The Ballad of J, Q, A, & E

This past Friday, we said goodbye to our super awesome friends, Julie, Quinn, Elle, and Aidan as they turned the wagons west. As a tribute to our great love for them, we decided to compose this ballad, to the tune of their favorite song from our wedding.

A&E Wedding Consultants and Middle Management, this one's for you:

Quinn:
I threw my hands up when I got a job, saying, “Let’s go to Chicago!”

Julie:
There we can celebrate and live our lives; let’s get A and E. “Babies, let’s flee!”

Quinn:
Went to my boss, boss, boss, boss,
That’s when he gave me the toss, toss, toss, toss
And I felt at a loss, loss, loss, loss,
But rolling stones gather no moss, moss, moss, moss
Yeah, yeah,

Julie:
So we move on and on and on
We move on and on and on, singing:

Quinn:
I threw my hands up when I got a job, saying, “Let’s go to Chicago!”

Julie:
There we can celebrate and live our lives; let’s get A and E. “Babies, let’s flee!”

Quinn:
We’ll get in the car, then we’ll drive all night, till Chicago’s there in the morning light.

Julie:
So we’ve lived there twice, now we’ll live there thrice, so it ain’t New York, but it’s dynamite!

Quinn:
We have to move, move, move, move
Boxes all packed up for the crew, crew, crew, crew
With cookies baked and smoothies smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth
Joining the Cubs, we will wear blue, blue, blue, blue
Yeah, yeah

Julie:
So we move on and on and on
We move on and on and on, singing:

Quinn:
I threw my hands up when I got a job, saying, “Let’s go to Chicago!”

Julie:
There we can celebrate and live our lives; let’s get A and E. “Babies, let’s flee!”

Quinn:
We’ll get in the car, then we’ll drive all night, till Chicago’s there in the morning light.

Julie:
So we’ve lived there twice, now we’ll live there thrice, so it ain’t New York, but it’s dynamite!

Elle:
I’m gonna see it all, I’m,
I’m gonna keep my eyes wide open,
Driving ‘cross the country
Seated beside my brother, Nainan.

Aidan:
And nine, nine, nine, best number
Nine, nine, ni—ne!

Elle:
I just want it all, I just want it all.

Aidan:
Feet on the ground, we’ll jump up in the air.
Jump up in the air!
We’ll try to jump up in the air, air, air, air….

Quinn:
I threw my hands up when I got a job, saying, “Let’s go to Chicago!”

Julie:
There we can celebrate and live our lives; let’s get A and E. “Babies, let’s flee!”

Quinn:
We’ll get in the car, then we’ll drive all night, till Chicago’s there in the morning light.

Julie:
So we’ve lived there twice, now we’ll live there thrice, so it ain’t New York, but it’s dynamite!

Take Us Out to the Ball Game...and Basketball Game...and Marathon!

Last January, Eric and I realized we needed to take advantage of Boston's unique sporting activities, including its sporting events. So we went online and purchased tickets to an already sold out Celtics game, thanks to some season ticket holders that didn't want to show up. Here we are in our prime balcony seats!


Just after this shot, we took a trip to the concession stand to enjoy the culinary delights of TD Garden: chili cheese fries (a first for me!) and a soda. We figured that since it was the first quarter, we wouldn't miss much, but as soon as left our seats, we heard cries booming from the stadium announcing the arrival of one Shaquille O'Neal!

He scored.

The people screamed.

He scored again.

The people screamed louder.

We placed our order.

The people screamed again.

And as we returned, chili cheese fries in hand, fully prepared to see the greatest Big Man of his era dominate the game, we saw a familiar form limp towards the locker room tunnel, then bend over as if to throw up.

We never saw Shaq again.

My mother was very disappointed in me for missing this history in action.





After the game, Eric took this picture near Faneuil Hall. Behind me is the Boston Custom's House (now turned Marriott timeshare), one of Eric's favorite buildings in Boston. (Upon further reflection, Eric is unsure whether this really is one of his favorite buildings, but, in his own words, "I think I just liked everything that night." Groovy.)

A week later, we donned our Red Sox t-shirts and found ourselves in historic Fenway Park with tickets in hand to a coveted Red Sox-Yankees game! Armed with my Uncle Artie, a diehard Yankees fan who dared to enter enemy territory undercover in a Fenway Park t-shirt, my Aunt Stefanie, our friend Matt, and my mom, we ate hot dogs, snuck Italian sausages (yup--I know what you were up to when you disappeared, you, uh, person who will remain anonymous here!), and begged over and over again for the cotton candy man to please come up our row since you've already gone up and down everyone else's five times screaming, "Caaahhhtton Candy!" (He never did, but thanks to Matt and Uncle Artie, I got not one but two bags of the delicious stuff, which, btw, tastes delicious dipped in red wine; just eat it quickly before it melts away.)


Fenway looking as good now as she did 99 years ago. Uncle Artie told us all sorts of stories about the park--he was a good historian to have in our midst. He also taught me how to keep score, until he messed up the scoring sheet! I also learned the liberating feeling of throwing pistachio shells on the ground and about home runs over Lansdowne Street. Unfortunately, there weren't very many of those, at least not from the Sox, but Uncle Artie stood up and cheered when the Yankees accomplished the feat!


Finally, today is Eric's 30th birthday! And, to help Eric celebrate, Boston threw a marathon. How convenient! So we spent the late morning watching runners cross the finish line. I was too short to see most of them run past the crowd, but Eric and the sound of the crowd cheering let me know one was zooming by, and I would jump up and down and holler support! We felt like the whole city was cheering for Eric's birthday, and the marathoners were a convenient distraction to get them motivated! Plus, we got all sorts of gifts--free chips and hummus and bagels and bottles of fruit juice and water and chocolate milk. We left overloaded with free treats and a whole city cheering us on! Eric says he wants to try to run next year; I think it's the perfect goal for one's 30th year of heart beating, lung pumping life!

Finally....a Honeymoon!

I like to think of our honeymoon as a fine wine that only gets better with time--Sure, we may not have had that first vintage, leave after the reception adventure, but planning our honeymoon six months into the marriage has given us time to get a vacation with a richer, deeper, more mellow flavor. And, as was said at the wedding, I'll do anything to get a free trip, so the time has certainly allowed time for scheming!

In fact, part of the delay was due to scheming, as we realized that if Eric signed up for an airlines credit card, we would have enough miles for free, round trip tickets to Sydney. Two months ago the sign-on bonus miles credited to Eric's account, and we were able to book our trip (after three months of waiting)!

And so the adventure began: at 8am on a Thursday morning, I got up, called American Airlines, and asked them to find two tickets to Australia. Any date would do. Any time. Yes, we were willing to transfer. And the airline attendant found:

Nothing.

Nada.

From now through February, when they stopped booking tickets.

The attendant told me maybe it was because Qantas was sold out, so I called Qantas, but they said they had tons of empty seats; it was just that they hadn't released them to American yet. When I asked when they would, they said to just keep calling.


I never trust "Just keep calling."

Recognizing that Qantas might release, say, one ticket every 7.5 weeks at 11:16pm, I landed on a different plan: If we couldn't get to Sydney, we would book a flight that would take us as close to Sydney as possible.

Except that nothing is close to Sydney. Flights to Tasmania, New Zealand, etc. all fly on Qantas and all go through Sydney and there were no tickets to Sydney, so what's a gal to do? Take out her "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" brain and a map of every Hyatt in Asia and get to work figuring out where else in the South Pacific would be a suitable alternative. I looked at Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, Nadi, Bora Bora....and then it hit me: Bali. There was a great Hyatt in Bali; Bali was only a 3 hour flight from Cairns, where we were planning to go anyway, and thanks to Elizabeth Gilbert, we all now know that it's the place you go to find love, ergo, the perfect paradise for a honeymoon.

So I head back to the American Airlines folks and yes, they can fly us to Bali on Cathay Pacific--we'll fly to NY, Hong Kong, and then Denpasar. Terrific. Now we just need to get home.

And, of course, there were no flights from Sydney.

So I go through this whole routine with the map again (not wanting to go back to Bali--why go to a repeat location when you can go somewhere new?) and the locations, while exotic (i.e Goa, Ho Chi Minh City, etc.), really were taking us further and further from the down under. And so then I tried a new trick: Where do the Australian discount airlines fly, as they would be our transport to his as yet undetermined location. So with a map of Australia, a discount airline location list, and a Hyatt hotel list side by side, I had yet another moment of inspiration: I'd been looking at hotels that lay westward. What if I looked eastward? There wasn't much, since Tahiti and Fiji don't have Hyatts, but then, just a little further east in the Pacific lay that small cluster of islands home to Barack Obama and Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole...Hawaii! And yes, American had flights for us to take home!

And so, dear friends, we wound up with a honeymoon even more adventurous, more exotic, more Danielle and Eric at it's core than the one we originally intended! The plan at the moment is to fly to Bali, spend some time in Nusa Dua, then fly to Cairns where we'll dive our way through the Great Barrier Reef, head to the Outback (Ayers Rock/Uluru), then to Sydney, and then Hawaii and back to Boston. We are so excited! Following my philosophy that every problem can be solved with the help of a book, I have dutifully gone and purchased travel guides to all these locations, which I am so enjoying scouring for deals and details! I even went and took an online Australian sample citizenship test, and got four out of five right!

We are both so excited for our adventure, and we're so grateful to our friends and family who contributed to our registry and who donated miles so we could go exploring. We sure hope it'll be the honeymoon of a lifetime...too bad we're not taking it til next January!

Guess perfection really is elusive, huh?

Reality at Six Months

We got a notification yesterday that a package arrived. I thought it was our new kitchenaid, because that's the only thing we're expecting at the moment, but when I went downstairs, there was a vase of beautiful orchids from Eric to celebrate our six month anniversary! I'd never gotten orchids before, and they're so elegant! Only two blossoms had erupted, so we're waiting for the others to bloom, which will be really exciting.

To celebrate further, we had our friend Michelle over for dinner (of sushi fame--see earlier post) and had a meal catered by our good friend Trader Giotto (aka Trader Joe's!) We made whole wheat pasta with a marinara sauce, grilled eggplant and zucchini, and turkey meatballs. Fun and easy. Then we made yellow cupcakes with a chocolate fudge frosting from a cupcake cookbook my friend gave me as a birthday gift (with extras, because we're bringing dessert over to some friends this evening). The hot, decadent cupcakes and chocolate fudge frosting, so shiny and smooth, was a really fun way to finish up our dinner.

And then reality set in: I had papers to grade and a prospectus to work on. Eric has an exam on Tuesday. We settled in for the night and Eric, at least, studied while I read Kitchen Confidential and went to bed early, so I could wake up early, full of prospectus-writing energy.

So what's the verdict six months in? Well, we've proven that we know how to celebrate life and definitely how to find good desserts! We just wish there was more time for those things!

Tales from the Ole' Boston Homestead

Study time has struck again at the Hansen homestead. Little Joe and Hoss are settling down to prepare for the bar exam. Dr. Quinn is continuing her medical education. Laura's writing another book, and even Kwai Chang Caine is meditatin' up a storm. But no one's harder at work than Danielle, who's fixin' up a fine sermon and preparing for a whole mess o' grading next week, and Eric, who's got one actuarial exam coming up faster than a rattler after a field mouse and another, black hat-wearing exam on the horizon.

“Why all the Western nonsense?” you might be a'pondering. Well, you grab yourself a sarsaparilla and settle in, because Eric's about to tell you a tale of a trip to the Border.

Friday night was filled with Plan A's that didn't come about and and Plan B's that worked out just fine.

At various points in time, we had envisioned having some tiny houseguests (and their esteemed parents); going to Williams-Sonoma to buy some kitchen knives (which we thought might be useful after our kitchen-knife-skills class from last week) and then to get dinner; and ordering out for delivery. None of these happened due to Boston traffic (typical) and a sudden and acute winter storm that dropped a little snow and a little more ice on the roads. Not to be deterred from having an awesome evening, we got back on the horse, so to speak, except this horse tasted like lobster ravioli (thanks Costco), with a delicious white wine/julienned onion/butter/soy milk sauce, with just the right amount of tarragon. So, nothing like a horse at all, really. After that, we settled down to catch up on our Oscar movies, taking in Black Swan and as a blast from the Oscar past, Transamerica.

Getting up at the crack of dawn (D that is; E's more like the crack of 9:00), we valiantly started working hard on our various endeavors, until heading out to visit a pioneering family of a different sort. D's college friend Elizabeth had been nice enough to invite us over for brunch and to meet her husband (Skuli, a fine gentleman from ICELAND! That's right, the land of exotic meats, geothermal power, fireworks on New Year's Eve, Bjork and Sigur Ros, and the best yogurt-like product you'll find anywhere – Skyr, not to mention the place where we really realized the other one was pretty darn spiffy and then some) and their 10 month-old, Scandinavian-elf-resembling daughter, Elinor. After a meal that stuck to our ribs and a healthy bout of conversation, we headed back to the homestead to study and write some more.

Several hours later, we took a break to see if we could make it to Williams-Sonoma after all to get some knives. Off we went to the Burlington Mall. W-S proved to be a bit more than we could handle. The staff person wasn't quite as helpful as the one that D had talked with before, and we couldn't decide which knives to go with without trying them out on a cutting board. After examining many knives and browsing for a smattering of other toys – er, tools – that I'd meant to get (crème brulee dishes and torch, salt and pepper shakers, and more), we finally left the store laden down with an entire shopping bag filled with – wait for it – one (1) silicon cooking spoon.

On the way out, D thought she'd stop by a White House/Black Market store to check on a dress that caught her eye for an upcoming interview with an agent. Not letting our W-S empty-handedness get us down, she picked out a smashing selection of dresses to buy, take home and try on. But here's the best part. D has been in need of a garment bag for some time. But none of the bags she's looked at have fit the bill. Usually they're too long for her clergy garb. Well, WH/BM gave her a free garment bag made of surprisingly nice material along with the dresses, which pretty much made our night.
So, to summarize, we came for knives, we left with a garment bag. Pretty much a total success in my book.

Finally, we'll get to the Western bit. We were about to hit the old dusty trail and head home when we felt a hunger a'growlin' in our bellies. The Cheesecake Factory was nearby, but no frilly citified grub was going to satisfy our needs. The Macaroni Grill was across the street, which was closer, but not quite right. And then down the hill our “covered wagon” rolled, straight to a pink neon-marked oasis called the Border Cafe. This place looked like a twister had rolled right through Texas, into New Orleans, past the Bahamas and up the Atlantic coast (picking up a shipwreck on the way) and dumped the whole steaming mess in Boston. And it was awesome. Chips and salsa – fantastic. The chips were hot and tasted fresh with almost a popcorn flavor, and the salsa was almost definitely not from New York City (NEW YORK CITY?!?) The server brought plenty, seeing that we were a couple of hungry cowpokes. We ordered up a plate full of chicken and chorizo etouffee and some blackened catfish fajitas. A few take-home boxes later, we turned the cattle drive back east to settle in for the night, after a little harmonica playing and singing under the stars.

Ya'll come back now, y'hear?

First Married Valentine's Day!

Last night at 10:30, Eric and I found ourselves watching Iron Chef America, special ingredient: Mexian Chocolate, and I burst out with: "How about we make chocolate pasta for Valentine's Day?"

To which Eric said: "Cool. What would we serve that with?"

And I replied: "No idea."

Then this morning I woke up as I opened my eyes, my first thought of the day was, "Mole! I'll make chicken mole to go with our chocolate pasta!"

Now, here is some background on chicken mole: Mole is a traditional Mexican sauce made with cocoa powder, and it can be served with chicken or other forms of protein. Eric had a particularly notable run-in with the dish back in a St. Andrews Mexican restaurant, where, in his own words, "I ordered a dish, resplendent with exotic flair, but when the server returned, she set down the dish and said, 'Here's your chocolate chicken.' She needed to work on her presentation."

Well, we figured this was our chance to redeem Eric's crestfallen encounter with chicken mole, and we figured this was also a great opportunity to show off our increasingly adventurous cooking skills to our friend Alice, who was visiting from out of town.

So, this afternoon I went into Williams-Sonoma and picked up a pasta making attachment to go with the Kitchen-Aid we're borrowing from our neighbor J (and shoutout of thanks also go to J,Q,A&E for the giftcard!) Since mole is a notoriously complex sauce, I figured I'd just buy a jar of it in Williams-Sonoma, run to the grocery store to get some chicken, come home, make the pasta and be done with it. But then......

drum roll....

Williams-Sonoma was out of mole sauce!

I tried Whole Foods.

They were out too!

There was an empty spot on the wall!

I didn't know where else to turn, and then....

A guy who worked at the Whole Foods said, "Well, why don't you make it yourself?" to which I thought, "But it is notoriously complex, and I am going to make chocolate pasta...isn't that enough?" but, like the Iron Chef, I didn't want to admit weakness, so instead I said, "Of course! Great idea. But I have no recipe." (Great way to save face, huh?)

His reply: "I'll go print you out one."

So off he went to the front of the store and five minutes later, he returned with a blessedly simple recipe, which I of course modified as soon as I got home!

The short story is that chocolate pasta + chicken mole is AMAZING! In Alice's own words of praise, "I must facebook about this!"

Danielle, Eric, and Alice's Favorite Valentine's Day Chocolate Pasta with Chicken Mole

To make the pasta:

3.5 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 eggs
pinch of salt
8 tablespoons water at minimum (add more as needed--I needed about 14)

Combine flour, salt, and cocoa powder; mix until well-blended.

Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Gently knead together, adding water as needed, until the dough is firm and elastic, but not too wet.

Let sit for half an hour for the gluten to activate (or so the recipe I used requested)

The next steps are really hard without a pasta maker and really easy with one. If you have a pasta maker, add the dough in (we used the rigatoni setting) and make your pasta. If not, roll out the dough really thin and then slice 1/2 inch wide strips to make a fettucine (we did not do this, but it seems the easiest thing to do without a pasta maker). Lay out the pasta on a flat towel sprinkled with cornmeal and let dry for 2-3 hours. When you boil the pasta, it will only need to cook about 2 minutes.

Chicken Mole:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce (the kind that's just pureed tomatoes, not a flavored Italian sauce)
1/3 cup of water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin seeds (or powder)
2-3 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
.5 tsp cloves
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2.5 pounds chicken breasts, cut in half
cilantro for garnish
gouda for garnish

Combine olive oil, onion, and green pepper and cook for a couple of minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the tomato sauce, water, cinnamon, coriander, cumin seeds, chili powder, cloves, and cocoa powder and bring to a simmer. Add in chicken, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove chicken and shred it (you could leave it, if you prefer, but we shredded it).

Place mole on top of chocolate pasta, garnish with cilantro and gouda to taste.

Enjoy with those you love!

Happy Valentine's Day from D&E!

Locked In...

As many of you know, last Friday I had my top two wisdom teeth removed. Eric was an amazing caretaker--he took the morning off of work to come to the oral surgeon with me, and he was right there when I woke up, patiently telling me that no, I couldn't go back to sleep because it was time to go home. He drove us home, picked up my medicines, propped me in bed with some pillows, a bag of frozen peas, and the remote control, and dutifully headed back to work (though he came home early). All weekend, he made sure I had everything I needed, whether it was an Italian ice or an antibiotic!

So this week, I decided to surprise him with a thank you treat to celebrate his birthday (which yes, was in April, so he's been accruing great interest on this gift). To make the gift a fun surprise, I wrote out a sentence saying what it was, and then made a puzzle clue for each word of the sentence. Then, I got a bunch of my friends and his to send the clues, in order, to him so that once he figured out one of the clues, another would appear via text or e-mail. Here's the puzzle I put together; if you can figure it out, you'll know what we did!

P.S. Locked In is a clue!

When Matt, Kat, and Erica
ride a coaster rolling,
They scream this sound,
a pronoun too,
and hear their eardrums ringing.

The eighteenth letter
is the key to solving this little rhyme
Make it a verb
and be sure to curb
a squeal—you solved it just in time!

Good times, good times
uh huh, uh huh
Is how this song repeats
But what two words come prior?
Add –ing but delete the e!

In days of blank
is how this phrase
of old proceeds to go.
The empty word, it rhymes with pour
a hint to help you know!

To celebrate this prime number
She did not forget.
What is the one that has no sum?
Oops, dividend, and….check!

Three sixty five but plural
is this word’s crucial key
But sometimes it is 3-6-6,
That’s every fourth, you see.

A preposition, two letters short
an early and a late
The first is A, but guess the second,
the one that is its mate!

The different sounds that this word makes
depend on what comes aft
Sometimes it’s ee and sometimes uh,
The vowel sound it hast.

Life and pursuing happiness,
America’s founding phrase,
But in its first great city,
The absent word is placed.

The square root of four;
Six divided by three,
First half of the word is the answer, you see.
Take the hour of noon,
Add six hours, or sev’n
And you’ll have the time that your birthday begins!