Fatherhood is Leaving Over the Extra-Nummy Bits.

My wife makes this sauteed asparagus with garlic that, though simple, is truly extraordinary. (Enough so that even though this isn't exactly "recipe corner" I'll throw in a footnote at the end with the basics of how it's made.) While I do a fair amount of cooking around the house, Sabbath preparations are given over entirely to the lovely and talented G, who (knowing my penchant for them) often cooks up a batch of these for the table. She makes enough that there's usually a tuperware-full or so of leftovers.

Every bit my daughter, we discovered last week that Rachel really likes asparagus, too. We cut them up a little bigger than bite-size, and a handful on the table of her high chair will keep her busy for a while, and as importantly well fed. She likes them so much that she actually cried when we took the container away from the table, since she had figured it out and was (successfully) reaching for it. We like to feed her the tips rather than the stalks, because (a) she likes them better (probably because they're a little sweeter and less cellulose-y than the stalks) and (b) because they're easier for her to chew, getting more stringy the further away from the tip end. I'll add in that I like to feed her the tips because I like the tips, too, for the same reasons (a) and (b).

Last Saturday night, as happens fairly often on Saturday night, I was feeling like a little rumbly in my tumbly and went to the fridge and grabbed the container full of asparagus, and headed downstairs to our guest room/office to get some work done on some project or another.

Referring to a time about a month ago when, in a similar situation, I had eaten all of something that G had been saving for herself, I joked, "don't worry honey, I won't finish it all this time." G, no slouch she, shot back with, "I know you won’t, Rachel likes those."

Which I'll admit I didn't one hundred percent hear until I got downstairs. But then, as I'm plowing into my first forkful, I thought of it again.

And twenty minutes later, I'm still a little peckish . . . and I'm looking at a tupperware-full of tip ends.

Object lesson: Fatherhood is leaving over the nummy bits.

--FD

Recipe bonus: I know you want to know how to make the asparagus in question. G says the trick is to soak the asparagus in cold tap water for about 5 or 10 minutes, with a generous amount of kosher salt, then pour that off, drain a bit, and sautee in an open pan until almost done, then cover the pan for a bit. Turn off the heat, but leave the cover on and in another 5 minutes you got asparagus. Okay, it's not Iron Chef, but believe you me it's mightee tastee!