Monday, May 9, 2011

Mystery bag

I am so excited about what is in this bag, I can barely contain myself.

Tomorrow for dinner I am going to prepare asparagus that was picked fresh from the field.    Niek's dad brought back four pounds for us when he went to visit his brother yesterday in Limburg.  Four pounds!  I would make it tonight, but we just had asparagus yesterday at Niek's parents' house.  I'm trying to space out the deliciousness over the next few days.  I've been looking forward to this day since the last asparagus season.  Hooray!





And in something completely unrelated...My mom asked me last night if the tulips were blooming yet.  She asked because their winter never seemed to end this year, and I'm pretty sure most of her bulbs are just now brave enough to peek their heads out of the ground.  Sad to say, the tulip fields bloomed here while I was in California and London.  Instead, this is what greeted me when I took out the dog this morning.

 It's already time for the poppies here, a flower I personally associate with California...well, California and the illicit opium trade of Afghanistan.  I just love that they seem to sprout up wherever, even in the cracks of the sidewalk.  Hope this gives my mom hope that she, too, will soon have some flowers blooming in the yard.

6 comments:

  1. Four pounds of asparagus?? For FREE? *Swoons with jealousy because she has to pay Y198 for four stalks* Enjoy the deliciousness double for me!

    And, YAY for things growing out of cracks! I love plants growing out of cracks. Wrote a whole post on that very subject, in fact. I've seen some of the most bizarre things growing up out of cracks... There are little poppies coming up out of cracks here, too--the smaller orange ones. Love that big red one you found:-))

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  2. Well, yes, technically they were free for us. Four stalks for €2! You would really have to want the asparagus at that price. I promise to think of you while I enjoy dinner tomorrow.
    I can't believe I woke up to the poppies this morning. I swear they weren't there yesterday, and then poof, this morning were all these flowers in full bloom. It put me in such a good mood.

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  3. Plants growing in cracks... When I lived in Indiana, it was common to see corn stalks growing in the dust that gathered on girders of iron bridges and coming up through storm drains; if you can't grow corn there, you aren't trying!

    I have two spindly asparagus stalks in my yard.

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  4. Steve,
    I've seen plenty of volunteer corn in my day. Every once in a while I see it here, too, and then I'm really surprised.
    And, will you eat your two spindly asparagus stalks? I bet they'll be amazing after such a long, Minnesota winter.

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  5. Sadly, I won't be eating the asparagus from my yard, as one of the plants is female (only about 1 in 500 is - another weird thing about asparagus) and I'm hoping to get seeds to plant so I'll have more (spindly) plants in the future.

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  6. Steve-- ha! Also from Indiana, here;-)) Know about the corn. I remember a funny photo in the Indianapolis Star one time-- a big stalk of corn growing right up out of a crack in the median concrete on US 31. Caption: "Purdue Ag experiment".

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