Monthly Archives: September 2010

by Becki | September 30, 2010 · 8:44 pm

Green Monsta Pancakes!

I made pancakes for breakfast. Again.

We only had about 2 cups of spinach in our fridge this morning – definitely not enough to make three Monstas for three hungry roommates, so I decided to create something new, exciting, and scary!

Green Monsta Oatmeal Pancakes

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole grain rolled oats

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1.5 teaspoons baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup soymilk

2 cups spinach

1 small carrot

1 banana

1 teaspoon vanilla

Soymilk to thin out the batter

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

2. Put the first five wet ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

3. Stir 1 1/2 cups of the spinach blend into your dry mix and whisk until smooth.

4. My first batch ended up too thick and didn’t cook all the way through, so I added another 1/4 of a cup of soymilk to thin it out. Use your own discretion – that’s what makes it fun!

Frightening! This might be good for breakfast on Halloween…

5. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into a large greased pan.

This doesn’t look appetizing…

6. Let the pancakes cook through for a few minutes, and flip them when the bubbles around the edges pop.

Since there’s banana blended into the mix, they tend to caramelize pretty quickly.

7. Cook the pancakes for another 3-4 minutes, then attempt to serve them in an appetizing fashion. This will prove to be very difficult.

See what I mean?

I’m not sure this angle helps it at all…

This was an interesting try for me… The pancakes tasted like banana pancakes, but had a bitter aftertaste due to the raw spinach, and I don’t know how to get rid of that for next time – maybe steam the spinach beforehand?

I’m going to go gargle some mouthwash for a bit. Okeybye!

Any suggestions to get rid of the bitterness without adding an artificial sweetener?

2 Comments

Filed under ATTACK OF THE PANCAKE, banana pancakes, bitter aftertaste, green monster, green monster pancakes, pancakes, scary

by Becki | · 8:04 am

MY TOWN IS ON FIRE!

I realize it is neither National Pancake Day, or Pancake Sunday, but since we were out of spinach this morning, I decided to make some whole grain cakes.

This first batch was experimental…

… an experimental FAIL. I used egg in this recipe just to try something new. Apparently, new + Becki = hockey pucks masquerading as pancakes. Oh well, lesson learned!

The second batch appeared to be faring a little better…

Oooooh yeah!

Vegan Banana-Pecan Oatmeal Pancakes – Printable version HERE

1/4 cup whole rolled oats

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2/3 cup soymilk

1 banana, 1/2 of it diced, 1/2 in thick slices

A handful of chopped pecans

1. Toast the handful of chopped pecans in a pan over medium heat. Pecans are done when their warm, nutty aroma fills the air (about 3 minutes, stirring constantly). Be careful not to burn them!
2. Put the thick slices of banana into a greased pan over medium-low heat.

3. Carefully flip the banana slices after 4-5 minutes.

4. While the second side of the banana is cooking, mix together the oatmeal, flour, baking soda, salt and toasted pecans in a medium sized bowl.

5. Add the soymilk and diced banana, and stir until well combined.

6. Pour a heaping tablespoon of batter onto a large greased pan or skillet.

7. When the tops of the pancakes start to bubble and appear to dry out, flip em!

8. Cook them for another minute on the other side, then plate with the caramelized banana slices on top and drizzle with syrup or honey.

Incredibleness on a plate.

As always, a great breakfast is best enjoyed with an amazing view on a beautiful morning!

You’d think that such an rich breakfast would fill me up until the end of time, but before I knew it, it was lunch time!

Mexican food on the brain! I got a grilled chicken quesadilla with guacamole. I haven’t been making the healthiest choices lately – I can blame it on my schedule or on the insane heat, but really it comes down to my own lack of self-control and planning.

Problem acknowledged, and being worked on!

The drive back home held a surprise! While we were in the restaurant, about thirty fire trucks, cop cars and paramedics went screaming by, and I forced the roommates to investigate!

THE TOWN IS ON FIRE!!!! It actually looked like a bomb went off, or a plane crashed, but it turns out it was just four businesses that were lovingly built from the ground up, burning right back to the ground thanks to some chemical fire. Sadness 🙁

When we got back, I split and headed to the library to pick up some books I had on hold – I’m now reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. My cousin recommended the series to me, and while I’m loving the story so far, I’ve been really slow, which is bad considering it’s due back in a few days! I distracted myself from reading a bit longer by replenishing my aromatherapy spray.

I used to be a massage therapist and always wanted to specialize in aromatherapy. Even though I don’t work as a therapist anymore, I brought aromatherapy along with me for daily life.

Bexter’s Spaaaaah Mix

In an 8oz. atomizer bottle, add 7 drops of lavender oil, 7 drops of lemon oil, 2 drops of tea tree oil and 1 drop of eucalyptus oil.
Fill the atomizer bottle with filtered water, cap and shake well.
Spritz the mixture into the air to remove toxins, and over face while inhaling to be in total, utter bliss.

Bexter’s Spaaaaaah Mix! This bottle makes me so happy!

The rest of my day was spent lounging around, doing massive amounts of research and note-taking for a novel I’m writing and swinging by Great Harvest for a loaf of their High 5 Fiber bread to go with dinner.

The roommate made an indian-inspired veggie soup. I don’t have the recipe on hand right now, but it has fresh green beans, eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, garam masala and a whole bunch of other stuff that makes a heavenly, healthy stew.

My soup was served in my most successful bowl made in pottery to date!

I’ll be hitting up the farmers’ market tomorrey to pick up some ingredients for a Foodbuzz competition I’ll be joining in! Food contests aren’t normally my thing (I’m a VERY competitive person, and it stresses me out and erases a little of the enjoyment for me), but I decided, why not! Stay tuned for a new recipe… or a lot of competitive anger! 😀

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Tagged as vegan pancakes

by Becki | September 29, 2010 · 10:13 am

I Almost DIED Today!

I almost died today. It was the most painful experience of my life… or one of the top five most painful experiences, which include some of the recent reality shows that have been inflicted upon society. Before we get to that, though, let’s start from the beginning!

Today was my first day off after working SIX days in a row. That’s illegal, right? In my lazy mind, yes, yes it is. Anyway, since it was going to be ridiculously hot today, my mom and I decided to spend the day in Ventura before we headed off to pottery class.

Indian at The Taj Cafe, of course!

This handy card made treating oh-so-much easier!

That’s right, I’m a VIP!

We went to We Olive and picked up some cherry balsamic vinegar and a new bottle of olive oil. Here comes the point of my near-death experience:

That, my friends, is a habanero pepper. We Olive now carries an olive oil that is infused with jalapeno and habanero pepper. I, being the adventurous soul that I am, decided that I would try out this new option. I poured a small bit into a sample cup and took a miniscule sip. Not even a sip, just got a few drops on the tip of my tongue. It was fine for a minute, until the pepper ninja-kicked the back of my throat. My throat closed up and for a good ten seconds, I could not breathe. As I clumsily weaved through the store, tears pouring from my eyes, my nose running uncontrollably, I stumbled across a chocolate merlot dip and stuck a huge spoonful in my mouth to try and stop the pain.

There you have it, my near-death experience. It took an hour for my nose to stop running and for me to stop coughing painfully as each wave of intense heat ran over me again and again. Seriously though, it was awful and painful and not being able to inhale is not a fun thing.

After my over-dramatized moment, we picked up some chocolate at Trufflehounds and headed back towards my parental unit’s house.

We were hindered by a huge wind storm and some really aggressive tumbleweeds.

We got to pottery class around 6pm and it was a nice, chilly 90 degrees outside. Yesterday was 113 degrees fahrenheit in Los Angeles, so it was more than acceptable to be in the low 90’s.

Here’s the latest batch of crap that came out of the kiln!

Here’s my mom’s antithesis of crap. She made an amazing plate last week and imprinted a leaf on it before glazing. Doesn’t it look incredible??

And here’s the NEW batch of crap I made today!

Here’s my mom after a rough day at class – still freakin’ gorgeous.

And here’s me and my chicken legs, covered in clay and dust.

Here’s the glazed, yet pre-fired, version of Amanda and Andy’s pot that they won!

And speaking of winners, the official winners of my Pottery Giveaway are…

Justin, Sophia, Amanda and Andy, and Sir Malachi. (Dan is getting an extremely awful one for his birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAN!!!), and as an honorable mention).

Unfortunately, all of the winners’ bowls will not even be out of the kiln until next week, so you’ll have to wait an extra week. For now, all winners please e-mail me at BeckiKregoski@aol.com with your addresses for me to send the pottery to! If you live in SoCal and would prefer to meet up for a blogger get-together/pottery exchange, let me know that as well!

Have you ever had a near-death experience, exaggerated or not?

6 Comments

Filed under blogger meet-up, Burp and Slurp, Dan, glazing, Happy birthday, Indian Food, Malachi, Mom, Pottery, Two Boos Who Eat, Ventura

by Becki | September 27, 2010 · 7:56 am

A Peachy Day!

Happy National Pancake Day!!! Did you have any idea it was NPD? Lucky for me, the first thing I do in the morning is get my coffee, then read the blogs that I follow, and Heather had mentioned it and made her pancake breakfast. I looked around my kitchen and decided that I would make Peach Pie Oatmeal pancakes.

Peach Pie Oatmeal Pancakes – Printable recipe HERE

Ingredients:

1/2 of a cup of quick-cook rolled oats

1/2 of a cup of whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

A pinch of salt

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 1/3 cups of soymilk

1 large peach, diced

1 large peach, sliced, for garnish

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Add the soymilk and blend together (It will look watery, but the oats absorb the extra moisture).
Stir in the diced peaches.
While waiting for the batter to thicken, put the sliced peaches in a greased pan over medium heat to caramelize.

Caramelization!

5. After the pancake batter has thickened (about two minutes), set a greased frying pan over medium heat. (I grease mine with a canola oil spray)
6. Plop a heaping tablespoon of the batter into the pan and flip when the tops look semi-dry.

I love the caramelized edges of the peaches peeking through!

7. Flip the peaches that are caramelizing in the other pan, then top the finished pancakes with them.
8. Drizzle with honey and INHALE!

Inhalation is best done with a beautiful view.

My morning was pretty much completely amazing. Eating stacks of fluffy, fruity pancakes can do that to mornings, I’ve found. After breakfast, I headed off for a full shift at work. I arrived and opened the cabinet where I keep my purse, and found the most amazing surprise EVER!

My friend who works at Godiva gave me FOUR chocolate covered strawberries! Those things cost six million dollars apiece!!! I’m so spoiled!

I went out to Paciugo with my new coworker and tried out a new flavor, Vanilla Raspberry Swirl. Hi, my name is Becki, and I have an addiction. The last time I had gelato was at 12:13pm today.

Lunch was a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice, followed by a trip to Williams Sonoma, and some light reading.

Yes, those are all of Williams Sonoma’s spices compiled into a pamphlet, which I read cover to cover. I’m weird.

Speaking of reading, yesterday I finally finished the latest book I’ve been going through.

“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. I had to read it before I see the movie. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this one…

Have you read it yet? What are your thoughts?

I got home after work to a home cooked meal! My roommates appreciated my pancake-mastering this morning that they made dinner!

They made peach-ginger baked chicken with grilled vegetables on the side. That black stuff on the left is onions, zucchini, eggplant and green beans that have been grilled in a mesh pan until DELICIOUS. Don’t let the lack of color freak you out!

I’m enjoying a glass of Hard Core red wine, a mix of 29% Mourvedere, 24% Grenache, 27% Syrah, and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a random blend, but deliciously spicy and fruity at the same time! Tomorrey I have to head to work at 9am, then I get to bail out early to head to an audition for a web series, and continue on to Dan and Malachi’s for wine tasting and risotto making!

Did you celebrate National Pancake Day? What kind did you make?

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Tagged as vegan pancakes

by Becki | September 24, 2010 · 7:51 am

Tangy Turkey Tostadas!

Today will be a recipe post. That is all. Maybe…

I lied. It’s now officially fall!

Chai lattes, bring on your merciless wrath! I surrender!

Anyway, without further ado, I present to you:

Tangy Turkey Tostadas:

(adapted from Light & Tasty magazine, June 2004)

1 and 1/4 pounds of lean ground turkey

1/2 cup of chopped onion

1 cup chopped bell pepper (the more colors you add, the prettier the final product!)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 can (16 oz.) of kidney beans, drained

1 cup salsa

1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chiles

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup of frozen corn

A few corn tostadas, browned in the oven

Shredded cheese

Sriracha

Fun, random toppings: guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, dark chocolate M&Ms…

Mis en Place! I LOVE having my ingredients all set up and ready to go!

1. In a HUGE pan (I choose to use a large pot since I tend to generously overestimate most of the ingredients…) brown the turkey over medium heat until it’s no longer pink. Drain all the excess liquid.

2. Add the onions, bell peppers and garlic and cook until tender – about 4 minutes.

3. Stir in the sliced mushrooms and cook for another minute.

4. Add in the kidney beans, salsa, green chiles, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Let it sit to heat through about 5 minutes.

5. Mix in the frozen corn (I dump a crapload in, just because it really adds some intense flavor and sweetness to the mix.) and add a squeeze of Sriracha. Be careful with this – it can be overwhelming and PAINFULLY hot if you add too much!

6. After the mixture has fully heated through, start setting up!

I like to liberally sprinkle cheese on top of a tostada, then put the mix on top, add even MORE cheese and top with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes and guacamole. A little extra Sriracha can’t hurt either… well it CAN, but I add it anyway!

Voila! A glass of merlot really helps round out the meal.

Tostada history: My junior year in high school, I went to my best friend’s house for dinner. Her mom had made these tostadas and I fell head over heels for them: This was at a time where I was having massive amounts of ice cream for dinner, and Hot Pocket’s Pizza Stix every day for lunch. Healthy was NOT in my vocabulary. Anyway, I fell in love and I hounded her for WEEKS until she shared the magazine article that she’d gotten the recipe from. For six years now, Tangy Turkey Tostadas have been a major recurring character in my life.

What recipes have you discovered and adopted into your recipe-vocabulary?

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Filed under chai latte, high school, Light Tasty magazine, tangy turkey tostadas, tostadas

by Becki | September 22, 2010 · 9:46 am

One Hundred Posts!!!

This is my 100th post! That happened really fast! I was hoping to do something epic, but I’ll just be going back to my roots: hiking and EATING!

It was beautiful and overcast the entire day!

We had a nice chilly hour-long hike.

The Monstas are back! This one had 6 cups of spinach, 1/4 of a cup of soymilk, 1/2 of a frozen banana, 2 stalks of asparagus and 1/4 of a cup of frozen blueberries.

For lunch today, I went to a local cafe with the roommate and we split a tuna sandwich on toasted rye with a side of potato salad and a piece of dry watermelon that I didn’t touch.

Our lovely lunch needed to be rounded out with chocolate. I had the most ridiculously thick, chocolatel-y brownie I’ve ever had in my entire life, and my roommate got a hot cafe mocha.

ART.

I went over to my parental unit’s to meet up with my mom for our Tuesday pottery class :)!

Tonight was glazing! I glazed five pieces and spent the rest of the time trimming one for MY ONLY CONTEST WINNER so far!

There you go, Amanda and Andy! It should be glazed and fired in about 2 or 3 weeks 🙂

My mom hand painted/glazed this! She’s so talented!

I’m not quite as talented. I think they put that sign up after I joined class…

After class, we started heading home but I was distracted by the beautiful bright lights of this place!

BURGERS!!!! This magical land is called Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The lights have a gravitational pull. I tried to avoid it, but I have no control over scientific facts! GRAVITATIONAL PULL!

Hello baby cheeseburger and fries! These fries are awesome! They’re made from actual potatoes with the skins on – magic!

Here’s something new: I tried to make one of those chocolate-cakes-in-a-mug two nights ago. How did it turn out, you ask? Here’s a little photo essay for you.

Looks good so far!

Puffing up, just like it’s supposed to!

And it turned into a baseball. Just like it’s… supposed to?

Yeah, this was a big fail. I microwaved it way too long and it was very dry and tasted like cocoa-scented dirt. I do not recommend.

Post-class, it was pilot night! We watched a new pilot that I was in for – “Raising Hope” – I was up for the role that went to Bijou Phillips. Hilarious show! I hope it gets the viewers and ratings it deserves!

For you guys who haven’t entered to win the last two pieces of pottery, all you have to do is leave a comment on my blog about why you need a piece of pottery, then put a link to my blog on your Twitter!

10 Comments

Filed under brownie, cake in a cup, Five Guys Burgers, green monster, hike, local cafe, mocha, potato salad, Pottery, Two Boos Who Eat

by Becki | September 20, 2010 · 3:37 am

Beer Tasting and Homemade Pizza!

Last night, I went over to the boys’ place for beer tasting and homemade pizza! I stopped by BevMo on my way into town and was assisted by some incredibly knowledgeable, helpful workers who didn’t ignore me just because I look like I’m seventeen years old. Brownie points for that! I explained that I was trying to instill a sense of appreciation for beer in the minds of a certain gentleman who doesn’t like beer, and a certain gentleman who is satisfied drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, and we picked out some hefeweizens, ambers, stouts and porters for the tasting.

From left to right: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Napa Smith Amber Ale, Chelsea Moylan’s Porter, Boont Amber Ale and Franziskaner.

Dan was busy chef-ing so we set the brews in the fridge to chill while I documented the cooking process.

What is that, you ask? Let’s take a closer look.

SCISSOR-BACON OF COURSE!!! Dan got all fancy on us!

Since the boys were busy chopping, cutting and sauteing, I decided to treat them to a little serenade.

That note I’m playing right there is an L-flat.
I have no idea how to play the guitar.

We started our tasting with the Franziskaner.

I got a little excited and poured much too fast. Whoops.

I taught the guys how to fully appreciate a good beer. Let’s go through the steps:

First, hold the beer up to a light so you can see the color. (Having 1. First is kind of redundant, isn’t it? My bad.)
Second (see what I’m doing here? Calling back to my first mistake?), smell the brew and see what scents you can pick up right away.
Third (okay, I’ll stop now…), give the beer a good swirl in the glass, just like wine. This opens it up and the carbonation helps release some other notes you wouldn’t have noticed before.
Smell the beer one last time and see if you can distinguish anything new post-swirling.
Take a sip. Let it flow over your tongue and notice the carbonation, the flavors and the finish.

Malachi, the non-beer-enjoyer, actually liked the Franziskaner! He specifically said, “I like this!”. I was quite thrilled. Dan liked it as well, but I think he was just happy to have some free beer – he’s obviously not picky since he can drink PBR. Up next was the Boont Amber Ale.

This one was delicious! It had very strong notes of caramel in both the smell and flavor, and just a hint of sweetness.

Dan finished his masterpiece pizza while Malachi julienned some mint to put atop our salads, and we sat down for feasting.

OH EM GEE PEET ZAAA!

Freaking delicious! This was made with Trader Joe’s Garlic & Herb Pizza Dough, and topped with alfredo sauce, chicken, bacon, and copious amounts of wonderful cheese.

Utter joy!

The Napa Smith Amber came next. This one wasn’t my favorite – a little too light and watery tasting, not very memorable at all.

We moved ahead to the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, one of my favorites, which was liked by Dan, but not by “I don’t like coffee OR beer. Bwaaaaaa!”-Malachi. After sampling the stout, we had some of the Chelsea Moylan’s porter – this one had the same espresso taste as the stout, but was a lot smoother to drink. That, or I’d already had the equivalent of a beer and a half and was starting to feel tipsy and not as studious as I should have been. That may have been it…

Yeah, that was definitely it…

On a random note, here’s a lamp that Malachi made!

We played a rousing game of Pimps & Hoes (also known as Egyptian Ratscrew), then decided to head out to do some location scouting for a top-secret-insanely-awesome-epic film that Dan and Malachi are working on. DISCLAIMER: We did not drive after drinking. Every single place we went was on foot!!!

Well, hello Dan, with your fancy-schmancy camera standing in a dark creeper parking lot at 10:30pm beneath a ghetto street lamp.

We crossed back over the highway (my first time walking over a highway! I’m from Colorado, what do you expect?), and headed over to The Fox and Hound’s for some live music.

There was a Beatles cover band playing. It was pretty awful – after every song, they would drunkenly thank each other in character, “Thank you, Ringo. Paul, did you write that one? Cheers, mate!” until they realized that they should probably start playing another song.

We ignored them the best we could and started taking some more random pictures.

Malachi was not pleased with the bands’ creepy wigs and ramblings.

I also put my wristband to use! ID and credit card secure and no purse concerns!

Thanks, Banjees!

We waltzed back over to the boys’ place and made an impromptu movie about magic card tricks.

You’ll have to wait for Dan or Malachi to edit this and blackmail me on YouTube.

It was quite epic.

We dug up some dirty laundry and watched a few films that Dan and Malachi had made in school, an old Lonelygirl15 video in which I carry a riding crop (!!!), and then Malachi took ownership over Dan’s Facebook and Google account and left comments for everyone in the entire world– one is viewable on my blog under yesterday’s post! We finally passed out around 3:30am.

It was a good night.

I woke up this morning with only a slight headache, drank massive amounts of water and sat in on a pre-production meeting for the upcoming top-secret-insanely-awesome-epic film, then headed off to meet my friend Tanya for lunch.

Tanya recently became a vegan, so we went to Vegan World, a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the middle of a shopping center in Studio City.

I got the pad thai with mixed vegetables and a thai tea. The food was wonderful, but there was just too much on the plate! The waitress looked worried when she came to our table and asked us if there was anything wrong with the meal – we reassured her that it was wonderful and got doggie bags.

I found a friend on my car after lunch! Everyone, meet Harris:

A PRAYING MANTUS!!! I think he read my recent blog post about putting him in hot dogs and came to threaten me. We talked it over and it’s all good now.

Don’t forget to enter the pottery giveaway! Just leave a comment saying why you need a piece of my deformed pottery, then link to my blog on your Twitter or Facebook 🙂

2 Comments

Filed under beer, beer tasting, Dan, filming, lonelygirl15, Malachi, pizza, praying mantus, Studio City, The Fox and Hound's, Trader Joe's

by Becki | September 18, 2010 · 5:55 am

OFFICIAL Pottery Giveaway!!!

I swear I will finally get the giveaway started, but first let’s have a quick recap of my past few days.

Massive protein breakfasts before work! This had a chicken-apple sausage that was browned in a mini-skillet, then I poured one scrambled egg on top and covered it until it was set.

A single serving of backyard barbeque chips. This is what I resort to when I’m being driven crazy with boredom at work and haven’t eaten in two hours. Plus, it has “even more barbeque”! How could I say no??

Today was the beginning of my three day weekend! I celebrated with my first pumpkin latte of the season! With soy, of course.

It was also my LAST pumpkin latte of the season: much too sweet and I wasn’t even able to finish it.

I have my newest fashion statement: an awesome new Sprigs Banjees wristband-wallet that I got from REI. REI IS MY MECCA!

There also happens to be an indian buffet across the street from REI, making it EVEN MORE AWESOME!!!

I also visited (GASP!) a DIFFERENT gelato place today! I went to Melt, another gelato chain, and decided to compare it to Paciugo.

Melt = Gelato FAIL! I’m so grossed out by you guys that I won’t even LINK you! How ’bout them apples? I got a scoop of peanut butter/chocolate chip. It was $3.50 (!!!) for a single flavor, and was grainy, overly thick and gooey – and not in a good way. I had a quarter of this before I threw it away. Paciugo, I promise I shall never stray again!

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! I’ll be giving away THREE of my awesome pottery pieces. These are the three I’ve selected:

I’m sorry.

If you want some crappy pieces of pottery, here’s what you need to do: Tell me exactly why you need these ridiculous, misshapen and off-balance pieces of pottery, and link to this blog post on your Twitter/Facebook.

That’s right! I’m USING you guys to gain readership, and I’m not ashamed! Bwahahahaha! I’ll pick the three best responses one week from today, on September 24th, and ask for your color preferences for the piece you select. If I’ve already glazed it by then, I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with whatever amazing combination of colors that I’ve used. Hey, it’s a free piece of deformed pottery – I think you can forgive, right?

Let the amazing comments COMMENCE! And don’t forget to link to this post 🙂

4 Comments

Filed under Banjees, buffet, Indian Food, Paciugo, Pottery, pumpkin latte, REI, Sprigs

by Becki | September 15, 2010 · 9:57 am

Eating Rats on a Hobo-Train!

Yesterday’s recap: Hike…

Pretty!

Even more pretty!

…Kitchen Sink Salad:

Healthy!

…and work.

My thought exactly, young grasshopper.

Today, I had an audition in LA, so I drove out a little earlier and met up with some handsome dudes for fooding.

Malachi and Dan! I’m so lucky! Le sigh 🙂

We went to an old abandoned train, prepared to eat whatever creatures we may find: rats, mice, praying mantuses (mantii?), all roasted over a hobo-fire.

Alas, our abandoned train had been taken over by chefs and customers! AAAAAAAH!

Turns out, this train that was abandoned on Ventura Blvd. was transformed into some ridiculously famous restaurant called Carney’s. Don’t worry though, they still serve hot dogs, which I’m pretty sure contain rats, mice and praying mantuses/mantii.

DELICIOUS rats, mice and praying mantuses/mantii!

I was a little too frightened to have a hot dog, so I stuck with the safe choice – cheeseburger with everything on it and a small side of fries. Yesssss!

These fries are healthily fried! Is there such a thing? I think so!

Carney’s has EIGHT trained food handlers to make sure that your rat meat is fully cooked!

Malachi didn’t believe that they served rat meat. He was quite certain that the hot dogs contained “sweet crumb cakes and peppered snake’s wang!” He reenacts that here.

After a delicious meal of grilled something-or-other, we headed over to BevMo! so I could show the guys some examples of good craft brews, since Dan is partial to PBR and Corona, and Malachi has learned about beer from Dan’s choices (c’mon, Dan!). We’ve decided that on Saturday I’ll be bringing a pack of the best craft brews I know over to their place where we’ll have a tasting and make some homemade pizza. Any of my beer-genius readers have any beer suggestions for me to share with them?

Malachi…

Dan doing a “Shake your Face”. Sorry Dan, I had to post it 🙂

William Shatner. No words needed.

Billy, I’m not looking forward to your show. Sorry.

I went to my audition over in Los Feliz. It took me thirty minutes to find the building and room, and two minutes to get through the audition. I got to smash lots of things and get angry. It was awesome. It’s also fun to scan down the sign-in sheet and see who’s already been in to audition that I know – apparently one of the guys who was also in the pilot of “Left at the Altar” (same pilot, not the same segment as me) had been in a few hours earlier. HI, GIB!

I fought some crazy traffic to get over to my parental unit’s home, just in time to head to pottery class! Of course my mom and I had to get a little snack first to get our blood sugars up!

I got 5 ounces of red velvet, cupcake and cookies and cream topped with cookie dough, peanut butter cups and a piece of brownie. Oof.

Yes, this is pottery class. It’s a good way to get the creative juices flowing! I had a small mug of prosecco. Yum!

Today, I was kind of off. I blame my exhaustion from driving and eating rats/mice/praying mantii.

I think my rats/mice/praying mantii may have been undercooked… That is the only explanation for this monstrosity.

Now I’m relaxing while sipping a pumpkin ale and watching reruns of “The Office”. I needed it to help cure my sorrows from the bowl above.

OH HEY! Who wants this bowl when I’m done???

😀

7 Comments

Filed under Carney's, cheeseburger, Dan, frozen yogurt, hot dogs, Malachi, Pottery class, prosecco

by Becki | September 13, 2010 · 8:27 am

New Passport and Pumpkin Ale!

I had a full night of rest and, unfortunately for your reading enjoyment, am completely sane today. Therefore, today will be a dull post, full of relatively healthy food and PUMPKIN ALE!!!

Movie Theatre Breakfast!!! I had a Monsta made by the roommate that had 5 cups of spinach, 4 sprigs of asparagus, 1/3 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/3 of a banana, 1/3 of a cup of frozen blueberries and 1 lime. (THIS IS NOT THE MOVIE THEATRE PART!)
I then made a single whole-grain oatmeal pancake (HEALTHY!) with 1/2 of a cup of rolled oats, 1/2 of a teaspoon of baking soda, a pinch of salt and 1/3 of a cup of almond milk, then mixed in a crapload of Sno-Caps. They seemed necessary. They proceeded to rock my world!

I got to work around 10:30am after rocking out to Ke$ha in the car (I also strut to Ke$ha in the mall during my break. She’s got a good beat for speedwalking with a purpose. Deal with it.), and started the day with a trip to Paciugo. Gelato is necessary in the early morning. I promised you a gander (what a lovely word!) through the Paciugo passport, so here we go!

I’ll be adding a photo as soon as I print one out. I’m that serious about this.

My answers: Innie. Sweet. Gelato. Neat. POP – Yeah, Midwest!

I cannot decide, guys. Ninja or pirate? There are so many great qualities of both, but I think I lean more towards ninja…

Here are all the stamp opportunities. If you bring a date, you get a free cup of coffee and a stamp. High-five the cashier, you get a stamp. Wear mismatched socks? STAMP! Is it raining outside? STAMP! Show your best dance move to the cashier and STAMP!

Vicky and I have been trying to figure out a way to combine every single thing in this passport all on the same day. We figure that we’ll wait for a rainy day, wear mismatched socks while dragging a hot guy with us to Paciugo, perform some epic dance that will likely involve tribal bellydance on my part, then high-five the cashier when he gives us our free gelato. Sounds like a plan to me!

Griffin was having a craving for pizza today, and since he shared that thought with me, I was as well. We went to Sbarro for a slice. After gazing at the selection of different pies with congealed cheese coagulating on top, I decided on a slice of the Hawaiian. They generously reheated it in the oven for a minute before handing it to me.

Mmmm, slightly less congealed pizza!

Griffin wasn’t as disturbed by his slice…

I spent the remainder of the day hanging out with some coworkers and pretending like I cared about my job by DOING stuff (I made some people believe that I was actually trying! That’s how good of an actor I am!). By the time we closed, I was only slightly psychotic from exhaustion, and from reenacting my being chased by extremely short zombies the night before for all my coworkers. I drove home and was greeted by a home-cooked meal:

Steamed asparagus, smashed potatoes with chimichurri sauce, and grilled chicken marinated in lime juice and honey. OH! And a pumpkin ale! YAY!

(My roommate spoils me. Massively.)

Now, I’m watching Pay It Forward and preparing for what I’m sure will be a ridiculously depressing scene at the end (I say predicting, but I actually know having seen this once before). EDIT: Yep, it was definitely as depressing as I recall. Tissues, please.

I still have no idea what to do for a giveaway! Give me time… or ideas 🙂

And a happy website suggestion would be good too. Sniff.

3 Comments

Filed under chimichurri, green monster, Griffin, Pancake Sunday, Pay It Forward, pizza, pumpkin ale, Sbarro, Sno-Caps