Simply Roasted Asparagus in Olive Oil, Lemon & Za'atar

I wreck my brain about asparagus. I know you must be puzzled, why?! Asparagus, you must think (You must! :), is a majestic, European native, perennial ingredient, why the frustration?! Truth be told I just want to fancy it up, but I always come back to square one, roasting it in the simplest form with a touch of olive oil, salt and lemon. Not even freshly ground black pepper. This method and bare bone seasoning purely highlights the tenderness of the ingredient. Especially now that it's in season and the green, purple and white spears appear all over at farmers markets.

DC Eats & Food: My Favorite Dining Out Spots: The Red Hen

'DC Eats and Food: My Lunches with Jeanne' series morphed into ' DC Eats and Food: My Favorite Dining Out Spots.' I don't really do sponsored or unsponsored restaurant reviews in this space. I do however from time to time feel compelled to share my favorites and dining out thoughts.  I will visit a place at least twice. More often than not when I go the second time around, as in the case of one taco joint and another higher end place, I am not as excited as the first time around (insert a sound byte). In The Red Hen's case, I remembered the dishes to be excellent. When I went back this past weekend, I was surprised that they were even better than my recollection.

No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake

Shavuot, the Holiday celebrating the giving of the Torah (Old Testament) on Mt. Sinai, is a little celebrated Jewish holiday in the diaspora. I won't get into the traditional aspect of the holiday here but would like to share the unorthodox way we celebrated the holiday in Israel. In the 'hoods', and I believe widespread throughout Israel, people will throw buckets of water at each other. On rare occasions someone will get egged but it has no significance whatsoever to the holiday, probably started by a hoodlum (hoodlum; so old school!). If I happened to be out and about that day, my objective was to swiftly make it from point A to B and back, without getting soaked by a bucket or a water balloon or worse, egged!

Boozy or Virgin Frozen Strawberry Daiquiri Popsicles

Yes, from time to time, though on rare occasions, I do take to drinking. I am not a sloppy drinker. At least I don't think that I am. I don't slur my words, but I am very light on my feet, and burst out laughing hysterically only after a couple of sips. This past Mother's Day, I was thinking, hmm, strawberries?! They are in season. How lovely would it be if someone made me a strawberry daiquiri. Only thing, I was alone. Though this video that was texted to me by my husband made me happy on Mother's weekend alone, which made me think of this song.