Life According to My iPhone

August 15, 2015

It has come to my attention that I have started treating the Hollywood Bowl as my living room. Guess who’s back, back again…

These people believe in flying their patriotic Pomeranian flag year round.

Things get real when this reminder is staring back at you from the pages of your planner every day.

Do we call this bad lighting or “artsy”? Regardless, here is the grin I get from Puggle when I come home from work every day.

Martial Arts Trilogy, Hollywood Bowl, Tan Dun

Martial Arts Trilogy at the Hollywood Bowl – a viewing of portions of Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Banquet conducted by the composer himself, Tan Dun. It was pretty epic.

This past weekend was my second experience at Outside Lands and it was full of the unexpected. Our journey began late Thursday night with a massive detour to avoid road construction that took us down what we like to call “Alien Abduction Alley”. The name isn’t an exaggeration. The back road we took made for a terrifying pitch black, one-lane-road driving experience that was capped off by a wild electrical storm enveloping us from all sides with huge lightening bolts. It felt like we were going to be beamed up at any moment.

Once we made it to the Bay Area it was relatively smooth sailing. Outside Lands 2015 was full of great music, acceptably warm weather and, best of all, lots of awesome new friends both from LA and San Francisco. While all the acts I saw were solid, nobody really stood out as mind blowing. The highlight of this festival really was all of the new people I met and the adventures we had together before, during and after the festival. And after all that’s what these weekends are all about, aren’t they? They’re about shaking up your routine, stepping out of your comfort zone and being open to whatever and whoever comes your way.

Note: I was having so enjoying living every moment that I ended up not taking that many photos. I apologize!

The Outside Lands ranger welcoming us to a magical weekend. …”Lands” didn’t make it into the photo.

Festival Buddies

Cold War Kids starting the weekend off right…they’re amazing live and I get to see them again this Saturday! #cantstopwontstop

Vira and his girls…the four of us plus my fiance were inseparable the whole weekend. Meeting these two was one of the best parts of Outside Lands!

It was a homecoming for G-Eazy!

Another from G-Eazy’s set because I was a weeee bit excited.

This astronaut did not seem to be enjoying his job.

A couple photo complete with a random dude in the back.

These animals were really getting down to Caribou.

I bet you’d never guess that these two went to film school together, would you?

All hail Sir Elton! Hearing “Tiny Dancer” live was one of those surreal goosebump moments.

Axwell and Ingrosso closing out our weekend.

Veggie Quinoa Bowl

August 11, 2015

When looking for recipes I search out those that are healthy, don’t use too many ingredients and are simple to make. I’d love to have the time and budget to prepare extravagant meals every night, but since that isn’t possible at the moment I try to make sure what we eat is great tasting and good for us. This veggie quinoa bowl checks all the boxes. It is comprised of just four healthy base ingredients and I can prepare it quickly after a long day at work.

I found the basis of this recipe at Reclaiming Provincial and made a few modifications. The original recipe was geared towards more of a meal you would eat for breakfast and we generally eat my version for dinner. To make it more dinner friendly and heartier, I added in extra eggs as well as additional broccoli and mushrooms so it is more filling.

It may not be the prettiest to look at, but it always hits the spot and, as you will see, is one of Puggle Chef’s favorite meals to help prepare because she loves to snack on broccoli! She has become quite the little sous chef and hangs out in the kitchen with every night me while I cook dinner. She’s quite helpful, in fact if water is about to boil over and I’m looking away she alerts me to it. She’s too cute!

Veggie quinoa bowl ingredients

Plus some cheese which deserves its own photo.

Puggle Chef stir-frying the broccoli.

Stir-fried veggies

Veggie quinoa bowl ready to eat.

Veggie Quinoa Bowl

A great-tasting healthy option for any meal of the day, this veggie quinoa bowl will leave you fueled and satisfied!

CourseMain Dish

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

15-25 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

15-25 minutes

Veggie Quinoa Bowl

A great-tasting healthy option for any meal of the day, this veggie quinoa bowl will leave you fueled and satisfied!

CourseMain Dish

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

15-25 minutes

Servings	Prep Time
2 people	10 minutes

Cook Time

15-25 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 cup quinoa or one 8 oz bag of Trader Joe's pre-cooked quinoa
1/2 cup milk - I use plain coconut if I'm cooking my quinoa.
1/2 cup water
2 heads broccoli cut into florets
16 oz mushrooms sliced
1/4 cup cheddar cheese graded - add more based on taste
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Servings: people

Instructions

Cut up broccoli and mushrooms and grate cheese.
Heat a little olive oil over medium heat.
Add broccoli to heated pan and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
Add mushrooms to pan with broccoli and stir-fry for additional 2-3 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and set aside.
If you are cooking your own quinoa, combine milk, water and quinoa and bring to a boil. (If you are using Trader Joe's pre-cooked quinoa, place the 8 oz bag in the microwave and cook for 3-4 minutes.)
Once pan with quinoa reaches a boil reduce heat and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Remove pan from heat and add broccoli and mushroom mixture and cheese. Mix well.
Scramble eggs
Add scrambled eggs to quinoa, broccoli, mushroom, and cheese mixture and mix well.
Add salt and pepper to taste.