Looking for something new to do with Asparagus?

I was. So was Mark Bittman. Like two peas in a pod, we are, but he's the more inventive and famous pea.

I made a half-recipe of Bittman's Asparagus Pesto and ate it on pasta (ridges a-must!) with peas. It was tasty enough to be eaten three days in a row: dinner, lunch, lunch again.

Plus, using my Cuisinart is fun! Isn't the pesto a beautiful color?

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

My first ever solo pie endeavor was a success!

The rhubarb and strawberry combination is one for which my mom is infamous, at least in my family. So in addition to rhubarb and strawberries being in season, Mothers' Day was the appropriate occasion for taking my own stab at it. And boy did I eventually stab at it!

I followed Mark Bittman's (all butter) pie crust recipe in addition to some over-the phone advice from Mom. My mom uses shortening but Bittman's recipe is all butter. I have no regrets about straying from the family tradition on this one. She coached me on the water ("very cold, with ice cubes!") and urged me to include some orange zest in the fruit, which surely makes a difference. With mom's blessing, I stayed true to Bittman and used the food processor to incorporate the flour and butter. I love my Cuisinart!

Ok, I'm going to get one little critique in before I rave about my success...
I didn't use enough water so the dough was a bit crumbly when I tried to roll it out. And maybe the recipe was scant or my pie plate was too big. Ok, enough of that.

I'm a pie-spert! (or will be someday if I continue at this rate)

An Autumn Potato Salad

Apparently I'm really into potato salad. I'm not sure exactly when that happened.
This sounds amazing to me...The Minimalist's Sweet Potato Salad, "presumably delicious."

Smitten with Bitten...

Ugh, please excuse my awful blog post title, but I couldn't resist.
Other things I can't resist: laughing when I see Señor Maize, bacon when someone else prepares it, watching Mark Bittman's videos...