Grilled asparagus with a twist

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs asparagus
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
Zest of 1 orange
Small handful of finely chopped almonds

Remove fibrous ends of the asparagus, and the cut stems in half. Heat olive oil in a stir fry pan. Keep at medium heat. Add in asparagus. Roll each stem around in the oil so it is coated. Sprinkle the salt and pepper. Once asparagus has been in for a couple minutes, add the garlic, and 3/4 of the lemon zest. Mix in. After another couple minutes, add the butter (in thin slices). Total cook time is 5-7 minutes, but keep taste checking to make sure the asparagus doesn't get over cooked. Once cooked, immediately transfer to a cool serving bowl. Pour the excess oil/butter from the stir fry pan over the asparagus. Top with the remaining orange zest and almonds.

Easy Vegetable Tempura

Tempura is one of my favorite things to order in Japanese restaurants, so I decided to finally attempt to make it at home.
I found a very easy recipe on-line, the 1-1-1 recipe. Mix together one cup of flour, one cup of (very cold!) water, and one egg. Dip any vegetables you like in it (I used one of my faves, asparagus) and fry in a frying pan with about one inch of oil in it. A small pan works best for this, because you can use less oil to achieve the same depth.














I'm not sure how I feel about this recipe. It was very easy and quick, came out looking pretty decent, and tasted fine...but not great. There was just something missing. Oh well I guess I will just have to experiment with more recipes...