Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  What are your plans for the weekend?  My boyfriend and I will be taking off for a rustic weekend getaway up near the Sequoia National Forest (it's about 3.5 hours north of Los Angeles).  Our friend lent us her cabin and we're excited to enjoy the fresh air, chilly temps and all the mountain biking/hiking we can squeeze into our 3-day adventure.  We may even visit a ghost town!  I'll be sharing my photos next week b/c there's no internet service up there.  :-)

 

Before Sunset

Here are a few more of my favorite shots from our beach outing in Palos Verdes.

Winter Sunset

 

Here are some photos from last weekend's beach excursion.  It was amazing to see how the sunset bathed the landscape with a golden glow.

More Beach Life Images...

 

 

Winter Warmer

This weekend's weather in Southern California was nothing short of amazing!  Even after living here for 5 years, I still seem to forget that it doesn't really get cold by the beach.  Yesterday, my boyfriend and I visited Founder's Park in Rancho Palos Verdes.  It's a little park that cuts right by the Trump National Golf Course and includes a rocky, dog-friendly beach.  It's also a great spot if you like to explore tidepools.

Here are some photos from our outing...

 

More to come tomorrow....

Greens and Grains

For 2012, my boyfriend and I are planning to eat more more vegetables and try to substitute them for meat in many meals.  Here's a perfect side dish that I easily created from items in my fridge/pantry one night.  It pairs well with seared tofu, tempeh, chicken, pork, or really any kind of meat.  And it's just as good alone.  I sort of threw it together so the measurements aren't exact but it's hard to mess it up.  Totally healthy, totally delicious.

Brown rice with chick peas, spinach and pine nuts

• about 2-3 cups of cooked brown rice
• half a bag of spinach, washed
• 1 t. chopped garlic
• 1 t. extra virgin olive oil.
• 1 small can of chick peas
• handful of pine nuts
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook brown rice and set aside.  I like to use Trader's Joe's frozen bags of brown rice.  Each bag only takes 3 minutes to cook.  Sauté spinach and garlic with olive oil in pan.  Drain and rinse can of chick peas.  Once the spinach is wilted, mix everything together in a bowl and sprinkle in pine nuts.  Season with salt and pepper.  Enjoy.

 

Happy New Year!

Apologies for my absence but I recently returned from visiting my family in Rochester, NY for Christmas.  You see, my Mom doesn't have an internet connection unless I want to use the land line.  No joke!  After being on a computer for a majority of my work days it was lovely to kick back and recharge my batteries.  :-)  For those of you not familiar with Rochester, it's home to Kodak.  If you ever visit the city, be sure to stop by the George Eastman House.  It's a world-renowned photography/film museum and home to the infamous creator of Kodak.

One of my sister's and I visited last week to check out the latest exhibit called, "The Unseen Eye."  We later took a tour of the old mansion and grounds.  Here are some photos from our visit....unfortunately, it was raining so I didn't get any shots of the outside but you can check out the website here - http://www.eastmanhouse.org/index.php.

I can't help but wonder if old George is rolling over in his grave because I took photos of his mansion with my camera phone.  To make up for it, however, I did shoot a few rolls of Kodak film with my Hasselblad.  Those images to come...I need to scan them in and my scanner is currently kaput.  :-(