.  Salvation is something that God does; my actions can have no effect whatsoever on whether I am saved or not.  However, my understanding of this amazing act of grace has been growing since I was a child.  I hope it will continue to grow throughout my lifetime, by thought, prayer, and revelation.
The only thing I can really DO with salvation is accept it, and that is not something to be done once and then remembered forever.  Instead, it is a daily (sometimes an hourly) task of admitting my sinfulness, my inability to fix the situation, and putting my life in God's hands.  If that's what you mean by being Saved, then I try to do it every day.

If you have had a life-changing, spirit-altering Moment of Being Saved, that's awesome.  But please don't assume that it is or should be that way for everyone.

The Garden of Eden...

it ain't.  But I'll have spinach, herbs, and flowers this summer.

From head to heart

This weekend, I:
went to the farmer's market for the first time this season
attended and sang in a funeral
visited a baby boy
watched the sun set over a lake
and finally, cried.

Thinnings for breakfast

The spinach has developed secondary leaves!

Can you see them?  They're more roundish than the original sprouts.

Spinach is growing!

The spinach is doing quite well!  During the few late-season snows we've had, I've been putting the lid that came with the tub on, and that seems to have helped the soil stay consistently moist, not too soggy nor too dry, nor too cold.  The short amount of sunlight is, I think, causing the sprouts to grow slower than they might otherwise, but I think they'll make it anyway.  I hope.

Spinach has sprouted!

I woke up this morning, knowing that it might snow tomorrow, and looked out the window to check on the spinach bed.  To my surprise, there were little green things sticking out all over!  I had to go out and get a closer look:

Close-ups taken from my phone almost always look bad.

Green stuff!  Hooray!  Now I just have to keep them alive through the weekend (lows in the low 30's), and we should be good to go!