asparagus

on a very crappy sunday morning--i.e. today--i got out of my warm bed and ventured into the rainy outdoors in search of a romantic idea. it's been a long winter but spring is finally upon us. the lexington farmers market; the only thing that can get me out of bed early on a saturday morning. unfortunately it was unable to rouse me out of bed this saturday, i was dead to the world and not wanting grace it with my presence before at least 11. but, i really wanted some asparagus, and not just regular asparagus. i wanted the fresh, grown right here in central ky kind, while it's in season kind. the good thing about the sunday farmers market is it doesn't open till 10.

there weren't many vendors out, a combination of sunday and rain, nor many customers. it was pretty much me and 2 or 3 other ladies. i strolled down the row taking in what they had to offer. i was excepting leafy greens, maybe some herbs, fresh made cheeses and bread, and asparagus but i was slightly surprised. a lot of the farmers there had managed to go against mother nature and had yellow squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, onions and more. i decided the other day that i did like yellow squash--after all these years, but i still won't touch a zucchini!--and bought some, a long with some spinach, a block of cheese and of course my number one reason for coming out in the rain, asparagus.

surprisingly, at least i thought, it was harder to find asparagus than i thought. at one vendor i saw one bunch of it kind of hidden in the back but i didn't see it anywhere else. but then i saw a truck, with two guys hiding from the rain inside the back, they didn't have a fancy tent like everyone else and they didn't have anything else to offer besides a small table, with a cardboard box full of asparagus, selling it by the pound. they gave me a bag and i started loading some up, i got just over half a pound, which is going to be plenty for myself. when i was paying one of the guys was warning me, very severely, about how tender this batch is, and field fresh, and that i shouldn't cook it too long because he didn't want me to ruin it. just as i was leaving another lady came up with a glow in her eyes that told me that she had found what she was looking for as well.