Well, as the week winds down, I wanted to enjoy a nice dinner with my muse, so after a failed trip fishing in the morning, I head to the market. Some nice looking bay scallops and small white shrimp seemed just the ticket. I had some fennel bulb left over from the Moroccan shrimp, so I decided to grab a couple of lemons and make a broth. A can of artichoke hearts, and some perfect pencil sized asparagus rounded out the dish.

As normal, angel hair pasta is the de facto pasta around my home, and, as normal, I like to get the water going right away, as I will use the same water to blanch the asparagus as well as cook the pasta. This asparagus is so tender and thin, it could actually skip the blanching, but since I want to make things quick, I'll give a quick trip to the boiling water anyway.
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First, let me say this isn't a quick, week night meal. It was a meal undertaking for a Saturday, where I had time, and patience. Late in the week, I knew I wanted to make a nice dinner for my muse, and while cruising the market, saw one of the first signs of summer...nice shiny globe eggplant, and juicy vine ripe tomatoes. Some further wandering, and some baby arugula and portobella mushrooms, I knew I had a dinner. Asparagus was on sale, so I threw some of that in to the basket, and wandered off in quest for some fresh mozzarella. more