Category Archives: pizza

Hanging with Celebrities!

     The Monstas are back!!!

Or they were yesterday! This baby had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 a banana, 1/3 a cup of soymilk, 1/2 cup of frozen berries, 1 lemon and a splash of vanilla extract.
I followed up with a green lunch. I had a big Kitchen Sink Salad with 1/2 a bag of mixed baby greens, 1 sauteed zucchini, 1/2 a container of egg white salad, 1/2 a cup of warmed lentils and 1/2 of a red bell pepper.
     Today didn’t start the same. I had a hot boiled egg and had to run out the door to work an early shift. I bailed out after four hours so I could go to an audition in Valley Village, then went to meet up with Dan for lunch.
Hi, Dan!
We went to Miceli’s on Ventura Blvd.
LOVED the Chianti decor!
We split a FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!! Has anyone ever heard of that? I hadn’t, and neither had our waiter, but he had a lot of fun running around the restaurant yelling, “Fire in the hole!!!” and coming up to our table after we were served asking, “how do you like the fire in your holes?”
Very mature.
It was dark in there, hence the blurry pic. A FIRE IN THE HOLE has pepperoni, jalapeno and pineapple. I think I have a new favorite pizza!
     After lunch I met up with Tanya at Starbucks on Ventura Blvd. If you ever want to see the most beautiful, narcissistic people in the world, there’s where you should go! I walked past the three outside tables, all occupied by gorgeous humans reading highlighted scripts, and into the cafe where there were at least a dozen people all working on screenplays on their computers. I totally blended in in my baggy sweatshirt, flip flops and jeans that have washed to shreds. Totally…
     I had a tall soy chai and Tanya (now a vegan and looking AH-MAY-ZING!) had a decaf tea. We spent a while catching up, then headed over to Urban Outfitters to do some shopping and stumbled upon not only one, but TWO ridiculously successful actors.
(who is just as adorable in person)
I recognized them, but I’m not one to let them know! Gotta let those actors have their peace after a long day on set. Sigh, I’m not jealous at all…
     It’s a crazy, small world out there in the big city! As for me, I’m off to another big city – Tempe, Arizona! I’m back on the clock for my artsy job and I’ll be at the Tempe Festival of the Arts from December 3rd through December 5th! If there are any ASU students out there, come visit! I’m right on your main street! As for YOU, prepare yourself for another onslaught of creative pictures of creative arts!
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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Filed under ASU, audition, FIRE IN THE HOLE, green monster, kitchen sink salad, Melissa Joan Hart, Miceli's, Modern Family, pizza, Sarah Hyland, Starbucks, Tempe Festival of the Arts, Urban Outfitters

Recuperation!

     It is wonderful to be back home! I’ve been recuperating from the long weekend in Arizona, and now I’m packing up my suitcase again to head BACK TO ARIZONA tomorrow! That’s right, I’ve got another art festival to attend, this time in Fountain Hills. If you’re in the area, come see me!

This has been my staple breakfast at home: A hot-boiled egg (all the rage in Germany, where my roommate recently returned from), and a Pumpkin Pie Monsta!
     I spent all day yesterday running errands and took a break a few towns over to get some lunch.
I got a personal pizza with whole wheat crust, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers and soy cheese.
My friend went all healthy on me and got a salad with heart of palm, carrots, bell peppers, walnuts, mushrooms and sesame dressing on the side.
PizzaSalad – All the ingredients here are completely organic and farmed locally! Love it!
     I’ve got to finish up laundry so I can keep packing, and head to the library to pick up some books I’ve been waiting for. Then I’m off to get my mane weed-whacked and get to end the day at my lovely retail job. Daily life is so NORMAL! I don’t know how to handle it!

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Filed under Arizona, art festival, Fountain Hills, green business, green monster, hot-boiled egg, organic, pizza, PizzaSalad, Pumpkin Pie Monsta, salad, soy cheese

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:
  1. 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.)
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Smell the beer one last time and see if you can distinguish anything new post-swirling.
  5. 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 🙂

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

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.

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

Retail Therapy and Pizza!

     It was an amazing Monday! I started off with a beautiful Monsta!

Gigantic! This had 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/2 of a banana, 1/2 of a cup of frozen blueberries, 1/2 of a lemon, 1/2 of a lime and a handful of ice. No idea why it turned out this color…
     I also had my first day AT THE GYM!!!! I got there early, spent 20 minutes on the stair-climber, climbed 79 floors, then hit up the weights. I basically sampled a little bit of everything. My all-time favorite weight set is the lat pulldown, so I revisited that a few times throughout the hour and a half. It’s strange being back in a gym after over 2 years without. I remember when I’d sit down at the lat pulldown and do three sets of 20 reps at 75lbs, and today I struggled with three sets of 10 reps at 45lbs. Sniff. I’m so ready to get stronger again!
     I did a crapload of crunches after all the weights, then attempted to stretch out. Afterwards, my arms were COMPLETELY dead. I had trouble lifting them to type and check my e-mail. I LOVE that kind of pain! Totally looking forward to doing a repeat tomorrow, then complaining to you all again about how much I hurt.
     After I showered and changed, I headed over to the Topanga Mall to meet up with my wonderful, amazing friend/cousin Allie! We did a little retail therapy, then headed out for some lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen.
They now have a calorie guide! I started to open this, and Allie grabbed it from my hands and threw it across the restaurant. Thank you, Allie :).
We ordered our drinks – she got the Prosecco split (I LOVE PROSECCO!) and I settled for the Mirassou Pinot Noir to abide by my red wine rules for August.
YUM! Me gusta Mirassou! I could actually taste and distinguish the tastes of cherries, strawberries and lusciousness. YUM again!
We split a Spicy Chicken Tanga Quesadilla from the Small Cravings menu. I could’ve eaten six more of these!
We also split the whole-wheat thin-crust chicken pesto pizza. Full of pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, fresh basil and onions and deLUSCIOUS cheese! I may have had half. I don’t regret it – I’m lucky my arms could lift the food to my mouth after that workout :).
     We shopped around a little more, then went out separate ways, full and happy. I headed home, changed for work, and headed off to my easy shift at work. Nothing special happened – I emptied stock boxes, got some gelato and ran through my sides for my audition tomorrey.
     Tomorrey = early gym, then off to my audish, then hanging with some wonderful friends in LA before coming back for pottery class. It’ll be a busy, wonderful Tuesday!
Do you look forward to your weeks like I do? I tend to dread weekends because weekends = retail. Let’s get real life STARTED already!

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Filed under California Pizza Kitchen, green monster, gym, Merlot, Mirassou, pizza, quesadilla

Summer Filming: Day 4.5

     I slept SO much last night. I crashed around 9pm and didn’t wake up once until 8:30am. My body is slowly forgiving me for the past few days. I woke up this morning and had an amazing, lovely, cleansing Monsta.

Don’t know exactly what’s in here, but there was TONS of spinach and lots of frozen cherries.
     For lunch I had a slice of pesto pizza from Trader Joe’s. 
It was difficult for me to finish this piece. My stomach has shrunk from being on set, and not in a good way. I’ve dropped five pounds since beginning filming. Five pounds in four days is very, very bad. I’m trying to even out my diet and eat regularly while on set.
     I headed out for some pickups around 1pm, and got to set around 3pm. I had some time to kill before the crew arrived, so I read my latest book, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, next to the lake.
Cormorant? Duck? Mutated chicken?
     When the crew arrived (the crew consisted of 5 people, because we were shooting guerilla style in desperation to catch the light), we first sat down for a picnic, provided by the lovely producer, Jenny.
Spinach salad with avocado and cherry tomatoes, turkey, lettuce, light muenster cheese and cherry tomato sandwiches, and pomegranate juice mixed with sparkling water. She is the best on-set mother ever 🙂
     We reshot the last scene of the film from a few different angles, this time not fighting the sun, and it turned out really well. David and I happened upon some awesome bloopers.
     For all of you who asked, here’s what I can tell you about the movie and my role in it. “A teenage girl plots revenge on the guy she likes after he humiliates her.” The movie is called “Summer Campbell”. I play the teenage girl, June Campbell, whose two best friends (who are twins) help her wreak havoc and revenge on the popular guy who humiliates her. It’s a short film that is written and directed by the incredibly talented Scott Sullivan. I’m telling you all, this guy is going BIG! I’ve never read such a hilarious, insightful script. If you have more specific questions, please ask in comments! I’ll answer with more detail :).

     On the way to my car, I got attacked by a wild peacock.
Not really. It saw me whip out the camera and booked it. Peacocks do not appreciate paparazzi.

     We wrapped for the short day, then headed over to a liquor store to pick up some supplies for the night. I found and bought some Concannon Merlot, which I first tried at JJ Brewsky, and am now having a glass while hanging with the amazing crew.
Malachi likes to share with me. 
Now, we’re all hanging out, prepping callsheets for tomorrey and enjoying each others’ company. I love these people.

     Tomorrow will involve a lot of making out. That’s about it… My life is so, so difficult :-D. I’m off to eat a slice of pizza and hang out with these amazing people.

Ask me anything. I’ll answer, now that I know how much I can share :).

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Filed under filming, green monster, on set, pesto, picnic, pizza, sandwiches, short film, Summer Cambell