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!

Ordination!

This past Saturday was my ordination to the priesthood! Unlike my ordination to be a deacon, this was an Anglo-Catholic ceremony, which means it was very formal and very reminiscent of what might have been seen in a pre-Vatican II Church (for those Roman Catholic readers among us). I'm enclosing some photos of the day with captions. Hope you enjoy!



At the beginning of the service, there is a set of long prayers chanted by someone called a litanist (he or she chants the litany, a long list of petitions to God for just about everything). The litanist is who you see front and center in this photo. Behind her, lying prostrate on the ground, are the two folks getting ordained--I'm on the right and Robert is on the left. We're in a position of radical humility at the moment. Ahead of us, kneeling, is the bishop who consecrated us--if she looks familiar, it's because she also performed our wedding in September!


Closeup of us lying prostrate.

In the actual moment of consecration, all the already-ordained priests gather around the new priest and lay hands on her, thus conveying the spiritual authority they have onto her. This is done for every priest back to the earliest church leaders, who it is believed were touched by Jesus.

Here I am on the right, co-consecrating with the bishop. That means that we're consecrating the bread and wine together, even though she was really doing all the work! In front of us are a thurifer (who swings incense) and to her right, a boat girl. The boat girl (or boy) is usually a very young child and is often the youngest participant in a liturgy. (When I was about five, I was a boat girl, and I loved it!)

The boat girl's job is to carry the a container full of incense (called a boat) that gets put into the thurible (pot heated with charcoal) that the thurifer burns. Right before this photo was taken, I went to put the incense from the boat into the thurible, and one of the MCs for the service said, "Wait, only a priest can do that!"

There was an awkward pause while I held the spoon with the raw incense midway between the boat and the thurible, and then he said, "Oh wait! You are a priest! I'm so sorry, Mother!"


My first communion as a priest! The man standing next to me is the priest who sponsored me through ordination and rector of the church where the service was held. I'm serving Jane and Eric, who are also both ordained Episcopal clergy.

The procession out--a veritable trinity of crosses lead by the thurifer and boat girl!

After getting ordained, it is customary for the new priest to offer blessings. Our bishop was the first one who asked to be blessed.

And after all the blessings were complete....cupcakes! I actually never got to have any (due to lots of conversation and what I thought was nerves but was actually a stomach bug) but I hear from our resident cupcake expert, three-year-old Emma, that they were amazing!

Portrait of the new priests!

Happy 30th!

So on the 9th day of Christmas, I turned 30, and with all the festivities of the previous month, it was pretty hard to find people to celebrate the big day. Luckily, Ryan and Ben were around for an impromptu evening of homemade pizza (with rosemary, tomato, onion, zucchini, basil, and fresh mozzarella) and cake courtesy of Ryan, who made an amazing chocolate cake with raspberry filling, marzipan, and chocolate ganache.

But since it was a pretty quiet event, we decided to have a second birthday gathering at Julie and Quinn's house, where the twins always make a party just a little more festive, with their joyful smiles and silly dances. Unfortunately, by the time we had a chance to make the cake, they were already asleep, but they were there in spirit--lending their own birthday candles to the big event!

To honor the new decade, Eric said he would make me a cake, but we needed some supplies. Here's Elle delivering the new frosting needle (it's like a needle that takes the place of a pastry bag--very cool!)


Here is Eric with the crew spearheading the cake effort (and yes, Elle is wearing Aidan's Christmas present--she liked it so much that she just insisted!)!

Eric frosting the two-tiered masterpiece with a Swiss buttercream recipe courtesy of Martha. Three words: Best. Buttercream. Ever. (Except maybe for Sylvia's, but that doesn't count!) We also learned all about buttercream in the process of choosing this recipe--did you know there are four kinds of buttercream? Swiss, Italian, French, and American!

Blowing out the candles--shhhh! The wishes are secret!