How to make the best baked asparagus in the whole world!

I make the best baked asparagus. I am so not kidding you. I have had several people ask how to make it, and I dont mind sharing my method. This method is fool proof!! If you follow these simple instructions, you too, can have the best baked asparagus in the whole world right on your dinner table.

What you'll need:

Asparagus (the thinner asparagus works better than the thick stringy stuff) 1-2 lbs
Cookie sheet
Butter (only the real stuff will do)
Salt
Pepper

Everyone knows how to snap the asparagus, right? Okay, here's how.... with your right hand, hold the asparagus spear right in the middle. With your left hand, grab the bottom of the spear. Bend the spear so it snaps off the bottom. It will snap in a natural place between your two hands. Rinse the snapped spears in cold water and dry well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Got your cookie sheet out and ready? Rub some butter on the bottom of it. Get it all nice and buttery, it won't hurt. Lay out your asparagus on the sheet, try to get a single layer of asparagus, not totally necessary but it helps. (Oh, and you might want to try placing the spears opposite of each other, like some pointing away from you and some pointing at you, to make it even) Cut a bunch of thin pats of butter and place them all over the asparagus. You might need 8-12 pats, depending on how much asparagus you have, and how much you like butter. Next, sprinkle the asparagus with salt and pepper. I like to use fresh ground sea salt and pepper.

Stick it in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. If you dont have much asparagus, like 1 pound or less, and its really skinny, you may only want 15 minutes. But for 2 pounds of average width asparagus, I go for 20 minutes on the dot.

When I pull it out of the oven, I use a spatula (like a pancake turner), and roll the asparagus around to distribute the salt and pepper.

Serve, and enjoy!!

Once you get this down, you could experiment with some balsamic vinegar, parmasan cheese, etc.

But the way I described above is my number 1 favorite way to cook, and eat asparagus.

Wow, I can't believe I just made a whole post about asparagus. And honestly, the only reason I went into so much detail about this, is because Carrie said that she has tried to make it several times and failed. The instructions I usually give sound like this: Cookie sheet, butter, salt and pepper, 350 degrees, 20 minutes.

P.S. your pee will smell like asparagus... this is normal.

Domestic stuff (boring)

I was a Domestic Diva this weekend.

I got a lot of household chores done this weekend. I've been trying to fold and put away my clothes as soon as they are clean. It's working out quite well. Cindy came over and busted me with a load of laundry in the recliner, and I felt so guilty about it that I put it away as soon as she left. It had only been there a little while, because I was cooking dinner, but anyway, it got done, and that's what matters.

I made a good dinner tonight. It was Indian night in our house. I made this, inspire by this. Chicken Tikka Masala is the first Indian food I ever tried. I used to eat it all the time when I lived in Salem. I never thought to try cooking it myself, until I saw it on that blog. I read the recipe and thought it sounded easy enough, and it was. It was not exactly like India Palace, but everyone liked it. I wonder if there are different kinds of cumin, because I could really taste the cumin, which made it taste more Mexican than Indian. Oh, and when dinner was done, I put the food away, and did the dishes. :)

I have been thinking a lot this week about all of the stuff I have been able to give up easily. Smoking is supposed to be one of the hardest things to quit ever. I quit cold turkey with no withdrawls, shakes, headaches, freak-outs, etc. I gained weight unfortunately, but I have never really missed smoking, and I dont want to do it again. Caffeine... I drink coffee everyday at work. It wasn't something that I ever planned to get addicted to, but I started "needing" it and went from drinking one cup a day, to drinking it all morning long with flavored creamer. Last week, I started feeling really crappy and anxious, and I decided to give up caffeine. Piece of cake. I went the whole week, didnt even miss it. No headaches. Nothing. I drank hot tea (de-caf) instead and I was fine. Caffeine is supposed to be hard to quit. Hmmm, it wasnt for me. So, I have given up two of the hardest things to give up known to man. But, there is one thing that I cannot seem to give up..... sugary crappy food. How can I go days, weeks, without nicotine and caffeine, but can't even make it half a day without eating something junky. So strange. So, that's what I have been thinking about lately.

Guess what else? I'm tired of the way other people do things. It drives me crazy. My way is the right way. Its the way my mom taught me and it works, got it? So, when I suggest something that may work better than the way you are doing it, hmmmm, it just may!!

LOL, sorry, just had to throw that out there.

Oh, and I am drinking peppermint tea now, and watching Philosophy on QVC. I want to buy everything. HELP!!!

I'm alive....

Sorry for the hiatus (sp?)..... I didnt realize that it's been so long. But I wanted to check in and recap for you quickly what's been going on. (really its not that interesting)

* Dennis's brother came to visit this weekend, and I ate too much pizza.

* Went to Portland and back in one day to buy a car. I call it my "big car" its a Chevy Tahoe. I'll post pics, someday.

* I still drink tea and clip coupons

* Watched Beverly Hills 90210 (twice if you count tonight), Sober House, The City, Rock of Love Bus, and right now.... the replay of our President being sworn in.

* As of today I have been taking my vitamins religiously for 23 days in a row!!!

* I finished my book! Was hoping to start a new one tonight, but I'm going to take advantage and go to bed early.

* Got a new purse, and 2 new pairs of shoes

* Re-organized some kitchen cabinets, hope to finish the rest this weekend.

Alright, well that about sums it up. I am going to sleep now.

Oh wait! One more thing. I have a car for sale. If you know anybody who would like to buy a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am, send them my way. It's a good car with a lot of miles left, and the inside is CLEAN! I cleaned it myself. It's never been smoked in, and it has gotten us to Portland and back several times. I like the car, but I like my "big car" better, so "ol silver" has got to find a new home.

It Whistles!!!

Tonight's Tea: Organic Lavender Chamomile

OMG! It works! It whistles. I wasnt letting it go long enough. I started a pot of water tonight, and ironically...... I forgot about it!!! A while later I was into watching tonight's episode of "the City" when I heard a strange noise. My first thought was what in the world is Bubba doing? Then it hit me! I looked at Dennis. "BABE! Do you hear that? Its my teapot! It's whistling!!!"

LOL!

Ah, the little things that amuse me.....

p.s.
The tea lady was right, you really have to love lavender to appreciate this stuff. Oy!

weekend review

This is my new tea pot:

 

It's supposed to whistle, but it doesnt. I dont know if that is just because I don't let it cook long enough or what. But honestly, the instructions say to not put the burner higher than medium. But it takes about 20 minutes for it to get hot. Then the steam starts coming out of the whistle hole. But it doesnt make a sound. :(
Oh well, its made some good tea in the past 24 hours.

 

Went to the tea shop yesterday, thanks to Carrie for showing me the ropes. I picked up 6 new teas. So far, I have had the Blueberry Bang Rooibis, the Tropical Papaya, and A Night On Glacier Bay. The tropical papapya was the bomb!! What you see in my cup above is A Night On Glacier Bay. This one was disappointing, suprisingly because it was the one I was most excited about. It smelled heavenly in the little tester thingy at the shop. But then when I got it home, it kinda smelled like cough medicine. It has a wierd taste when brewed too.

Well I would love to write more but Dennis is driving me nuts, laundry needs switched over, gotta take a bath, and watch Rock of Love Bus at 9:00.

Night, folks!!!!

Hump day

Today's Tea: Bigelow's Sweet Dreams

Happy "hump day" all!

I am not sure I have anything really exciting to talk about.

My phone broke. Well, it's not even my phone. Its a loaner phone, that I am using while I am waiting for my own phone to be replaced. Now the loaner is broken. I knew that the power button didnt work. It hasnt worked since about day 2 (i've had it for 3 weeks), but I didnt think anything of it, since it was ON. Well tonight I was messing around with it, why? I'll never know. But I slid the battery cover off, and noticed some oil on it. There was oil on the back of the battery cover, and on the phone itself. Hmmm, wierd, I rubbed it off, and figured it would be fine. But then something inside of me thought to remove the battery from the phone (i guess to make sure there was no oil inside the phone, even though the oil was obviously not hindering the phone's ability to operate properly), and you know the old saying "don't fix it if it's not broken." Well, there you have it. As soon and I checked the inside and found no oil, I proudly replaced the back cover and pushed the power button down when suddenly I thought OH SHIT!!! I knew I was screwed. So, I popped some other pieces off of the phone, thinking I could somehow get the power button to engage and make contact long enough to power the thing on. No dice. So, here I am, phoneless, for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. *sigh*

So, what does one do without a phone? I pouted for a little while. Then I panicked. Then I pouted some more. But mostly panicked. What if there is an emergency and no one can reach me. Ok, I dont want to think about that. Anyway, what did I do?......

I read a book! Yea, can you believe it? I "read" now! Carrie loaned me this book, I don't know, a year ago? And on Monday night I started reading it. It's called "Notes from the Backseat" and I know what you are thinking? But its not even about that at all. Imagine the last time you went on a road trip and got stuck in the backseat. It's a really cute book. I am about 1/2 way through it. I am sure I could read the whole thing in one night, but I am just taking my time. I already can't wait to read other books.

Well, that's all. Tea is kicking in.

Goodnight.

Manic Monday

Today's tea: Twinings Herbal Unwind with african honeybush and orange. Yum!

Omg check out starbucks!! Is it a sign???

Dennis's GPS just turned on by itself. I thought I heard someone talking but I thought the TV was on in the bedroom. Then Dennis just walked in there and heard someone tell him to take a right. LOL!! Freaky freaky!

I'm in pain. So much pain. I messed up my neck, or my shoulder. I don't know. I was getting ready for work this morning and something pinched. I think it was when I was putting on my deoderant. See, I usually go in through the collar of my shirt, but this morning I for some reason went up inside my shirt from the bottom. Maybe that kinked my neck. All I know is that it has hurt badly all day, and now the rest of my body is started to hurt from over compensating all day. Tonight when I go to bed, I am going to reward myself with a lovely pill that will make me feel all better. At least for a couple of hours anyway.

How do birds land on cactuses? You know how you see on tv a large cactus like the kind in arizona, there is always a bird sitting on top? How? huh? Ok, so birds and cactuses dont matter.

night night.

Tea Time

Today's tea: Bigelow's Cozy Chamomile

New year, new blog name. (thanks Lisa)

Tea time, is "me" time. As I have mentioned before, I have been drinking a ton of tea. It's become quite an obsession. I have about 7 boxes of herbal tea now, and I love all of it! It's so relaxing to sit down with a cup of tea and have some me time each night. One thing my physician suggested for me to do was to find a way to relax each day. So, this is one of the steps I am taking.

You don't have to drink tea during tea time. It could be a few minutes that you take out of your day for you. It could be to file your nails, or read out of a book, take a bubble bath, draw or write, nap, or just breathe, you get the picture. Its never too late to start taking care of yourself.

So, my word for the year is going to be "execute" It's such a sharp word to me. I considered this one last year, and it's still speaking to me. So, execute it's going to be. I need to do less day dreaming, brainstorming, wishing, and waiting, and just "do" it. (and get a new pair of nikes?)

first transformation of the year

Okay, so not a complete fix, but a drastic improvement. Poor Harley, her room is so small, and she has so much stuff. At her age, there are so many cool toys and stuff. She also has a really bad purse, and paper obsession, among being just an all around not very clean person. I am pretty picky about the kids rooms, I like them kept clean. We have had a lot of company over the last couple of weeks and all of the kids end up in her room, and things get messy. Then she got a ton of new Christmas presents, and we had no where to put them. So, a few days of thinking about it, and this is what I came up with. Please keep in mind, her room needs a coat of paint badly, so try to over look that. We did what we could with what we had. Oh, and also keep in mind that by the time I thought to start taking "before" pictures, I had already been ripping things up in there for close to an hour. So the room was in way worse condition than it was when I first started.

Before

 

After

 

Before

 

After

 

Before


After

We are happy with it, Harley is happy with it. I like the curtains over the closet. Her old closet doors were pieces of crap! So hopefully this works out.

fo shizzle my nizzle

Happy New Year to all my ho-cakes and bro-cakes!

I am so excited for 2009!

Now that the crazy holidays are over, my mind is consumed with fixing stuff. Its racing with all the house-y things that need improved. I only had a few projects this last year. Re-arranging some rooms, and painting the dining room. I really want to get a lot more done this year. I am already thinking about all of the things I want to do, and let me tell you, its refreshing to actually "feel" like doing something.

I am drinking Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea right now, from my Portland Starbucks mug.

Guess what else I need to do? Pick my WORD for 2009. I kinda tossed around the idea of doing this. My last years word was obviously not focused on the way it should have been. I just dont know what to chose. If I want it to be more like a goal, or just an inspiration.
Here are some that I am considering:

*Improve (improve, not only the housey stuff, but things inside me as well) yea, kinda generic and un-original I know

*Execute (some of you may recognize this one as one I was considering last year) this is a big one for me, because I am known for wanting do to and have so many things. Things that I could have if I would just go through with it. Execute! Sounds like something out of a movie.

*Change (so cliche', considering the new president and all) and honestly, this word could work for every single person. I need a word that fits only me.

*Electrolysis (joke)

*Patience (something I really need to find)

*Reduce Reuse Recycle (i'm grasping for straws here..)

*Remember
*Know
*Pills
*Sephora
*Dream
*De-stress

Are you picking a word? What's your word?