"asparagus" news and stories

A few of the best links on the Web this week:

• Italy's asparagus season has begun!
• Looking to occupy some free time this weekend? Try snarky Food Writer Bingo.
• Two new food reality shows from the folks behind the Jersey Shore are looking for cast members.
• If you're planning to cook lamb for Easter, don't do it without reading this guide first.
• Ten years after Kitchen Confidential, chefs can no longer afford to be bad boys.

• The Parisian macaron is quite the ecumenical treat -- ideal for Easter and Passover. (But can it replace Peeps?)
• Speaking of all fine French things, Bastide has gone casual -- and it's "simply a joy."
• Asparagus, harbinger of spring, embodies the first principle of cooking: "When you have great ingredients, you don't have to do much to make a great dish."
• Here's a recipe for something you didn't know you wanted: zucchini tea cake.
• Looking for a more traditional sweet treat? Look what the Easter bunny brought: cinnamon rolls.

Spring has arrived! With it, come scads of crawfish festivals along the Gulf Coast, beer and wine festivals nationwide and the heralding of spring harvests. April is so chock-full of culinary merrymaking we can only wish you luck getting through the month without lapsing into a life-threatening -- though joyous -- food coma.

Breckenridge Beer Festival, April 3, Breckenridge, Colo.: American craft beer continues to attract followers and chip away at commercial leviathans. In few places is this more evident than in Colorado, one of the country's beer meccas. Unlimited tasting tickets will set you back $25, but serious beer geeks will want to shell out $55 for VIP passes, which include early entry to the festival, a commemorative glass mug, unlimited tastings, a private VIP room, lunch and a buffet. Raise a pint glass to local and national breweries, among them Oskar Blues, Great Divide and the town's own, Breckenridge Brewing Company.

Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation Boston, April 8, Boston, Mass.: What's a month without a fine-dining fete? The Share Our Strength series' event in Boston will feature more than 70 area restaurants and 40 wineries, including the Little Pearl, Rialto and Eastern Standard. All ticket sales will benefit Share Our Strength's effort to end child hunger.

Asparagus is spring's reminder to those of us living in cold climates that, although we love root vegetables, enough already; it's time for green things that actually grow in gardens or at a farm to start appearing in the market and on the plate. Grilling asparagus brings out its sweet, meaty flavor, and if you wrap it in prosciutto, as blogger anotherpintplease does, you get a salty, sweet, smoky spring appetizer.

No recipe is required to grill asparagus. Just make sure you oil your grill rack or grill pan, and give them about six minutes or so over the fire, turning them once during cooking. If you want a main-course grilled meal with asparagus, check out Curtis Stone's recipe for grilled asparagus with an herb-crusted pork loin.

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How do you keep vegetables like green beans, asparagus and broccoli brightly colored after cooking? Shock 'em.