First things First....and Amazing Roasted Asparagus (really amazing)

I will start this post, the first of my recovery and rejuvenation journey with a confession; on one of my really, really bad days "inside", I actually Googled "How to be Happy". Really Julie, like it's that easy, why hadn't I thought of this sooner, I'll just find the answers to my problems on the internet.


Place that jewel of higher intelligent thinking up with self diagnosis for physical medical conditions including vaginal pain and swelling of the tongue, answering spam emails about winning a lottery in Bangladesh, and drunk texting your boss after attending the Wine Riot (that one actually happened, thank God my boss loves me and loves wine too or that could have been a disaster.)


So here I am...learning how to be Happy. Chapter 1.


I don't have much to write today as this meeting, was our first face to face meeting, and was similar to 8 minute dating, in the I like you, you like me, I think we can work together kind of way. I spewed what my major issue are and she told me how she works with people and did that sound good, etc. Aparentley I'm really good with the psychology language because I was using the right words to describe what was happening with me, including the "what if" mentality and "catastrophic thinking". I learned that people with cognitive behavioral disorders, read: me, have issues with Behaviors, Thoughts and Feeling - negative feelings leading to negative behaviors leading to negative thoughts: BINGO, DING DING DING, WE HAVE A WINNER!


I also learned that what I have was caused by the upside down U stress curve, basically if you take the letter U and make a Bell's curve out of it (turn it upside down) and look at it as a line for stress, its a good thing when your stress level is on the right hand side of the U, meaning that it is a positive force in your life, pushing you to do better, be more alert, etc. What happens with people like me is a force of some sort has pushed our stress level over the top of the upside down U - we're on a virtusal slip and slide down the other side of the U, causing cognitive issues, changing your life, behavior, etc - this is what has happened to me. I need to get on the other side of the U. I think that's going to be a long slow haul, but I've got my hiking boots on and I'm going to kick the shit out of that upside down U - at some point.


One nugget of info she gave me was a beautiful way of putting what can happen to the outlook of people who are on the other side of the U. She said we tend to look at the world through "shit colored glasses." People, is this my kind of therapist or what, she swore in our very first meeting. I love her.


Sooooooo, how bout that asparagus?
Really I'm not shitting you when I say that this is by far the best way to make asparagus. I even made a little drizzling sauce from scratch, like without a recipe, what what.


Ok, so asparagus put it on a lined baking sheet and either drizzle with olive oil or spray with olive oil spray (that's what I did) sprinkle with salt and pepper and then grate some Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake in a 450 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the asparagus. You can eat just like this out of the oven or you can hanker a try at this little sauce type thing I made in which I took molasses, balsamic vinegar a little bit of water and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and cooked it down in a sauce pot over low heat until it thickened a little. This sauce was awesome, and I dare say it was even better the next day when I drizzled it over fresh sliced strawberries.


Rating 
Therapy = Good
Food = Damn Good