Category Archives: Chocolate

Fountain Hills, Day Two!

     I went running this morning. It sucked. Massively. You tend to forget how much you hate running once you start getting that runner’s high, but I’m happy to remind you that it is AWFUL. I went for thirty minutes around Fountain Hills and stopped in the grocery store to pick up some sunscreen and eye drops, which are both a necessity when you’re in Arizona.

Post evil-death-trap run, I stopped in the hotel restaurant for some coffee and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest“.
I also was served a GIGANTIC plate of food. I ordered the pollo skillet that had chicken, green chilies, tomatoes, onions and potatoes, served with two scrambled eggs and a side of whole wheat toast. I ate about an eighth of this monster plate. WAY too much food for one person!
I walked by the beautiful lake to get to our booth.
Artsy picture-bomb begins NOW!
LOVE IT!
And now for the food picture-bomb:
These were so good! I’m not sure I can rationalize six bucks for a bag though…
These greyhounds were not part of the food section. Just in case you were wondering…
     I went to back Sofrita for lunch.
I ordered a tuna melt – something I used to think was disgusting, but was just craving today. It was delicious! As was the chickpea, kidney bean and corn salad topped with cilantro.
The lake has a fountain (Fountain Hills, what a concept…) that shoots up every hour on the hour. I think it’s very smart of them to use all that energy to shoot water up into the dry, arid Arizona air where it can evaporate. Appearances are very important.
I get paid to hang out here. It’s a rough life I lead!
     After the show wrapped and we zipped up the booth, we headed out with some of the other artists for dinner.
First things first…
I’ve never had Chianti before. Pretty durn good!
This place is a little hole in the wall with just enough seating for about fifteen people.
Eggplant parmesan with garlic rolls. I had about three bites of this before I was stuffed. I’ve been sampling pecans, gelato, wild strawberry-lavender jam, tropical salsas and fudge all day.
And I’m officially done in.
Sports bar on a Friday night? I think so!
Please let there be a hockey game on. If it’s basketball, I’m going to fall asleep.

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Filed under caricatures, Chianti, Chocolate, Fountain Hills, gelato, greyhound rescue, greyhounds, Pottery, Redendos, running, Sofrita, sweet jalapeno pecans, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, turkey legs

Covered in Clay!

      It was a wonderful, WONDERFUL day! I really can never complain on my days off, but today was exceptional. I started off with a Monsta!

5 cups of spinach, 2/3 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/3 of a small banana, 1/8 of a cup of frozen blueberries, 1/4 of a cup of frozen strawberries, and the juice of 1/2 of a lemon.
     After finishing off my Monsta and a few cups of coffee, my cousin/friend Allie came over for our day out on the town! The first stop was to visit the love of our life…
INDIAN FOOD!!! IN VENTURA!!! There was a buffet today, so I filled up this plate, and then… stopped. I could have gone back for more, but I didn’t, and that’s saying something!
     Afterwards, we headed to my favorite chocolate shop, Trufflehound’s.
You can watch them make the chocolates as you peruse their gigantic selection.
     Allie and I parted ways after our amazing day of foods and ocean views in Ventura, and I headed over to meet up with my mom and head off to our pottery class! 
I am completely enamored with this yard!
Grapes STRAIGHT FROM THE VINE in their yard!!! These were wonderfully delicate and sweet. I want to grow my own!
     Our teacher’s hubby brought in an array of snacks for the class.
Delicious lemon bundt cake from Costco! I didn’t have ANY!
And by not having any, I mean I only had half of one of those huge hunks. YUM.
     Tonight we trimmed the feet of our bowls and wrote our initials. Well, we were SUPPOSED to write our initials…
WOOHOO!!!! HikeBikeEat 2010, bay-bee!
My mom was bad-ass and went for the red clay that beginner and intermediate potters are scared of. She kicked its ass and made an awesome bowl!
     We headed home, covered in clay, mud and dust (and by we, I mean me. My mom stays entirely spotless somehow, even with the red clay!) and opened up something amazing that my parental unit caved and bought after I’d talked them deaf about it. That sentence was too rambling to understand, but look at this picture and drool your cares away.
OH MY GEEZ, NO WAY, THEY DIDN’T, DID THEY? COULD THEY? THEY DID!!!!!
They bought a Vitamix! I’m so happy/excited/jealous/FREAKING OUT!!!! Tomorrow’s day of food will be Vita-EPIC!
     Pardon me for now: I’m going to sip my “red wine“, flip through the Vitamix cookbook, and then attempt to sleep while tossing and turning like it’s Christmas Eve, waiting to use “Josephine” (we have officially named the Vitamix after a lovely character played by Lena Olin in the movie Chocolat). Side note: Lena Olin is my hero! She is amazing!

Who’s your favorite actor/actress?

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Filed under bundt cake, Chocolate, grapevines, green monster, Indian Food, Mom, Pottery class, red wine, Vitamix

An L.A. Kind of Day

     Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

     To me, Tuesdays say:

MONSTERS (of course every day says monster for the past 3 weeks)! For some reason the GMs I’ve been making have been getting really, really thick recently. I think my blender is on its last legs: two of the five motor-prong-thingies have broken off. I may have to empty my entire savings account to get a Vitamix blender!!! IN MY DREAMS!
     Tuesday ALSO means a day off from work! I made a lovely mini-breakfast – an omelette with one egg, a teaspoon of goat cheese, 2 teaspoons of chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a handful of wilted spinach.
 
     Unfortunately, a day off from work doesn’t mean an actual “day off”. It means fighting the freeways so I can make it to my acting class in Los Angeles by noon.

     Holy crap. Here’s the thing – I don’t live IN Los Angeles. I live a short distance away on the outskirts, but add rush hour traffic into that and it equals HELL. LA freeways and I have had a very strained relationship. We were on good terms when I lived in the center of it – WeHo (West Hollywood) area, but now that I’ve cheated with one of its close relatives, it makes me pay dearly.

     Once I finally pass the traffic, I receive a lovely LA welcome.

I love overhead wires!
I love anti-landslide plastic!
Hollywood!
Aaah, the beautiful panorama of white skies, smog and palm trees!
     Honestly, I don’t have any real issues with LA. The thing is, I’m a small-town girl! I love the blue skies, clean air, traffic-free side streets, bike paths, clean rivers and FREE PARKING that small towns have! The crazy part is that to have the career I really want, I need to be in close range to this town. Until I’m working here on a consistent basis, I’ll live in my clean-aired, small-ish town paradise and make the painful commute. Then I will proceed to whine about it to you :).
     I didn’t have time to pack a lunch, so instead I had some super-healthy chocolate tortilla chips in my car.
On Tuesdays, I’ll accept calories from any source because I don’t have enough time between class and work to stop for a real meal! Pitiful :(. What “on-the-go” meals do you make for days when you have no time to stop and eat?
     Class was the usual – we get a scene, go outside with our partner to rehearse for 30 minutes, then head in and perform in front of the class and get critiqued. All the lines are memorized by performance time, but we keep our sides at hand just in case we need them. 
     This class is more of a business class than an acting class – we focus on the networking aspect, and learn how to sell the product that we’re offering (ourselves, in a non-hooker way). In the real world, it’s not about the art anymore: It’s about business – making connections and making producers/directors realize that they would enjoy spending two or three months (or more for TV shows) on set with you.
One scene of the day. 
Faces are blurred out of respect for our famous actors :). (We actually do have a few that have starred in some network shows. The Old Spice commercial guy, the “Swagger Waggon” Toyota girl and one of the leads from “Arli$$” may or may not also be three of them 😉 ).
Today was “easy day” in class. Last week was “casting director workshop” day which makes everyone incredibly nervous and awkward unless they’ve had a lot of experience in the audition room, so this week helps everyone realize that even though they may have bombed last week, acting is still fun!
     I had a scene with the lovely Rosanna which involved lots of ghetto head-bobbing and girl-fighting – FUN! Note on that: there are NEVER good fighting scenes out there for actors unless they are the stars of the show. I got some good screaming scenes in Lonelygirl15 though, so I’m one of the lucky ones!

     After class I worked at the talent manager’s office for a few hours. I called some actors that received auditions for tomorrow, sent some e-mails, submit many, many actors for different roles on the many feature films that are casting right now, and got to eat a banana!!!

(Picture omitted because I was so hungry I inhaled it)
     When I FINALLY got home at 8pm after fighting yet another rush hour, my wonderful roommate had made me a gigantic KSS!
AND a Fat Tire! She is honestly the BEST roommate ever! This KSS had about 4 cups of chopped lettuce, 1/2 a cup of warmed lentils, 1/2 a cup of egg white salad, 1/2 a cup of chopped bell pepper, a teaspoon of goat cheese, and homemade dressing made with 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon of whole grain mustard, and 1 teaspoon of olive oil.
     Now I am completely stuffed, completely exhausted, and completely ready to fall into bed and crash – and yes, I realize it’s only 10:30pm Pacific Time, but I’m an old soul and exhausted and not ashamed to admit it. 
I’m off to sleep before yet another full shift at work!

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Filed under Acting, banana, Chocolate, Class, green monster, kitchen sink salad, Los Angeles, SUCKS, Tortilla, traffic, Vitamix

A Morning of Firsts, and Lasts

     I didn’t mean to… I swear I didn’t! Last night, I promised you all that I’d eat two ice cream bars, but I failed. I only ate one. I guess it’s a good thing that one satisfied me, but after my promises of not lying to you anymore, I felt guilty. Just had to let you all know the truth.

     Bad news: I ran out of spinach. There was no GM for me this morning. Instead, I decided to try the overnight oats that I’ve read so much about. I used the vegan version from Oh She Glows. Luckily, I had picked up some chia seeds at Sprouts before the farmers’ market on Thursday, so I was able to throw all the ingredients into a bowl. It looked a little scary…

     
     When I woke up in the morning, it looked even scarier.
     Then I stirred in a tablespoon of flaxseed peanut butter and a drizzle of maple syrup and it looked like it was going to crawl out of the bowl and beat me up.
     I’ll say this nicely – I’m NOT a fan. Cold oatmeal and I just do not mesh. It was chilly and slimy, and after every bite, I took a sip of coffee like a chaser to get rid of the shivers it brought on. Maybe if I ever get the guts (ewww, that’s what it reminds me of) to make it again I’ll reheat it and try it warm. Have you ever heated up overnight oats? Did it make them inedible or better?

     When I got to work, I diligently focused on my responsibilities.
     That’s one of the pages of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. The only copy that was available in my library was a large print. When I want to read something badly enough, I’ll settle for this, but large print takes some getting used to! Personally, I find it harder to read than regular.
     I also got to hang out with some of the boys.
     They hang out with me when I have a snack break and guard my purse from the delinquents who may try to steal it. They’re chill.
     My annoying stomach started going off an hour into work, even though I’d had massive amounts of cold, clammy protein in the oats and peanut butter, so I swung by See’s Candies to get a sample. The workers at See’s know me. They know me well. I paid for two pieces, and this is what they gave me:
     I ask for two, I come out with five. I hate those workers so much…and yet I adore them! Double caramel FTW!
     For lunch I had a mini spicy tuna roll with brown rice and sriracha soy sauce, yet again. I met up with my friend Brittany and we sat outside in the beautiful sunshine, enjoyed the fresh air and dreamed about what we could be doing if we had money and weren’t trapped doing retail. Girls gotta dream 🙂
     I bailed on work early. I just couldn’t take anymore standing around and reading, plus I had to pick up the roommate from the train station. I got home, sat in a comfy chair, tweeted about how I never wanted to get out of it, then finally got up and made myself a mini-KSS.
     This baby had lettuce, warmed lentils, half a bell pepper, half a container of Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad, a sliced and sauteed zucchini all tossed with about 2 teaspoons of homemade dressing. I feasted. I smiled.
     I headed on down to the train station, picked up the adored roomie and came back to catch up over a Franziskaner (for me) and a glass of wine (for her). Then I realized I needed to write my blog before I fell asleep in the aforementioned cozy chair, so I opened up a coconut milk ice cream bar, and here we are.
     Tomorrow begins a week of housesitting, so my blogs may be slightly sporadic because I don’t get internet connection over there – BOOOOO! I hope you all enjoy your Saturday nights, and aren’t as lame as I’m about to be – passing out in said chair before dragging myself to bed.
Bon Nuit!

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Filed under books, Chocolate, coffee, Franziskaner, kitchen sink salad, overnight oats, reading, See's Candies, sushi, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, vegan, work

I LOVE INDIAN FOOD!

There is NOTHING better than eating healthy round the clock. I live for eating veggies and tofu, drinking hot lemon water, chomping on fresh fruits, and exercising at least 2 hours a day.
Oh wait… there’s LIFE!
Today started out healthy enough. I made a MONSTER GM to split with the roommates and added the juice of half a lemon this time. Definitely made a difference, as did the additional frozen banana. I’ll try adding the Emergen-C tomorrow morning.
And yes, that is http://eatliverun.com in the background. My mom was kind enough to point out how similar our blog names are. I swear I hadn’t even found her blog before I’d named mine! I was going for a twist on “Eat, Pray Love”. Ah well.
This GM kept me full a full hour and a half, then I was ravenous! Luckily, we were headed straight to The Taj in Ventura for Indian food. I’m OBSESSED with this place and we frequent it at least once a month.
Overhead view
Topographic view
The Taj fortunately (or unfortunately) had a buffet today, so I loaded up with saag, saffron chicken, korma and extra amounts of sauce. There is REALLY nothing better than scooping up the sauces with a hot, freshly baked piece of garlic naan.
Rice is for lame-o’s!
I will always believe that white rice is only a filler. Don’t waste your time on it! Use that searing hot garlic naan to scoop up every single bit of sauce that is left on your plate! If you don’t, I’ll refuse to join you for lunch >:(. Just kidding, I’ll go to lunch with anyone if there’s food involved :). Even more so if it’s free *wink wink*!!!
Since it was buffet style, I just had to go back for dessert…. and maybe a little more saag and saffron sauce.
That’s pineapple at the bottom! I’m healthy!
As my best friend, Michelle, pointed out to me on iChat just now, “Sometimes unhealthy food is healthy for the soul!” I love that girl! I didn’t want to disrespect the chefs, so I cleaned my plate.
But once it was officially gone, I was very, very depressed.
That’s nothing that a little chocolate can’t fix! I settled for my usual: sprinkles-covered marshmallow on a stick:
I got a call yesterday that the bike store FINALLY had my shorts in, so I just had to go try them on!
5’3″ and fierce. I know you’re scared!
News flash: I have chicken legs. Like, annoyingly-crazy skinny legs. Everything about these shorts fit EXCEPT for the legs! They were hanging on me, and while I was willing to overlook this problem, Dave, the cycle guy, told me that I wouldn’t be able to ignore it for long. I placed an order for an extra-small pair. Now I have to wait another week and a half for them to arrive. Ugh.
Back home for a Saturday night, I got to try out my pop’s new pellet rifle 🙂
Elegant and ready to kill! I scared the CRAP out of that mound of dirt below the baked beans can that I was aiming for, that’s for sure!
After feeling like a total bad-ass, I kicked back with a Fat Tire and an amazing view.
OH! And a chocolate-covered sea salt caramel!
Sorry for the blurry picture. I’m still trying to figure out this camera. I drooled over a few very cool digital SLR’s at a camera store today, but the funds aren’t allowing for anything extravagant like that.
Tomorrow I have another full shift at work, so I’m setting my alarm for 7am and I’m going to put the pedal to the asphalt and pump out a few miles! I’m hoping to map out a long loop that’s not on a main road so I can work on adding mileage without getting run over. After that, my Emergen-C GM! See you all tomorrey!

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Filed under beer, Chocolate, Fat Tire, Indian Food, Pearl Izumi, pellet gun, trufflehounds, Ventura