Oriental Asparagus Salad; A Lovely Award for a Stupid Woman

Oriental Asparagus Salad

First: the fun stuff:

I have been given this gorgeous award by not one, but two of my favorite bloggers:  Núria of Spanish Recipes and Neen and Do of Post-Collegiate Cooking à Deux.

It’s called the Arte y Pico Award, after the blogger-craft artist in Uruguay  who created it.

The award is meant to honor creativity, interesting material and a contributing  blogger.

I’m meant to pass it on to 5 more (or would that be 10?) deserving bloggers.

I got out my list and went to work….  I had selected 12 bloggers before I got through the “C’s”.

I can’t decide.  All the blogs I read are wonderful – obviously, or I wouldn’t read them. And, I wish I could read more of them more often but, life has a tendency to interfere.

If you haven’t read Spanish Recipes and Post-Collegiate Cooking à Deux go check them out!

Second: the stupid stuff:

Those of you who live in Europe, or have driven here, know that many of our small towns are blessed with narrow streets.  In some instances the wall of a house or other building is right on said narrow street.

These streets have curbs.  It is customary, when parking, to drive up and over the curb so as to get out of the way of traffic.  The curbs are designed to handle this.

It’s common, when driving, to hit or go over the curb when meeting oncoming traffic in a tight spot, like when a large ‘camion’ (truck) comes careering around the corner at you.  This assumes, of course, that no one is parked in your way.  If there is, one normally slams on the brakes and allows the truck to pass by.

I’ve done it, mon mari does it, everyone I have ever ridden with does it.

Normally one barely notices the bump.

When the truck came swaying around the corner at me yesterday, I hit the wrong curb at the wrong angle….

And blew out 2 tires.

I did this, just leaving our little village, around 11:30 in the morning.

The only gas station/car repair garage is on the other side of the village.

Hoping against hope that someone would still be there I started walking.  It wasn’t far, 1.5 –  2 kilometres.

I was in luck! There were all sorts if people there.

Because they were having a party; food and wine everywhere.

After finally getting them to understand that I didn’t want to bring in a tire for repair but wanted them to come and fix my ‘broken’ car, they agreed to help.  (Yeah, I know, it IS their business, but this is France, lunch comes first.)

They would come and get the tires right after lunch, sometime after 2:00.

Everything closes up tight between 12 and 2, so I had nothing to do.  Window shopping?  Only one shop.

The only restaurant is a truck stop.  Apparently it’s a good one, because there is a truck parking lot outside of town that’s always full at noon.  (It’s only 5 minutes off the motorway).  Somehow, I didn’t think it appropriate to treat myself to lunch there….the only female, and alone, in the whole place.

I went back to the car and pondered my stupidity/bad luck/fate.

At 2:02 a small truck pulls up, a guy jumps out and makes short work of removing the tires.

An hour later I’m back on my way, the proud owner of 2 new tires.

That I had neither wanted nor intended to buy.

Sigh……

As the song says: It was my own damn fault.

The worse thing about the whole incident was that all the green asparagus was gone by the time I got to the store.

I made do with violet.

And it was delicious.

I just can’t seem to stop eating asparagus this year, but it has been a good season. This week’s host for Weekend Herb Blogging is Gay, from A Scientist in the Kitchen.  Be sure to visit her blog on Monday for the complete recap. If you want even more ideas check out the archives, at Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Oriental Asparagus Salad

2 eggs, hard boiled
2oz (60gr) cherry tomatoes
greens for 2 small salads
8oz (250gr) violet, green or white
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
Oriental Vinaigrette

The salad: Hard boil the eggs. Slice the tomatoes in half. Wash and spin dry the salad greens.
The asparagus: Snap off ends of asparagus. Roll cut asparagus in 1 inch (2.5 cm) lengths. Fill a large saucepan half full of water and bring to a boil over high heat. When boiling, drop in asparagus and parboil for 2 minutes. Drain and immediately rinse with cold water. Spread them on paper towels and pat dry. In a bowl big enough to nicely hold the asparagus, mix soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Add asparagus and toss lightly to coat. Set aside to marinate for 15 – 30 minutes.
To assemble: Put the greens into a bowl, add the vinaigrette and toss well to coat. Divide the lettuce between two plates. Peel and slice or quarter the eggs. Arrange the eggs and tomatoes around the lettuce. Divide the asparagus and arrange in the middle.

Oriental Vinaigrette

1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp Balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon-style mustard
2 tbs olive oil, the good stuff

Put soy sauce, vinegar and mustard in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly.

Bon Weekend!