Roasted asparagus and Seinfeld (especially episodes heavily devoted to Uncle Leo) – I think I have finally discovered how to relax at the end of the day. I am one of those compulsive people that needs to spend their waking hours busy doing something, something that is most likely unproductive but somehow necessary, in my mind anyway. But this Tuesday, Tuesday being my least loved day of the week, it was absolutely imperative that I shut down my brain for the night and focus on becoming one with the couch. While a giant pile of roasted asparagus is probably not entirely ideal for most dinners I highly recommend it for nights when you feel like your brain might explode from outside pressures; I ended the meal with a sliced up mini watermelon eaten out of a small mixing bowl with my fingers – a perfect foil to the slightly bitter-warm-mellow sweet asparagus. This asparagus would be delicious with any citrus fruit, oranges in particular are wonderful with some sesame oil drizzled over top.

roasted asparagus:

1 lb. of asparagus, the bottoms snapped off (or cut if you’d like to do them all at once)

1 lemon, sliced very thinly

1 Tbsp. olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In the meantime, lay the asparagus on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Roll the asparagus back and forth carefully with your fingers so that they are fully coated with the oil. Arrange the lemon slices over top of the asparagus and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Bake for 20-3o minuted depending on the width of your asparagus; give the baking sheet a shake halfway through so that all sides are roasted evenly. Serve the asparagus with the lemon slices on top or entirely naked without garnish.

Just look at this magnificently quiet video for the song Suzanne by Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions. It’s a combination of slowed-down nightmare meets my early childhood Waldforf education experience (shadowplay and puppetry were important elements of the Steiner experience.) Bavarian Fruit Bread is one of my absolute favourite quiet lovely albums, the kind that you can listen to mixed in with Nick Drake and the Cocteau Twin’s Victorialand on days when the quietening of the mind is utterly essential.

Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions – Suzanne