Spice Infused Quinoa and Wendy's Sherried Ginger-Gingered Sherry

I'm still on the quinoa kick. I just love a good bowl of quinoa, black beans and Thai Crystal. My sweetheart accuses me of just making food as a vehicle for Thai Crystal. I'm not saying he's wrong. Making this quinoa made the apartment smell like the holidays. The cinnamon and peppercorns and anise gave off the most heavenly aroma. It was great. The resulting quinoa has a nice, subtle taste to it. One of those tastes that make your eyebrows lower in concentration and you just keep eating in an effort to grasp exactly what that is. I probably won't make it all the time but it certainly is a nice change up. I also tried Wendy's Sherried Ginger. I'm so glad I stumbled onto this trick. I have only recently, in the past year, started cooking with ginger (Thanks, Elena!). The smell of fresh ginger alone is enough to make me stop and smell again. It's fantastic. However, I'm always left with little ginger stubs that eventually shrivel up and go dry before I can use them. Dropping ginger 'coins' in sherry keeps them fresh until I need to use them! BRILLIANT! Sure, the ginger smelled a bit too sherry-like at first, but after I pressed it, it smelled (and tasted) just like regular ginger. Now I can have fresh ginger when I need it without making a special trip for it. CD and Wendy - you two rock!