Asparagus with Wasabi Mayonaise Dip (Page 13)

• Date: Saturday, April 22, 2006 - 5pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Paul
• Dining Companions: Paul, Alex, Marco, Mike, John, Sophie, Vigleik, Shihchi, Vero, Cotton, Jessie, Josh
• Recipe Rating: B-

I picked this one as another hors d'ouevres for my black tie birthday because I like asparagus so much. It wasn't bad, but also wasn't great. The asparagus itself was a little dull -- it was just blanched. I think in order for blanched asparagus to work well as an appetizer it needs to be served with a strongly flavored accompaniment. The wasabi mayonaise sounded promising on that count, but actually the wasabi flavor was surprisingly mild. Everyone agreed that the dish could be really good if it had about twice as much wasabi in the sauce.

Serving this on my birthday reminded me that when Chris and I used to throw dinner parties together, we had a rule that you couldn't have a dinner party without asparagus. It was fun to try to come up with different ways to incorporate the asparagus in to the meal.

Today I am very sore. I went bike riding yesterday. Now, many of you are probably thinking that you have never seen me on a bike. It's true, biking is really not my favorite. But Paul convinced me to give it another try. We went on a short little ride in Cambridge along the river. I am going to try to keep at it, and build proper muscles so that I can bike longer distances. It seems a little ridiculous that I can run farther than I can bike! My goal: to be able to bike for 20 miles. We'll see if that ever happens!