Asparagus, like tomatoes, that really should be eaten only in season and ideally from a pick-your-own supplier to be cooked as soon as possible.

Domenica Marchetti would never recognize herself from this description: a woman who seems to have the secret of how to juggle the precarious work/homelife balance. An Alexandria resident, she has a 12 year-old son and a 10 year-old daughter yet she's also published two cookbooks. The latest is 'Big Night In' just released and nominated by Publisher's Weekly recently as one of only three top new cookbook picks - alongside Rachel Ray's latest tome. For the rest of us, she's someone to admire. But like so many working moms trying to be all things to all people, she says, "I feel the pressure when one [kid] forgets to study for a test, or they miss a math assignment. I feel I've let them down."