englandsword

On Monday I spent three hours making fruit salad and veggie salad while listening to podcasts! Someone asked me recently what my favorite podcasts are, and I have a very hard time choosing because I love so many. Some of my favorites are WTF w/ Marc Maron, Comedy Bang Bang, KCRW's The Business and The Treatment, Nerdist, The Pod F. Tompkast, Inside Acting, Doug Loves Movies, the UCBLA and NY podcasts, and The Dork Forest. I recently discovered The Anytime Show with Dominic Dierkes (who I have seen perform improv at UCB and is incredible), Film Courage, Making It with Riki Lindhome, Sound on Sight, The Tobolowsky Files, and Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan. Podcasts keep me company, entertain me, and inform me while driving, chopping, and other detestable daily activities. My salad-making frenzy paid off handsomely. I made this big fruit salad: Blueberries, strawberries, grapes, pineapple. And salad salad: Raw corn, raw zucchini, red onion, red pepper, steamed broccoli, fresh basil. I ...

On Saturday I had my second 301 improv class. I love going to class even though sometimes our scenes are total failures. To understand this next anecdote, all you need to know is that the basis of good improv is "yes, and." (Agree with and add to the premise) After one particularly crappy scene, our teacher said, "That was about 110% 'no' and 300% 'but.'" So it wasn't just exactly the opposite of what we were supposed to be doing, but the opposite times three. I personally found that hilarious instead of discouraging -- and that's what class is for! I also had an audition on Saturday and then my friend had a party. Here's a couple pictures - On Sunday I went to Crashbar (the indie improv show) with a few of my friends and then stuck around for a couple hours afterwards discussing politics and religion in the parking lot. I can't help myself... you get me started and shit gets serious. Today I had Power Group at The Actors Network and ...

I'm back in LA. I flew back on Saturday and luckily it was pretty uneventful. I did make an 11-year-old friend on my first flight. And I packed myself two identical salads, one for lunch and one for dinner: Salad leftovers topped with torn-up Field Roast deli slices and Parm! On Sunday I went to the farmers' market and Trader Joe's and got a huge amount of fresh fruits and veggies. Then Mom and I skyped for three hours while chopping! It does take some time to make big salads but now I should have enough salad to tide me over for a while. Here's my loot -- red peppers, zucchini, grapes, an apple, cherry tomatoes, pluots (plum/apricots) broccoli, kale, a cantaloupe, almond milk, strawberries, mixed greens, fresh mint and basil, onions, corn, a pineapple, a grapefruit, TJ's chickenless strips, veggie ground beef, and wasabi peas (to spice up salads). I spent about $25 in each place. My first fruit salad of the week - strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes, and pluots. Yummm...

On Friday night a (vegan) friend of mine hosted a potluck with about ten friends. I wanted to bring something tasty but also healthy that I would want to eat if I got stuck with leftovers, so I made a big quinoa salad! And then I kept a lot of it for me. =) I just cooked up some quinoa and added a can of chickpeas, a red onion, a few carrots, a few cucumbers, and a miso seasoning. I used this cool stuff I found at Gelsons the other day: It makes instant miso soup but also works great as a sauce. I also added spicy mustard and rice wine vinegar. I ate quinoa salad leftovers on lettuce and spinach for the next couple days. Yum. On Monday I started my improv 201 classes! I'm loving them already. My day was jam-packed and I was out of the house from 10 AM to 11:30 PM. I brought an apple, a grapefruit, and some edamame to eat throughout the day. After my improv class I went over to an actor friend's house where we've started a little cold reading class of our own just for practi...

Two exciting pieces of news - I signed up for the UCB level 1 intensive, and instead of being a PA this week, I've been promoted to 2nd Assistant Director! I also went to Power Group at The Actors Network today and got my cleaning at the dentist. I know I was just there, but that was the initial consultation and this was my (soon-to-be) regular cleaning. I've never been to a dentist's office that is so thorough and focused on preventive care. Exercise: 30 minutes walking 10 minutes bike Food Diary: Breakfast: Lentil soup Lunch: 1 serving seitan, 2 servings edamame Dinner: Lentils, spinach, and broccoli; sprout salad I had an entire box of sprouts that I really needed to use up so I ate the whole thing for dinner! I seasoned with hot sweet mustard, this orange champagne vinegar, and some gyoza sauce. It looks gigantic... Until I mix it all up.

At Trader Joe's a couple days ago I bought a jar of hearts of palm: It inspired me to create this vegan "Caprese" salad. Warning - this recipe is not supposed to taste like Caprese salad, it just looks like it. Vegan "Caprese" Salad 1 jar hearts of palm, sliced 1 container cherry or grape tomatoes, halved 1/4 cup fresh herbs 2 tbsp Orange Muscat Champagne vinegar 1/2 tsp Bragg's or sea salt 1/4 - 1/2 tsp garlic powder fresh ground black pepper to taste Slice your hearts of palm and tomatoes. Rough chop your herbs. Basil would be great, but my basil plant died so I harvested my parsley and mint instead. Mix herbs with remaining ingredients, pour over hearts of palm and tomatoes and mix well to coat. If you wanted to make this more Caprese-like, you could use some marinated tofu or cashew cheese (like the soft "cheeses" Gena makes). I used this vinegar: It was perfect but you could use another flavored vinegar, instead, if you don't have ...

I'm going to make this post quick because it's late. But I already know what I'm going to post about tomorrow! I always feel a little relieved when I know I have something to post about the next day... yes, I am a planner. Today was super busy, as expected. I had Power Group at The Actors Network -- that's my once-monthly meeting where I get together with other actors and we talk about what we accomplished in our careers over the past month and what we'll do next month. Then I went to my callback, which went great. It was very high-energy and fun, and I was playing a star-struck 15-year-old. I stopped in at Trader Joe's to get some edamame to snack on and got hit on by a guy wearing red glitter eyeliner. He gave me his number and drew me a picture. Not my first time getting hit on at the grocery store, but definitely the first time by a man wearing eyeliner... not to mention of the red and glittery variety. Very interesting. I drove from Hollywood to T...

Happy one-year LAnniversary to me! On January 3rd, 2010 I packed up everything I own into my two-door Solara and left this: and drove across the country with my dad from Kansas to California (I had already driven from Indiana to Kansas) through the beautiful Southwest. New Mexico... Arizona... Before seeing this welcome sign. All the way across the state... And I arrived to my new home in Studio City on January 5th! I don't want to show you my apartment (gotta keep my secrets!) so I'll show you Beverly Hills, instead, where I most definitely do not live. And the next day my dad and I went to my first vegan restaurant in LA, Vegan Plate! It's been a great year, and I love living here. It's not always fun living alone (pretty much, I do have a roommate) and thousands of miles away from my family. When I first moved here, I really didn't know anybody. But I've met a lot of great people this year and had incredible experiences, both in my career and my person...