Of course, the best is no more than the thickness of a no. 2 pencil and needs no "peeling of the woody end" but a mere trim of 1/2 inch closest to the root.
(...it's good to have a great local farmer's market...)

While a roasting or quick steaming is lovely, I'm a big fan of cutting it into bite-sized pieces and stir frying it with shrimp, sliced water chestnuts and chopped green garlic...and dressing it with a little black bean sauce.

It's also nice in early summer steamed, cooled, cut in bite sized pieces and served with iced Soba (buckwheat) noodles dressed with ponzu.