A Home-cooked Meal

 Yesterday (04/02) Tom arrived with various food items: a veggie roast, fresh asparagus, mashed potatoes. He also came with the proper bowls for preparation; he even brought a knife for the asparagus.

 I, in turn, supplied the dinner rolls, slaw and the pineapple-angel food cake I made on Thursday.

 As soon as he walked in the door I fired up the oven as he got to work ...

 First step ... wash the asparagus. Tom then cut off about the bottom 2" of each stalk and cut the rest of the stalks up into fairly small sections.

 Here he's preparing the Hollandaise sauce for the asparagus.

 Mom and I had never made cooked fresh asparagus before. Tom prepares it in the microwave. He placed a small amount of water in the bottom of a covered bowl and ran the microwave about 2.5 minutes, steaming the dish, He repeated this several times until the asparagus was tender. Even the stalks were done.

 We got the meal on the table at about 1 pm. Mom was "starving". I filled her plate first and then Tom and I dug in. He also brought a bottle of carbonated pomegranate-blueberry lemonade (see the bottle on the left). When I first opened it, it began spraying everywhere. I had it in the sink at the time - I somewhat expected this - but I didn't prevent a mess. My hoodie heads to the laundromat tomorrow.

... and here's a close-up of my plate. A slice of the veggie roast is on the left.

 Great meal and great times. Dishes followed.