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 Рer, tools Рthat I'd meant to get (cr̬me brulee dishes and torch, salt and pepper shakers, and more), we finally left the store laden down with an entire shopping bag filled with Рwait for it Рone (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?
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
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!
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!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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!
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!
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