It's probably obvious. But in case you didn't know it. I can be a sentimental fool.

I can get weepy at the silliest things. Yet actual physical pain barely phases me. When I broke my jaw in Sonoma last year I drove all the way home to Los Angeles barely registering the massive injury I had sustained. I had to hold my jaw in place with my hand, but I didn't cry.

But say clafouti to me, and I begin to tear up. Mis-pronounce it and watch the tears flow.

That's because my mother had her very special way of pronouncing some words. Clafouti was one of those words. Now she had a pretty good grasp of the French language, but she could not get the emphasis on the proper syllable in clafouti. Of course there was no correcting her. She wasn't the type of person who took criticism well. She would just stare at you blankly like she had no idea what you were talking about. So when she had a way of saying a word, well that's the way a word would be said forever. Don't get me started on schedule. I may start balling and never stop!

This is Day 3 in my week long tribute to my mother and her cooking. She may be gone, but thanks to a collection of her recipes my brother compiled after her death, her spirit lives on in pages of delicious memories from my youth.

Today I am going to indulge myself and bring you along for the ride. Because I have asparagus for you. Not just any asparagus but monster asparagus. Technically in the produce trade they are known as Jumbo Asparagus, which is a pretty accurate moniker.

Now I like asparagus, and you probably do too. You can usually get it throughout the year so it makes regular appearances on our dinner plates. But frankly I think it’s a shame that regular old asparagus appears, well so regularly. Because it has inured us to the fact that asparagus can be special.

Very special indeed.

The special asparagus that holds the greatest affinity for me are indeed these big fat jumbos. They are available for only a few short weeks in spring (usually) and when I see them I grab them. I have been known to have asparagus for dinner. And when I say asparagus for dinner I mean asparagus as the main course!

Do you have room for a little dessert? I know you've had 6 pancakes in a row here at Sippity Sup. Maybe something sweet is in order. How about crêpes?

Alright, since you asked so nicely! But first how about a little histoire?

A crêpe is a thin pancake. The common ingredients include flour, eggs, milk, butter and a pinch of salt, and (according to Martha Stewart) sometimes beer. Crêpes are usually of two types: crêpes sucrées made with wheat flour and served with a sweet filling, and crêpes salés which are usually made with buckwheat flour and filled with savory ingredients such as chicken, eggs, cheese, vegetables or perhaps fruits de mer (seafood).

The type of filling used in either sweet or savory crêpes is limited only by your imagination and willingness to experiment.

I always like to see where words came from so I looked into the origins of the word crêpe. It comes from the Old French word crespe meaning "curled." As with many words from the “Romance” languages, the Old French word came from the Latin word crispus.

When pronouncing a French word in the singular with an S after a vowel the S is silent. So through the generations the S was dropped from the singular form of this word, since they weren’t using it anyway.