California to Arizona to California

One of my favorite road trips is the drive from Los Angeles to Phoenix.  I don't know what it is about the drive but it puts me in a different state of mind.  I love getting up at 2am-ish and leaving by 3 or 4am to make the trip.  With that being said, here are some pictures from my too short trip.  While there, we went to the Desert Botanical Garden, I saw my friend, El Badgedor in Tempe and caught The XX while there.

Sunrise

Sunrise

Sunrise

At the family's

A neighborhood quail

Cactus pear flower

A bee in a cactus flower in the front yard

Backyard yellow back spiny lizard

Desert Botanical Garden

Cactus Wren

Cactus wren mama feeding her babies

The only hummingbird pic I was able to get and it came out fantastic

 

Tempe

Took a really short hike up to Hole in the Rock

The view on the other side is spectacular

The XX at The Marquee Theater, April 15, 2013

The XX at The Marquee Theater, April 15 2013

Healthy Chocolate Quinoa Pancakes

I was starving this morning and decided to make pancakes from scratch.  For the first time.  Actually, decided to make pancakes for the first time ever.  This is coming from someone who never craves pancakes and used to be an expert at cooking with a microwave or ordering takeout (I was spoiled by my mama with her cooking when I lived at home).  But since I had most of the ingredients, I decided to play around some.  I found a pretty easy recipe here that did not call for buttermilk.  I tweaked it based on what I had on hand and ended up making this delicious dark chocolate quinoa pancake using dark chocolate almond milk.

I sprinkled cinnamon and drizzled honey on my pancakes instead of regular syrup and the sweetness was just perfect for my taste.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free flour if you have intolerances)

1 1/4 Silk dark chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup cooked quinoa

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons agave sweetene

cooking spray

 

Directions:

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.

Whisk in melted butter, egg, almond milk and quinoa until combined. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes to thicken up.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with cooking spray. Pour batter into the hot skillet, about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on the sides and center of each pancake. Flip and cook about 1 to 2 minutes.

Malibu Trip

I went to Leo Carrillo Beach in Malibu earlier this week for a much needed trip to the beach.  Actually went to go see the sunset but it was too cold and too cloudy.  Next time.

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Simple Clutch Purse

This is a simple lined clutch I made for a friend for her birthday recently. 

Scientist Magnet

What started out as request for one scientist turned into a magnet set once my imagination started working.  It all started with this Einstein magnets I made a few weeks ago.  After that post, that magnet set was sold and went to a new home.  Another request came in for the Einstein magnets along with one of Nikola Tesla and his coil.  My challenge was to figure out how to make the coil, well, look like a coil.  While brainstorming, I knew I had to add Sheldon Cooper.  Can't have great scientists in a set without including Sheldon Cooper :)

 

closeup of Tesla's coil.

 

Polka Dot and Chevron Clutch Purse

I found this gorgeous chevron fabric a couple of weeks ago in the remnants bin at Joann's and knew I had to have it as soon as I set my four eyes on it.  At the time, I knew I wanted to make a bag of some sort and had the perfect person in mind to make it for as a birthday present but I wasn't sure what.  Last week, I made this cherry gathered purse for another friend's birthday and so an idea started to form in my head.  And this is what I came up with:

It's a small clutch purse with a zipper closure and strap.  I know the style has been around but this is one of those projects that came out as I envisioned it without the help of pin or link I saved. I don't normally like to mix patterns but the tiny dots on the brown fabric was perfect with the chevron and didn't try to upstage it.  The tiny dots were enough to keep the brown from being boring.  The clutch is 11 inches wide on the bottom, 7 inches wide at top and 7.5 inches tall. 

I used a matching teal fabric for the lining.  The teal also had a very subtle dot pattern and also worked beautifully with the overall scheme. 

Sadly, because this is a gift, I can't keep it but I do hope my friend likes it. 

Cherry Gathered Bag

I made this cherry gathered bag for a friend's birthday last week.  It was based on this one that I made last year.  She loves cherries and I already had the fabric so it worked out perfectly.  It's about 16 inches tall, 15 inches wide at the bottom and 10.5 inches at the top.  I winged it this time and didn't bother with the pattern like I did last time. As useful as they are, for some reason, I have an aversion to them sometimes.