My mother-in-law, an artist, put this plate together. I'm so glad Nora likes asparagus. I was quite a deal older than her (by, like, 20 years) before I tried asparagus, and it's a big favorite of mine. Glad she's getting an early start.

The hair spikes are cut asparagus. Not surprisingly, the mop of curls is wheeled pasta in a vegetable sauce. The neckline is squares of homemade ciabatta bread dotted with butter.

I was the only one who liked this dish. But I wasn't down because I really liked it. I made it at my parents' house while while we were babysitting my grandmother for a weekend. My grandmother needs soft foods. And Paul isn't a big fan of quiche. I'm not really sure why Nora turned her nose up at it. But I loved it. Really enjoyed it as a matter of fact. Wanted to eat it all myself. Would make it again. Except, I'd have to eat it all by myself. Wait, what's wrong with that?

I have no excuse. The cauliflower was on super-duper sale. The asparagus? I just wanted it. That's the beauty of living on a budget. When I crave a food, we can buy it.

Also, my parents' anniversary is on Wednesday night. Because of my dad's work schedule, they won't have time to do anything special. So, I'll be fixing a lovely dinner for them on Wednesday night. Then Friday night, we'll be taking care of my grandmother; so dinner will be geared toward soft foods.

Yep. It's for real. I still like roasted red peppers. Only took me 28 years to learn this. This time I tried it chilled. Nope. Warm to room-temp is best. But still like it. Paul called it perfect. Wow! Don't think he describes much I make as perfect. Can I serve it every day?

Gourmet Magazine's April 2009 edition had a tempting recipe for asparagus and tortellini in a cream sauce and topped with a generous serving of Parmesan Reggiano. I thought having some of my mom's cream that needed to be used up gave me a perfect excuse to buy the ingredients for the dish. (Tortellini is rarely in our house just because we like dried pasta best.)

Last week's menu plan went really well. The only thing I never got around to was the Dutch Boy. Sadly, I still won't get around to it this week because we're out of eggs and there will be no grocery shopping until we return from a long Easter weekend with Paul's family.

Here's a review of what we had this week.

This was the first time we took Paul's parents, sister and brother-in-law to Ethos. I decided to try the pesto pasta with vegetables and pumpkin seeds. Paul chose the Pecan Encrusted Eggplant served with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy and asparagus. The eggplant was drizzled with a berry sauce. Both meals were served hot and appealing to the eyes.