{"id":1759,"date":"2005-04-03T22:09:00","date_gmt":"2005-04-03T22:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2005\/04\/03\/love-letter-with-animosity-and-asparagus"},"modified":"2015-09-24T03:54:26","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T03:54:26","slug":"love-letter-with-animosity-and-asparagus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2005\/04\/love-letter-with-animosity-and-asparagus\/","title":{"rendered":"Love letter with animosity and asparagus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dearest Seattle,<\/p>\n<p>Every now and then <strong>you\u2019re really spectacular<\/strong>. It\u2019s usually something small and subtle and a little gritty, something I would have missed if I didn\u2019t have a nasty habit of staring, a keen ear for other people\u2019s conversations, or a weakness for your Patagonia-meets-post-punk fashion sense. It\u2019s the chatty produce vendor at Pike Place Market, a gin and tonic at the Alibi Room, a romp in the ravine at Ravenna Park, or your Space Needle glowing on the night skyline like some sort of majestic wizard\u2019s tower in a sci-fi movie. You\u2019re everywhere I want to go. To hijack <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanpoems.com\/poets\/Frank-OHara\/1646\">the Frank O\u2019Hara poem \u201cSteps,\u201d<\/a> \u201c<strong>oh god it\u2019s wonderful \/ to get out of bed \/ and drink too much coffee \/ and smoke too much salmon \/ and love you so much<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Seattle, we need to talk.<br \/>You\u2019re a tease. After a mild, sunny, beautiful winter and the glowing weather of last month\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/orangette.blogspot.com\/2005\/03\/praise-for-pig.html\">Pork Week<\/a>, you\u2019re now nothing but gray. Your skies have only two settings\u2014cloudy and rainy\u2014and for variety, you throw in a little wind. If you keep this up, I\u2019ll no longer be able to roll my eyes at those silly people who, at the first mention of your name, joke about umbrellas, raincoats, and Seasonal Affective Disorder. You\u2019re letting me down. <strong>Stores are swarming with bathing suits; tulips are in every vase; and you\u2019ve decided it\u2019s winter.<br \/><\/strong><br \/>But because I care about you, I won\u2019t turn my back. I\u2019ll carry on as though everything were fine. <strong>I\u2019ll lead the way by example. And I\u2019ll begin with asparagus.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" height=\"480\" src=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/Asparagus.jpg\" width=\"416\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Even though it\u2019s blustery outside and my hair is wet and matted from an early-afternoon walk in the mist, I can still exhibit proper springtime behavior by eating asparagus. It\u2019s everywhere these days, poking up from the soil like a strange lunar life form and clustering in bunches in grocery stores. <a href=\"http:\/\/saucymag.com\/archives\/2005\/03\/a_recipe_for_as.php\">Everyone<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/maki.typepad.com\/justhungry\/2005\/04\/asparagus.html\">is<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2005\/03\/27\/magazine\/27ARSENAL.html?fta=y\">talking<\/a> about it\u2014<strong>green or white, finger-fat or pencil-skinny<\/strong>. And though I\u2019ve eaten asparagus in any number of ways\u2014steamed, blanched, pur\u00e9ed into soup, folded into souffl\u00e9, or dusted in dried powdered orange rind and saffron, \u00e0 la <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patriciawells.com\/reviews\/iht\/2001\/2601.htm\">Astrance<\/a> in Paris\u2014my favorite springtime ritual involves nothing more than a few fat stalks, olive oil, salt, and a good, hot oven.<\/p>\n<p>Seattle, I\u2019m waiting for you to come around. When you decide you\u2019re ready to behave, you know where to find me, and if you hurry, I\u2019ll save you some roasted asparagus.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Roasted Asparagus<br \/><\/strong><br \/>This method is nobody&#8217;s breaking news, but it\u2019s quick, easy, and absolutely delicious. The high heat of the oven concentrates the flavor of the asparagus without taking away or adding too much moisture, and the result is fork-tender, lightly caramelized, and unexpectedly juicy.<\/p>\n<p>1 bunch green asparagus, preferably on the fat side<br \/>Olive oil<br \/>Sea salt<\/p>\n<p>Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Snap the woody ends off the asparagus stalks, rinse them well, and dry them thoroughly with paper towels. Lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet, and drizzle them with a thin stream of olive oil\u2014it doesn\u2019t take much. Use your hands to roll the stalks in the oil to coat them lightly but thoroughly, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 minutes; then shake the baking sheet to turn and roll the asparagus. Bake for another 4-5 minutes, until the asparagus are a vibrant, shiny, cooked shade of green and their skins are lightly blistered and slightly wrinkled. They should be soft and yielding but not shriveled or mushy. Serve warm or at room temperature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dearest Seattle, Every now and then you\u2019re really spectacular. It\u2019s usually something small and subtle and a little gritty, something I would have missed if I didn\u2019t have a nasty habit of staring, a keen ear for other people\u2019s conversations, or a weakness for your Patagonia-meets-post-punk fashion sense. It\u2019s the chatty produce vendor at Pike Place Market, a gin and tonic at the Alibi Room, a romp in the ravine at Ravenna Park, or your Space Needle glowing on the night skyline like some sort of majestic wizard\u2019s tower in a sci-fi movie. You\u2019re everywhere I want to go. To hijack the Frank O\u2019Hara poem \u201cSteps,\u201d \u201coh god it\u2019s wonderful \/ to get out of bed \/ and drink too&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Love letter with animosity and asparagus | Orangette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/orangette.net\/2005\/04\/love-letter-with-animosity-and-asparagus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Love letter with animosity and asparagus | Orangette\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dearest Seattle, Every now and then you\u2019re really spectacular. 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