Skeptickle

I think that there is a lot of unnecessary concern out there about the supposed issue of brides planning their ceremony after they have planned everything else for their weddings. I assume that this perspective focuses on the possibility that the ceremony is so insignificant in the bride’s mind that it’s treated as an afterthought. I would submit that that might be true for some cases but may not be for the majority of brides out there.

Picking out linens, making my own flowers, deciding on the music- all these things were easy compared to drafting our hopes and deepest feelings in our relationship into words. I was guilty of starting late in planning our ceremony because it was the most important part of our wedding, not despite it. It was a monumental task, especially for those of us that are agnostic/atheistic.  I realized that there are very few mainstream resources that would teach me how to plan a ceremony based on the Humanistic view of the world.

I then remembered that Ellie (former Mrs. Lovebug) was also areligious and had a great ceremony that she had written entirely by herself. I read through her ceremony again to try to find inspiration, and instead, felt completely deflated. Everything she wrote was so perfect and exactly what I’d imagined for our ceremony! I couldn’t have thought of any other way to put it the way she did. I mean, she’s a professional writer and all but geez! So I did what any desperate and verbally uncreative bride would do, I contacted Ellie and asked if I could borrow some of the words she used in her ceremony, specifically the ones for the wine and chocolate ceremony.  She was more than gracious to oblige and didn’t even require me to acknowledge her work. I still want to, so here it is: Ellie, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for contributing to our ceremony. It was beautiful and it wouldn’t have been as good without it. We really appreciate it!

So there we were with a basic skeleton of a ceremony with some meaningful words filling in a couple parts of it. The other parts (which was the vast majority of our ceremony) needed some work and we were searching for an officiant to help us do that. We found an atheist minister (yes those exist, at least in our area they do!) as a possible candidate and we hoped he would give us a little guidance. Our meeting was less productive than I had hoped it would be, mostly because he talked a lot about atheism and very little about how we can approach our ceremony. I started having visions of him preaching atheism to our guests and decided it wasn’t a good fit. I tend to shy away from those types of atheists who are so anti-religous that they can almost make a religion out of it.

In the end, we were able to get Rob’s cousin to be our officiant (he was originally our first choice). It would’ve happened sooner if we had fully understood the bureaucratic requirements for deputizing a friend/family member to officiate at weddings. He’s one of the few that respect other peoples’ beliefs and life stances even though he was training to be a Baptist minister. We even agreed on the topic of marriage as a universal human right and the wrongness of Prop 8. I was happy to delegate our ceremony to someone that understood us as a couple and respected our core beliefs. Plus it gave me more time  to focus on my vows . Looking back, I think he did a great job on our ceremony. His caring for us showed through and he included personal touches that was so sweet and heartfelt.

Next up:

Photo from mastermaq on flickr.

Butternut squash ravioli is one of my favorite cold-weather dishes. I get it every time I see it on the menu at a restaurant. I used to be very intimidated in trying make it myself, but a moment of inspiration came to me last year and I just had to give it a shot. I managed to document this “first time” (though, not very well):

As you can see, we had made a royal mess. The dark orange stuff is the mashed butternut squash and the light orange stuff is the squash with ricotta filling.

The (almost) finished product after about 2 hours of work. It was worth it!

There  are many ways to augment this recipe to fit different skill levels. The easiest and fastest way is to buy all the ingredients already prepared so as to save you several steps, and then put it together according to the directions. The most time and effort-consuming way is to make everything from scratch: pasta dough, butternut squash puree, cream sauce, etc. I’m a believer in slow food, but not that slow, so I opted to use fresh prepackaged pasta sheets from Whole Foods instead of rolling out my own (not that I have a pasta machine to do it with anyways). The following recipe is for the intermediate cook, but you can further simplify it by using canned butternut squash puree instead or by adding sage to any prepackaged cream sauce.

Ingredients*

2 6″x12″ fresh pasta sheets

1 medium butternut squash

extra virgin olive oil for brushing

8 fresh sage leaves, julienned

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

pinch ground nutmeg

S&P

Maple syrup (optional)

1 egg

*Serves about 4 people

Directions

Preheat oven to 400℉. Rinse the butternut squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard any seeds and veins. Brush the fleshy side with extra virgin olive oil and place face down on a baking pan. Roast in the oven for about 55 mins or until soft when fork is inserted. Let cool on the side.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a sauce pot at medium heat. When butter is all melted, add the sage leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and simmer and stir until it has a thicker consistency. Add S&P to taste.

When the squash is cool, scrape out the softened flesh into a large bowl. Discard the outer skin. Mash the pulp with a large fork or potato masher (you can also use a food processor). Measure out 2 cups of the squash and mix it with the ricotta cheese, nutmeg, and S&P to your liking. You also have the option of making it sweeter with a dash of maple syrup. Set in refrigerator for now.

The next step will be unnecessary if you happen to have a ravioli-maker. But for those of us who don’t, here’s how to prepare the pasta skin. Align one pasta skin on top of the other and place them both on a flat, lightly floured surface. Cut the pasta into squares as evenly as you can (I usually do 3″x3″ ones) until you have a pile.

To fill: Brush the outside edges of one side of a pasta square with egg wash (egg mixed with water), fill the inside with 2-3 teaspoons of chilled filling, and then pinch the edges together tightly with another pasta square (making sure to gently push out any air bubbles while doing this). Place finished raviolis on a baking sheet.

Boil the raviolis in a large pot of salted water for about 5 minutes or until they float to the surface. Drain the water and toss the raviolis with the sage cream sauce. Serve with grated parmesan cheese and fresh sage leaves for garnish. Enjoy!