Tuesday

Wait, I have a blog? I think I totally forgot about it, oops! I'm back though and I'll try to start updating with recipes on a regular basis. But for tonight I will tell you what my night consisted of.

First I got to spend some time with my favorite baby sister, M, who is at a precious age right now, although sometimes she can be quite a terror. Did I say terror? I meant perfect angel. We were watching the intro to Ni Hao, Kai Lan tonight and she started dancing and I'm pretty sure she slapped her butt at one point. I'm not sure where she is learning her dance moves, but I don't think that one is age appropriate.

After I left my parents house I decided I needed some Chinese take-out, it's my favorite. So I called up Great Wall and placed my regular order, cashew chicken with no celery with white rice instead of fried (I mean, at least I try to be somewhat healthy) and an egg roll (cancel that healthy thought). It was delicious as always.

Please ignore the discarded water chestnuts in the background, I detest them.

When I got home it was time for the OKC Thunder game! I love the Thunder and always try to watch the games when I can't be there.

Kevin Durant, up close and personal

And then to top off the evening friends came over to watch Lost, which is in it's final and best season. We gather together almost every Tuesday night to watch Lost and have for the past 3 or 4 years. It's always a good time, no matter who shows up. It had been such a long time since we had been together that we all sat around and talked for a long while after the show was over.

Great friends, great food and some great TV made for an exceptional Tuesday evening. I hope yours were as good as mine was!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

I had cream of asparagus soup for the first time a few summers ago in Mexico and fell in love. Since then I've wanted to make some, but I never had enough fresh asparagus on hand. I bought 2 lbs of asparagus this weekend and decided to make some soup. The recipe I found was good and I had everything for it on hand! Here's what you need:



2 lbs asparagus, ends snapped and cut into pieces

4 Cups chicken stock

8 Tbsp butter (I always use unsalted butter so I can control the sodium)

4 Tbsp flour

2 Cups half and half (I used the fat free kind)

kosher salt

pepper



Put asparagus and stock into a medium pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until asparagus is very soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside 2 cups of the broth and keep warm. Puree asparagus and remaining broth in blender then return to the pot and set aside. Melt butter in a medium heavy saucepan over low heat. Add flour and cook stirring constantly with a whisk for 2 minutes. Whisk in reserved broth, increase heat to medium and cook, stirring, until smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to pot with asparagus puree. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often. Slowly add in half and half. Season to taste with salt and pepper.



Note: Make sure to puree the asparagus well so you don't have large tough pieces in your soup. You can also strain the soup to make sure there aren't any large pieces.



Enjoy!