Harvest Galette (with Gruyere, Acorn Squash, and Caramelized Onions)

While reading through the November issue of Cooking Light, the crust from this Walnut Crusted Apple Pie intrigued me. I liked the idea of using walnuts for part of the fat and, of course, for a yummy, nutty flavor. And when I came across this Buckwheat Harvest Tart, thought I’d take the filling from the harvest tart and the crust from the apple pie.

But it called for vodka which I didn’t have and didn’t feel like buying, so instead I used a combination of water, apple cider vinegar, and red wine vinegar, based on reviews and other sources. And left out the brown sugar since this is a savory dish. And added thyme. And used whole wheat flour. Well, I must have made too many substitutions, because the resulting dough tasted nasty. Not even just not good. But downright bad.

And it was crumbly and rock-hard.

Fortuitously, I happened to have a roll of Pillsbury pie dough left over from last week’s chicken pot pie. While that tasted great—and I was grateful that it just happened to be hanging out in my fridge—I think this galette's filling is deserving of a nice, hearty, whole wheat crust.

So in the recipe below I’m including the crust from a galette from Naturally Ella which I have succeeded in making. In fact, do yourself a favor and make her galette some time because it is superb!

As is this galette. I'm not even sure how to describe the explosion of flavors, because I don't think my words will do it justice. My mouth is still trying to figure out what just happened. The end result was well worth the failed crust attempt, the pricey gruyere, the long time it took to make this baby, and the giant mess that resulted in my kitchen.

Sadly, it looks a bit like it's made of plastic

Harvest Galette

Adapted from Eats Well with Others and Naturally Ella
Yield: 4-6 servings
Printer-friendly

Crust Ingredients
1-1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. butter, chilled
2 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, chilled
1/4 to 1/2 cup of ice water

Filling Ingredients
1 small acorn squash
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 leek, thinly sliced and rinsed well
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, coarsely chopped (I used baby spinach)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (I was afraid and left this out, adding a tiny sprinkle of cayenne in its place)
1 small yellow onion
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 eggs (or 3 eggs and 1 egg white)
1 cup (4 oz.) grated gruyere

Directions
In a food processor (or a medium bowl) combine flour and salt for crust. Pulse (or cut) in butter. Once butter is mostly into small chunks, pulse (or cut) in cream cheese. Once butter and cream cheese are in pea-sized pieces, pulse in 1/4 cup of water until dough begins to come together (adding extra water, a Tablespoon at a time, as needed). Remove from food processor and shape into a disc (without handling the dough too much). Wrap in plastic and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees; line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds and stringiness. Then cut into wedges (I used each groove in the squash as a cut line, ending up with about 9 wedges). Drizzle 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil over the squash and use your hands to make sure each wedge is nicely coated. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Bake 20-25 minutes, until squash begins to brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 (or turn it off and re-preheat it when you start mixing everything together below).

In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute, then add the leeks and saute another minute. Add the chard (or spinach) and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until chard is wilted, about 5 minutes. Pour into a colander and allow to cool.

Peel and halve the onion, then thinly slice it. Return your skillet to the burner over medium heat with another 1/2 Tbsp. oil. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Allow to cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is caramelized. When the onions are golden and caramelized, stir in the balsamic vinegar and remove from heat.

When the squash is cool enough to handle, peel the skin off with your hands, then cut the wedges into smallish cubes. Transfer to a small bowl and toss with an additional 1/4 tsp. each salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together three of the eggs. When the leeks and chard are cool enough to handle, squeeze out the excess liquid from it and add to the large bowl with the eggs. Whisk together, then whisk in 3/4 of the cheese, the caramelized onions, and a few grinds of pepper. Gently stir in 3/4 of the squash.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your galette dough into a 12- to 14-inch circle and transfer to a round pizza pan lined with parchment paper. Spread the filling over the crust, leaving a two-inch border all the way around. Scatter remaining squash over the top, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Fold up the crust dough, overlapping as you go around (see picture). Beat remaining egg (or egg white) and brush over the crust.

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes, until egg is set and crust is browned. After removing from oven, allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving. My crust didn't seem to be browning as quickly as the filling, so I ended up covering the middle with foil about 40 minutes into the baking time.

Notes

• Even with the store-bought crust, this galette was stellar. I think it'd better with the homemade whole wheat crust above, but you could certainly use a store-bought one and be just fine.
• I'd be interested in trying this again with Swiss chard. The store didn't have any, and I didn't feel like making a special trip to a different store for one ingredient, so that's why I used spinach.
• I didn't miss the red pepper flakes. This was plenty flavorful, though if you like your food spicy, I can imagine the red pepper flakes would be a welcome addition.
• It reheated well. I zapped leftovers for a couple minutes in the microwave (70% power), then stuck in the oven (350) for 5 minutes to crisp up the crust.
• This galette deserves a better name than "Harvest Galette." Any suggestions?

From MyFitnessPal, using homemade crust,
for 4 servings rather than 6. Changing it to 6
servings would make it 450 calories per serving.

A Slew of New Spices

My boss recently introduced me to the wonderful world of Penzeys Spices and, with gift cards from him and my parents, I've got a whole bunch of fun new spices to play with! Let me introduce to the new members of my spice cabinet (I'm pasting descriptions directly from penzeys.com).

Cardamom (ground) - An extremely flavorful and ancient spice native to India, cardamom's use has spread throughout the world, with nearly every culture having its own distinctive use for the flavorful seeds.

Chipotle (ground) - Ripe, red jalapeño peppers that have been slowly wood-smoked, chipotle peppers are rich, smoky and hot (but not searing). Throughout Mexico and Central America, chipotle peppers, also known as moritas, are regarded as a versatile and necessary addition to many dishes.

Coriander (ground) - The seed of the same plant that gives us cilantro, coriander has a light, lemony flavor that combines especially well with ginger.

Forward! - Like the seasoned-salts of old but with the salt left behind, Penzeys Forward! puts great taste into the palm of your hand to be sprinkled wherever there is a need for great flavor. Ingredients: special extra bold black pepper, onion, paprika, garlic, turmeric, spice extractives (including oleoresin of celery, rosemary, black pepper, thyme, basil, paprika).

Fox Point Seasoning - Bursting with the rich flavor of freeze-dried shallots, chives and scallions, this is one of our top-selling blends. The rich flavor makes it perfect for poultry, eggs and vegetables. Hand-mixed from: salt, shallots, chives, garlic, onion and green peppercorns.

Garam Masala (Punjabi Style) - Garam masala is an all-purpose blend called for in many Indian dishes. Very good on fish, and traditional on cauliflower. Also nice on lamb, pork, poultry and potatoes. Hand-mixed from: Moroccan coriander, Tellicherry black peppercorns, cardamom, Korintje cassia cinnamon, kalonji, caraway, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.

Old World Seasoning - Hand-mixed from: paprika, salt, sugar, celery, garlic, onion, black pepper, parsley, dill, caraway, turmeric, dill, bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, rosemary.

Paprika Smoked Spanish Style - Rich, colorful Spanish Paprika, naturally smoked over traditional oak fires. Awesome flavor and perfect color, good on just about everything.

Rocky Mountain Seasoning - Hand-mixed from: bell peppers, Parmesan cheese [part-skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes, cellulose powder, potassium sorbate], salt, sesame, poppy, shallots, arrowroot, white pepper.

Shallot-Pepper Seasoning - Hand-mixed from: coarse salt, Tellicherry black pepper, shallots, tarragon and bay leaves.

Sicilian Salad Seasoning - Hand-mixed from: Romano cheese [made from sheep's and cow's milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, disodium phosphate], salt, toasted onion, red bell pepper, tomato, sweet paprika, white onion, pepper, sweet basil, thyme, rosemary, cayenne pepper.

Tsardust Memories - Warm and spicy-sweet, this blend is awesome with ground beef - burgers, meatloaf, meatballs, casseroles... Excellent in hearty soups and stews, and one of the best things ever on pork chops - try it on the grill. Whatever you make, serve it with crusty bread. It's all good. Hand-mixed from: salt, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, marjoram.

All these new spices necessitated a spice cabinet rearrangement.
Before and after.

Food Goals for 2013

I've never been big on New Year's resolutions (and it's probably too late for those anyway), so instead I will share some food goals. Since cooking is one of my main creative outlets, I like to keep things fresh in my cooking rhythms. This year I want to be a bit more intentional about my food goals for the year, especially as I tackle the time commitment that is graduate school along with my pretty demanding full-time job.

2013 Food Goals
Note: a week and a half after publishing these goals I thought of more. So I'll keep adding to the list throughout the year as I feel so inclined.

1. Learn to like lentils. They have so many nutritional benefits, they're easy on the budget, and they appear to be pretty versatile. I had lentils a few times as a kid and was underwhelmed, but I haven't really given them a chance as an adult.
2. Cook eggplant, whether I end up liking it or not. I had a bad eggplant experience in junior high, but it deserves another chance.
3. Expand my repertoire of international foods. This goal is fairly broad, but there are a lot of cuisines out there. For Christmas I got some some spices which should prove useful in Indian and Russian foods, and the Green Mango Cafe and Bakery Cookbook which has oodles of yummy-sounding Cambodian and other Southeast Asian recipes!
4. Begin using at least one new whole grain on a semi-regular basis. I've gotten comfortable with quinoa, farro, and brown rice, but there are so many whole grains out there begging to find a home in my kitchen.
5. Prepare and eat something with prickly pear--either the fruit or the cactus part. I've lived among them long enough, it's high time I ate one. (goal added 1-26-2013)
6. Crepes. They're gonna happen. (goal added 1-26-2013)

Some food milestones I reached last year:

1. Made risotto and discovered it's actually not that hard.
2. Discovered that I enjoy kidney beans and white beans, even though I thought I didn't like any beans except black beans and chili (red) beans. And black-eyed peas, thanks to my house church.
3. Bought, used, and am enjoying lavender.
4. Cooked crocodile (with much supervision from my mom).
5. Made a balsamic reduction.
6. Discovered you can make pizza for breakfast.

How about you? Do you have any food goals for this year, or any specific food goals you met last year?

Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Blue Cheese

This may not count as a real recipe post because 1) I didn't measure anything or even pay attention to amounts, 2) I didn't take any pictures, and 3) I don't remember what my third reason was.

But since it's been awhile since I posted something not pertaining to airline nightmares and unwelcome overnights in Fiji, I thought I'd post something food-related. Besides, I'm supposed to be writing a reflection essay right now, so what better time to write about food instead of conflict?

I haven't done meal planning in several weeks, which means my grocery shopping has been sporadic and poorly planned. Which means I am left with random stuff that requires some creativity to put together into a meal.

Enter tonight's dinner.

It started with some leftover sweet potatoes which I roasted last weekend, then cooked up some quinoa and toasted a handful of almonds. Then I put it all in a bowl with some blue cheese and seasonings.

And you know what? It was pretty good!

Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Blue Cheese

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients
1-2 sweet potatoes, cubed (peeling is optional)
Olive oil
Dried rosemary, dried thyme, salt and pepper, paprika, brown sugar, and cinnamon - all to taste (I used very little brown sugar and cinnamon and went a little heavier on the herbs)
1/2 cup dry quinoa
Handful of almonds (or other nuts of choice)
1-2 Tbsp. blue cheese crumbles (Feta or Gorgonzola would also be good)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (or other vinegar of choice)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Toss the sweet potatoes in olive oil and seasonings. You want enough olive oil to help the seasoning stick and to keep the potatoes from drying out, but not so much that your potatoes end up being real oily. Start with less olive oil than you think you need--you can always add more! Spread the sweet potatoes on the pan and roast for 20-30 minutes, until toasted and tender, stirring halfway through.

Rinse quinoa and cook according to package directions, using 3/4 cup water and adding a sprinkle of salt.

Heat a dry skillet over medium heat. Pour in a handful of almonds and toast for several minutes, stirring/shaking frequently, until nuts are toasted and fragrant. Be careful not to burn them. Remove from heat; coarsely chop.

Whisk together 1 Tbsp. olive oil and red wine vinegar.

In a bowl, combine all the elements of your meal--quinoa, sweet potatoes, almonds, and blue cheese. Drizzle on half of the oil and vinegar mixture; taste; add more if desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Result
Yummy! Since my sweet potatoes were left over, this meal came together in about 15-20 minutes--enough time to think of it and cook the quinoa. While I was making it I found myself wishing I had some kind of leafy greens to add, but the end result didn't taste like it was missing anything.

Chapter 3: Are We There Yet? Please?

Saturday, December 22

Saturday morning began with some Mario on the Wii and some delicious quiche from the hands of our hostess. She brought us to the airport in plenty of time to make our 12:30 flight. Except that when walked in and pulled out our itinerary, the flight was scheduled for 11:55. And for two days earlier. The print-out from Fiji said the correct date (Saturday, Dec. 22) but our more recent printout from Brisbane said Dec. 20. You see, when we were in Brisbane a wonderfully helpful airport employee entered our updated itinerary officially into the system but accidentally put Dec. 20 (the date on our original itinerary from before we left the States) instead of Dec. 22 for this particular flight.

Now, remember how I said that the Fiji airport ticketing area was chaotic? That was nothing compared to the sight we beheld upon entering the ticketing area in the Port Moresby airport. There were about 10 counters at the front of the room, but there were no lines. Just a giant mob of people all trying to get to the front.

There was no way we'd be able to fight through the mob, straighten out our ticket discrepancy, and make it onto our flight by 11:55. So we tried the customer service window tucked in the back corner of the room, and with some persistence and long explanations, were able to get on an afternoon flight, and they were able to print our boarding passes. Though we still had to fight through the mob in order to check our luggage, we had boarding passes in hand and three extra hours to play with!

Oh, and while I was at the service desk, I met an Aussie guy whose flight had been delayed because the pilot was drunk. That bodes well. (At least they didn't let him/her fly drunk!)

We did manage to get through the mob, partially with the help of a security guard who, after our luggage was successfully checked, followed me and repeated in a low voice, "Now you owe me 30 kina" (roughly $15). I'd never had a bribe demanded of me, and I wasn't sure how to respond, so I lied and said I had no kina on me. He was persistent--but also trying not to make a scene and draw undue attention to his asking me for money--so he eventually did give up.

Then began the wait for our flight to Madang. I think it was between 12:30 and 1:00 when we made it through security and into the waiting area, and our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:00.

By this stage in the journey, our little introverted selves were so exhausted from constantly being around hordes of people--not to mention the physical exhaustion of jet lag and lack of sleep, as well as the emotional exhaustion of losing two days with our family, having our plans tossed in a blender, and having no control over the situation. We were SO ready to be done with airports!




This particular departure lounge (using the term loosely) does not rank high on the comfort and niceness spectrum. It's overly crowded, only somewhat air-conditioned, and not remotely clean. They do get points, though, for having a decent PA system in that part of the airport, and a woman who spoke announcements very clearly in both English and Tok Pisin.

Somewhere around 2:00 they said that Madang passengers should prepare to board soon.

Then our flight's departure time changed to 3:30.

Then they said it was delayed indefinitely.

Then they said 4:30.

I literally choked back tears when I heard over the PA system, "May I have your attention please. Passengers of flight PX 126 to Madang, your plane is now boarding."

The flight itself was blissfully short and uneventful, and we finally landed in Madang, 49 hours later than originally planned. It sure felt good to hug our parents and middle brother!

Total travel time from start to finish: 84 hours, or 3-1/2 days. I began on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. CST and arrived Friday 10:30 p.m. CST (5:30 p.m. Saturday PNG time).

Chapter 2: The One Where I Don't Know How to Set a Watch

Friday, December 21:

I don't normally wear a watch, since I almost always have my phone with me, and iPhones tend to be more accurate than cheap wristwatches from Walmart. But for this trip, when I knew I'd be wearing pocketless skirts most of the time and likely not connect my phone to a source of data that would tell it we were in a different time zone, I got a cheap Walmart wristwatch. But apparently I'm out of practice with reading and--more importantly--setting an analog watch, because it seems that when we touched down in Fiji and I set my watch to local time, I actually set it an hour off.

We left the hotel at 4:30 a.m. (or maybe 5:30--we're still not sure anymore) in order to check in around 5:15 for our 8:15 flight, recheck our luggage, and jump through the hoops for getting reimbursed for our $20 shuttle ride back to the airport.

After the indefinite limbo we were in Thursday, and with all the delays and  uncertainties, it felt unbelievably good to have boarding passes in our hands for a flight to Brisbane that morning! While we were in line for our boarding passes, I noticed that our flight had both Air Pacific and Qantas flight numbers, so I made a point of memorizing both numbers just in case.

Since we had ample time before our flight, we meandered through security and customs, purchased a chicken pie for breakfast, huge bottles of water (still dehydrated from the day before--we weren't sure if we could drink the hotel tap water), and a cappuccino. I had been wanting to find an outlet adapter so I could charge my iPhone and iPad, so we wandered through a few stores and leisurely bought an adapter (for under $2!), then wandered back up to the seating area surrounded by gates.

We still had a little over an hour before our flight, but one of us suggested we go ahead and head to our gate, just so we'd be there in plenty of time. We saw an entrance labelled with a gate range that included ours, but it led to four outdoor gates--the kind where passengers go through the security personnel then walk out onto the tarmac and up the stairs that have been rolled up to the plane. Translation: not the kind of gate where you camp out in a comfy leather chair for hours on end.

We glanced up at the list of flights in the gates beyond that exit and didn't see our flight FJ 921, so we started to walk away. As we were turning around, it registered with me that the screen had said QF 398, and I was pretty sure that was our Qantas flight number. We looked more carefully and, sure enough, it said QF 398 to Brisbane, departing at 8:15 . . . boarding now.

Huh. That's odd that they're boarding so early, but we might as well get on. So we handed our boarding passes to the gatekeeper and proceeded outside to where they had tables set up to search our bags the old-fashioned way, with eyes and hands instead of fancy x-ray machines. They pulled out our giant water bottles which we'd only begun to sip on, and said we couldn't take them on the plane. We'd just spent good money on them, so we asked if we could just drink them quickly before boarding the plane. The security guys gave us strange looks but didn't protest, though my guy reminded me multiple times that we could get water on the plane. Just to make sure the flight wasn't leaving early, I asked, "What time is the plane leaving?"

"In 45 minutes."

"Oh, we've got plenty of time, then!" So we kept sipping.

After about the third nervous suggestion that we could drink airplane water, we surrendered our bottles and headed toward the tarmac and our awaiting aircraft.

While we walked--still leisurely--to the airplane, someone alerted us, "Hurry! Your plane leaves in 5 minutes!" What?! Why is it leaving an hour early? Is my watch wrong? But we've been going by my watch all this time. And the security guys just told us we had 45 minutes. What if we hadn't happened past our gate when we did?

Looking back on the interaction, the bag search personnel must have said the plane leaves in 4 to 5 minutes rather than 45. They probably thought we were so ridiculous and arrogant to stand there sipping our water while our plane was mere minutes from departing!

Brisbane airport was gloriously uneventful. And clean. And air-conditioned. And efficient! We even had time to buy 20 minutes of internet. For this layover we checked and double-checked my watch against the clocks all over the airport, and camped out right at our gate.

From Brisbane, we flew to Port Moresby, PNG's capital, and met up with some of our parents' friends who live in Moresby and had agreed to house us for this unexpected overnight so we wouldn't have to figure out how to get to and pay for a hotel. Their six-year-old son is perhaps the most hospitable person I've ever met, and probably has more enthusiasm in his pinkie than I have in my whole body. He gave us the most detailed tour of a house I've ever experienced--even showing us such things as his vitamins he takes twice a day, each family member's bike helmet, the shovel stowed behind the front door, his bag of swim stuff, and the Christmas story book laying beneath the tree. We are so very grateful for this family's generous, warm hospitality and honestly don't know what we would have done without them.

Chapter 1: Off to a Bumpy Start

Note to self: Never, ever, ever again travel through a small island on a small airline the day after said island has been hit by a hurricane. Chaos will ensue. Travel plans will be scrambled.

On Tuesday I began the trek to the other side of the world to visit my parents in Papua New Guinea. I started the trip with a simple itinerary: fly to Dallas, then to LA, meet up with oldest brother, then fly together to Fiji, Brisbane, Port Moresby, and finally Madang. Simple enough, right? Only 36-ish hours in transit. Piece of cake!

That's what I thought until I went to get my boarding pass at LAX. While in line--a really loooonng line--a kind but frazzled-looking airline employee was making her way through the line to update people on the flight status. Apparently there had been a flight to Fiji scheduled for Monday night but, due to the hurricane hitting, it was delayed . . . until Tuesday night. So anyone who was supposed to be on Monday night's flight would get dibs on Tuesday's plane, and anyone who didn't make it onto Tuesday's plane (most likely us!) would get overnight accommodations and fly out of LA the following morning.

As my middle brother would say . . . loud noises!

I went through the line first, with Matthew about 30 minutes behind me in line. When I got to the front, there was no reasoning with the airline employee:

"That way to the hotel vouchers line."
"But we have four connecting flights, two of which are on an airline that won't let you connect it to another itinerary, so we'll probably lose those tickets entirely if we don't make tonight's flight."
"That way to the hotel vouchers." 

So I hopped back in line with Matthew.

Side note: When your parents live in another country and you don't have international service on your phone, it's really hard to talk to them when things happen like an airline telling you you'll be delayed 12 hours and miss your next four flights. There was a lot of frantic emailing from LAX.

When we got to the front of the line, we actually got ushered to a counter with a computered employee (I had just gotten the pre-sorting traffic director before) and handed her our passports. She looked at her screen and then, in a hushed voice said, "Okay, don't tell anyone, but I can get you on tonight's flight. You may not be seated together, but you can fly to Fiji tonight." We'll take it!!

With boarding passes in hand and our blood pressure down considerably, we proceeded through security and to our gate. When you pack 200 upset people into a tiny gate with very little seating, it gets a little chaotic. Then the plane was delayed. Then they moved us to a different gate, and the flight was delayed some more. Then they put us onto buses to take us to another building where the plane had pulled up. Then we finally boarded. Then we sat for  bit. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:30 p.m., and we started taxiing  a little after midnight. Which ordinarily would be frustrating anyway, but we were scheduled to have only a three-hour layover in Fiji before catching our flight to Brisbane. Good bye, comfortable layover!

By this point, I was pretty ticked, so everything about the plane annoyed me: the headrests didn't have the adjustable "wings" to keep your head in place, there was only one choice for dinner, the blankets were really thin, the movie selections were meager. First world problems. One nice thing was that I was by the window so could lean against it to sleep a bit. And there was a lovely couple from Alaska beside me. And since I was by the window, I got to see some stunning cloudscapes and watch the sunrise over the Pacific on Wednesday-turned-Thursday morning (we crossed the International Date Line). It began as a thin, vibrant ribbon of red stretched across the vast, dark horizon. Gradually the colors turned more golden and spread higher into the lightening sky.

Thursday, December 20:
 
Roughly 10 hours later, we touched down at Nadi International Airport in Fiji, at 7:20 Thursday morning. Our flight to Brisbane was scheduled to leave at 8:15, so there was still a slim chance we could make it. Except that we had to stay in our seats while officials sprayed bug spray throughout the cabin. And it takes a long time to get off a plane when seated in row 51. And once we did get off the plane, we deplaned directly into another massive line of our fellow passengers. Fortunately Matthew had been seated near the front of the plane, so he was able to get to the post-deplaning counter pretty quickly . . . only to find out that our plane to Brisbane had already left.

More loud noises!

So we collected our luggage (slightly miraculous that both our bags made it to the same country on the same flight), went through immigration, and into yet another line to see what kind of magic Air Pacific could work for us and our flight itineraries.

Remember what I said earlier about mass chaos ensuing when traveling through a small country on a small airline a day or two after a hurricane has hit? Yeah, that's no exaggeration. It seemed like Air Pacific just couldn't catch up to the delays. They'd delay a flight, put the original passengers on the next flight, which would bump the people scheduled for that flight, setting off this huge, awful domino effect. And since Nadi is a relatively small airport, they simply didn't have enough aircraft present to catch up. Plus, it was hot and muggy. There was little to no air conditioning in that part of the airport. Add to that equation several hundred increasingly frustrated, tired, hungry, and dehydrated passengers who are all frantically trying get to or from a whole slew of countries.  So . . . mass chaos.

After an hour or so in line, we had new itineraries in hand, the promise of hotel and meal vouchers soon, and instructions on when to check in for the Brisbane flight the following morning. We were anxious to find some water (see dehydrated comments above) and internet so we could email our parents with our updates and to tell them not to pick us up that afternoon in Madang. But we were afraid to split up, and we were afraid to go far lest we miss the announcement to pick up our vouchers, and we didn't have any Fijian dollars. So we sat around for a couple more hours, trying to stay awake and alert enough to understand the quiet, unintelligible announcements issuing from the ceiling. A couple hours later we inserted ourselves back into the same line, asked again for hotel and meal vouchers vouchers, and this time received a green slip of paper--which might as well have been pure gold--in our grubby little hands, along with the promise that the taxi was on its way to take us to the hotel.

The hotel was actually a pretty fancy resort, complete with light fluttery curtains, a balcony off our room, a nice restaurant, swimming pools, and other amenities like a spa if we'd been willing and able to pay for it. The airline had included lunch and dinner in our voucher, so we headed down to the resort restaurant for lunch shortly after arriving. I had some chicken and prawn stir-fry with vegetables, a red curry sauce, and jasmine rice. It was outstanding! I was eyeing their fish and chips for dinner, but ended up skipping dinner because I was so tired. You know I'm tired when I turn down free fancy food!