Cut all but 2 inches of the stems off (even the stems are edible! One blogger recommends adding them to pasta or stew or pickling them!)
Boil the beets until a fork can slip into them easily (Joy of Cooking says 30-40 minutes for young beets and an hour or so for older ones).
On a plate slip the skin off and cut the beet however you like it. It will turn the water and anything it touches in your kitchen reddish purple, so cut the beets on a glass plate.