So, with cameras in hand, we ventured onward.

Under some beautiful Southern California skies, we hit up The Pike and walked around Shoreline Village. Although it’s technically winter, it’s been a mild one and spring is right around the corner.

The Pacific Ocean coastline is spectacular and Catalina Island looks close enough to reach out and touch.

There are quite a few great pictures in this series that you can see or buy through my Shutterfly site. Go take a peek…make yourself a mug or a mousepad! Click HERE and you will be taking to my Gallery. There are a few albums with images from visits to the Descanso Gardens and the Griffith Observatory.

Once I get into Seal Beach, I occasionally get a view of a ship that has come into the Naval Weapons Station.

But usually its a view of the ocean and the sunset and a reminder that I live in a vacation destination and am lucky enough that I don’t have to take the freeway to work.

serves 8

1 cup quinoa, rinsed ***I used Havest Grains from Trader Joe’s!

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes, all around the same size *TJ’s has pre-cooked sweet potatoes in a package…easy!

3 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

1/3 cup pine nuts

4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 cup dried cranberries

4 scallions, sliced

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place the quinoa into a small saucepan and add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes, or until the water is evaporated. Turn off the heat and let quinoa sit covered for at least one, hour or preferably, three hours. 

Place the sweet potato cubes into a roasting pan and toss with 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil. Bake for 25 minutes, or until you can just pierce the cubes with a fork. Set aside.

Place the pine nuts into a small pan over medium heat until lightly toasted, stirring often. Set aside.

In a small bowl, place the remaining three tablespoons olive oil, vinegar, honey salt, pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Whisk well.

When the quinoa is dry, use a whisk to break apart the seeds and place into a large bowl. Add half the vinaigrette and mix with the whisk. Add more to taste, depending on how wet you like your quinoa; I add it all. Add the sweet potatoes, pine nuts, cranberries and scallions and mix gently. Serve at room temperature.

The lovely result

Once I had my own kitchen I tried a to really master a few of her basics: meatloaf, spaghetti, taco casserole, and I started to put together a few of my own: vegetable/chicken soup, chili, a variety of chicken dishes, omelettes, salads, and a lovely salmon with mashed potatoes dish…yum!

Recently I settled into another kitchen of my own and I have been trying to get Keri’s Kitchen really dialed in. So, I decided to make a list of the meals that I can make with confidence, like a Keri’s Kitchen Menu. I was pretty happy with the result and even more determined to learn a few more great meals.

On most shopping trips I will make sure to pick up an herb or spice in order to complete my collection of at least the staples, and I finally have the ingredients at the ready to make cookies whenever I want. I was feeling pretty good. Until I started looking for new recipes to try and I realized that I could use a few more things in the kitchen.

My current list of wants include: Pitchers and glasses, glass measuring cup, butter dish, 1/2 pint glass jars with lids, a muffin tray, quiche tray and an assortment of cookie cutters. I watched a friend make Risotto, basically from scratch, and was fascinated. I am *this close* to signing up for CSA deliveries of fresh, organic fruits and veggies from local growers. Especially after a friend showed up with homemade pumpkin soup!

My Pinterest boards are getting filled with recipes and homemade gift ideas.

During a recent conversation, I realized this: You don’t have to be a good cook, you just have to cook. It’s simple. It’s also pretty fun.

September 10, Nana’s Daily Bread

This is super irritating because it’s so very true.

In other music news:

Pearl Jam has been celebrating their 20th anniversary this week. There is a book and a films and shows and flannel and Eddie Vedder is mumbling about the wars…I kid, I kid.

I remember driving from Southern California to Seattle in the early ’90s to visit friends in Oregon and Washington State and to explore the Pacific Northwest. Pearl Jam’s album Ten was a crucial part of the success of that trip, and many others during those years. (Oh, and the weed, but don’t tell my mom) Rolling Stone wants to know what your favorite Pearl Jam song was? Mine? Porch.

Have you heard First Aid Kit? You should take a minute to listen to the beautiful harmonies of this Swedish sister duo.

In the meantime, Click here —>KCRW Music Blog for their incredible version of Patti Smith’s Dancing Barefoot and watch “the legend herself seemed to get a little choked up during their performance and followed it with rapturous applaud.” Beautiful.

My personal musical tastes run the gambit from folk and blues, to punk, to I Don’t know What, to Trip-hop, to rap sometimes, to hymns, to pop…my music library is AWESOME! Because of this, and my ADD, I watch some pretty diverse documentary’s on music. Last night on Hulu I watched another episode of their original series A Day In The Life, brought to you by Morgan Spurlock, the Supersize Me guy. This episode is about Girl Talk, this non-DJ, mash-up “artist” guy. He’s on Fire for music! and dude sweats A LOT!

And on the other side of music there’s a cover of the Blood, Sweat & Tears song “And When I Die” by The Heavy for the True Blood season finale.

The Heavy knocked this song outta the park and in the process, invoke all kinds a True Blood imagery in my little brain, while I am sitting here at my next NOT watching True Blood. Sweet! Click here —->via KCRW Music Blog for a listen.

This week we saw the devastation from the drought and wildfires in Texas

And some fun shots from the 25th annual Burning Man Festival, held since 1990 in the Black Rock Desert, 120 miles outside Reno, Nevada.

A few years back I had the pleasure of watching my roommate at the time get ready for her week-long adventure to Burning Man. As a Ranger, she arrived before the festival began and stayed a few days after it was over, and watching her pack up her truck to bring the comforts of home to the desert for over a week made me long for my days of road trips and adventures across the country.

In a separate collection entitled Sleepers are photographs of people everywhere lucky enough to find a few winks.

Enjoy these collections from The Big Picture…up next will be a post about some great collections from the Flickr Blog.