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Sunday was our last full day at the beach! A few readers thought this was OUR home…

WE WISH!!!!

Just to make clear again – we’re house/dog-sitting across town for our Aunt/Uncle, and this is THEIR amazing home. We’ve been lucky enough to do this a few times this past year.

Their kitchen is well-stocked with all kinds of fun goodies so I made myself a random tasting plate for lunch outside -

• Leftover pork loin
• Almond and Coconut Kind Bar
• Stacy’s Multigrain Pita Chips
• Dried strawberries and pineapple
• 2 clementines

I read a bunch of old Whole Life Times magazines that I had piled up in my car:

This is a monthly holistic/wellness publication distributed throughout Los Angeles (and also available online). They’ve got some pretty good articles and local resources, though some of the ads get a little too new age-y for me. You can’t hold it against them, though – they gotta make a buck, and they are free! I really had a backlog collected – some going back to 2008!

Julius looked a little bored…

…so I took him for a 30-minute walk, while listening to the newest episode of “The Because Show,” a podcast I’ve mentioned before.

This one was especially fun, because it’s all about food and they gave our blog a shoutout! You can download the episode for free on itunes.

Last night’s meal delivery choice:

This was BBQ chicken with Turkey Bacon Collard Greens and Yam Mash. I left off the BBQ sauce (I’m not really a fan) and took off the skin, too – it was still super flavorful.

We “played” this game while we ate – “The Family Dinner” -

It’s basically a bunch of questions designed to spark conversation at the dinner table.

Another frozen dessert buffet:

I had a small scoop of everything with some blackberries…

…while we watched couples figure skating – how perfect for Valentine’s Day….

…though I did get mean-spirited and started making fun of the men’s outfits a lot. I mean, what was he thinking?! He looks like he’s bleeding neon pink.

But nothing could compare to the Germans:

I’m still chuckling this morning.

In between the Olympics we also watched the HBO movie “Temple Grandin,” a true story about the autistic animal scientist (played fantastically by Claire Danes) who revolutionized the cattle industry with a more humane treatment of livestock. Definitely check out this film – it was thoroughly engaging, educational, unique, and beautifully acted.

I was happy to see some hot cocoa in the house – gotta have my nightly fix!

We have a few more hours left here before we have to head back to our side of town for an industry schmoozing event tonight. I’m totally rejuvenated and am very thankful that we had the opportunity to do this – boy oh boy, we needed it!

The last 24 hours have been bonkers! I’ve had a bunch of meetings/auditions and had to cancel most of my schedule for today, including an early morning dentist checkup (OH WELL).

Last night, in the midst of a 6-hour audition prep, I sampled a cup of Ahlaska Cocoa that we were sent….

Y’all know what a hot chocolate addict I’ve become this “winter,” and I have not been a fan of all the chemicals in most of the ready-made store options. (I know, I know I can make my own.) This one has a much better ingredient list:

Plus their mixes are certified organic and kosher. I had half a serving – mixed with 1/2 a cup of organic skim milk. Not as super sweet as Nestle’s or Swiss Miss, but it totally hit the spot.

My mind was mush when I went to sleep and so was my breakfast when I woke up – cold cereal made hot via the microwave:

• 1 package Kay’s Naturals French Vanilla Cereal
• 1 Organic kiwi, chopped with the skin on
• 1/2 a huge banana
• 1/4 cup Perky’s Nutty Flax Cereal

Followed by more audition prep and an hour-long walk. This breakfast combo always keeps me hungry for exactly 4 hours, no matter what temperature.

Lunch:

• Organic baby spinach and organic arugula
• A bunch of baby carrots, roughly chopped
• Frozen mixed bell peppers, nuked
• Chopped hormone and nitrate-free deli turkey
• A dill pickle, chopped
• A drizzle of Foods Alive Organic Sweet and Sassy Hemp Oil Dressing

Time to get ready – I have two back-to-back guest star auditions for TV shows. Luckily, both are business dress so I don’t have to do a quick-change in the car!

Here are the winners of our Crofters Organic Superfruit Spread Giveaway, picked using a random number generator:

Karla The apricot cookies sound delicious!! I??™d love to make those! Or the flaky rugelach!

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that I don’t have a “typical” work schedule. My weekdays/weekends tend to blur together, and sometimes I’ll find myself doing acting-related business on Saturday/Sunday. The past few days have been surprisingly busy – by the time I finished my second audition Friday evening, I was ready for the weekend to begin, especially since we had groovy plans.

The garbage can outside the casting office was like a graveyard for actors’ audition sides.

We headed to our Aunt Heidi and Uncle Robert’s place on the beach – our cousins from Oregon were in town and there was a giant feast of Chinese takeout from Mao’s Kitchen to enjoy!

I had some of everything, making sure to get some noodles in for Chinese New Year (symbolic of long life):

Second round:

There were a few dessert options (including a very seductive cheesecake) but I was pretty stuffed. Our weekend plans are to house/dogsit for them so I knew the sweets would still be around the next day. I wound up splitting one of these red bean balls with Abe:

Super tasty! They kinda looked like falafel but tasted reminiscent of a sesame seed ball.

We headed back to our side of town…I had an Ahlaska Cocoa while we watched the Opening Olympic ceremony…

Does anyone else find the people who stand on the sides, while the athletes do their parade, highly amusing? They have to dance the entire time! They must get so tired…

I was exhausted just watching them! We skipped most of the ceremony and went to bed early. I was up around 6:30 this morning but didn’t have much of an appetite until noon, when we headed back across town again to the beach house. Everyone was gone already on a family trip, so the house was empty.

But the fridge was packed! My aunt/uncle have a meal delivery service so there were tons of gourmet, ready-made options to choose from. I went with a Cajun Chicken Salad:

It was a lot bigger than it looks in this picture – also buried under those romaine leaves were roasted red peppers, cheese, and grilled asparagus. Totally filling.

After a pretty hectic work week, I can really appreciate this relaxing getaway 3-day weekend – and I don’t even have to cook!!! Man oh man, I am one grateful, happy chica.

Tonight for dinner, we met with some friends at Gusto Organics which is this great new (well, new to me) organic place on 6th Ave near 14th street. It has that great cozy vibe but in a cool, eco-friendly way, if that makes any sense at all. They are the first all organic restaurant in the city; they are one of the greenest restaurants; they use all USDA organic ingredients and even their bar is all organic.

There were 7 of us and we started off by splitting two orders of bruschetta. A tomato basil one

And a mushroom one

Both were served on a thick whole wheat bread.

For dinner, I ordered the Chicken Stew which said that it came in a tomato broth with carrots, celery and onions. And I ordered a side of kale too. So I was expecting a bowl full of slow cooked yummy stew but when it came it looked like this

Hmmm, a big pile of shredded chicken in tomato broth. I was not impressed. But that being said, I would go back and try another dish because 1. the place was really welcoming and cozy, 2. the service was really great and 3. I support what they are doing.

I LOVE HOUSE/DOG SITTING!!!

L is for Last Night’s Dinner:

The meal delivery service my Aunt/Uncle use, Passion Foods LA, is fabulous (though their website could use some help). The salad I had for lunch held me over for a freakish eight hours. Around 8:30 pm I heated up a Prosciutto Sage Pork Loin with Fall Fruit Compote, and a Sauteed Spinach Cous Cous Medley.

For dessert, a medley of frozen treats:

Tate’s Bake Shop Cookies:

My bowl:

I’m so cuckoo for coconut sorbet. The Stonyfield fro-yo was pretty great too, especially the Cookies N Dream flavor. And speaking of cookies, I was also a fan of the oatmeal raisin – nice balance of chewy and crisp.

O is for the Olympics – I’m SO INTO THEM, which is weird, because I don’t really like sports.

We watched half of them and tivo’d the rest so the commercials could be fast-forwarded. While the doggies played, we put on Michael Jackson’s “This Is It.”

I’ve always loved the rehearsal process, and watching behind-the-scenes footage. This was really well-executed, plus you get to witness just how talented and hard-working Michael Jackson was.

This morning I watched s’more Olympics while I worked out in the gym with Sundae by my side…

V is for Valentine’s Day! Duh.

In our 13 years together, we haven’t been very big on this particular holiday. This year Abe was going to make me dinner, but with so many gourmet meal options in the fridge for later he decided to stick to breakfast instead. I stayed outa the kitchen.

E is for Eggs!

I have to say, my husband makes a really good omelet. He used whole eggs, milk, salsa, fresh tomatoes, and herbs de provence. I slathered some of this fruit-sweetened blueberry spread on my high fiber toast:

Some cantaloupe and blueberries, with Mango Passion herbal tea:

Thanks, Valentine!

And this concludes the Valentine’s portion of the day. As far as I’m concerned, it’s now time to acknowledge Chinese New Year! I’m not actually going to do anything to celebrate (clean house, buy new clothes, or even eat Chinese food) but I did call my parents to say “Gong Xi Fa Cai!”

Beach and blog time!

Have a wonderful Sunday, whatever you choose to celebrate (or not)!

For those of you who follow us on twitter, you know that we retweet what other actors eat – the good, the bad…all of it. ? Here’s some highlights from this past week:

Alyssa_Milano: We should celebrate love every day. And eat chocolate.

madlyv: Mongolian BBQ http://tweetreel.com/?xj52s

candacecbure: Ok foodies- check out lunch at Taylor’s – heavenly http://twitpic.com/131vbr

hollyrpeete: At Mickey Ds with kids sippin on a shamrock shake like back in day in Philly …

WillyVille: aight. off to the gym… sneak it in.. it is Saturday.. you are gonna intake a few more calories than expected hahaha

KimKardashian: http://twitpic.com/12xhck – Perfect midnight snack at Serendipity w @Reggie_Bush

jimgaffigan: Mexican food is so good I’m thinking of changing nationalities.

KChenoweth: I love tator tots with cheese from Sonic and slush

iamdiddy: I love rice crispies!!!!

BowWow: ???Pizza is a lot like sex. When it’s good, it’s really good. When it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

JennyfromMTV: About to eat deep dish chgo pizza. I’m so fucking excited!!!

ashleytisdale: Survived the blizzard. Check! Ate at Serendipity. Check! …

TheEllenShow: Sugar Cleanse Day 10: Yes to Sugar Snap Peas, No to Fudge! http://su.pr/2vLiwR

DENISE_RICHARDS: going over my lines for tomorrow and making a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup:)

ChelseaHobbs: …We got an ice-cream truck for the crew 2day! A bit off season but who doesn’t love ice cream?

lisarinna: We have 2 work on this Craft service table don’t u think?! http://tweetphoto.com/10969490

amandabynes: long story short i of course love both chocolate and vanilla, i just PREFER chocolate now ?¦ live and let live!

AliciaSilv: the sugar monster got me. sugar is the devil. I feel hungover and so tired.

greggrunberg: Breakfast of champions!! A huge bowl of oatmeal with ranch dressing on top. Yummy!!

oliviamunn: Nabisco 100 Calorie snacks are awesome and guilt free!!!…. Does it still count as “guilt-free” if I have 8…

ParisHilton: Picking up some pizza at WolfGang Puck’s.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!! Hope you are all enjoying this loving day with yourself and with others.

Last night, Jeff and I headed to Brooklyn to meet some friends, one of which is a fellow counselor that I went to nutrition school with, Debra. She is also an amazing personal trainer that I was lucky enough to work with when I was living in NYC.

She and her husband Evan just moved to Brooklyn and we were so excited to go see their place and eat at a local restaurant.

There are tons of great spots in Park Slope for the health conscious (we passed by a place called the Tea Lounge which is adorable and I totally wanted to go in). We decided on a place called The V Spot.

It is this adorable Vegan cafe with lots of comfort food options. We got a bunch of appetizers to split, including? Kale Tostada which is kale, beans, avocado and salsa on top of a crunchy tortilla. This was my favorite!!

Spring Rolls with veggies and rice paper wrap

Nori Rolls

Plantain chips

Nachos with vegan cheese (they use Daiya), beans, guac, salsa and vegan sour cream

And I added a salad to my dinner; some of the others had soup too.

Some silly antics at the table

I really loved the cafe. The food wasn’t amazing but it was good and satisfying and I did not miss the meat at all.

OH! – and coming soon, I will give you the scoop on something amazing that Debra has created…stay tuned….

I had a TV pilot audition in the early afternoon today so after I woke up and journaled I had to start getting ready immediately. On mornings like this when I’m more rushed (and have a little bit of a knotty stomach) I like to have either a smoothie or an energy/protein bar for breakfast. Luckily, we were recently sent a few different ones to try:

I shared with Abe. Half of the Perfect Foods’ Carob Chip bar...

…and half of a Kardea Chai Spice one:

As suspected from their distinct ingredients, they don’t look very similar…

…and they couldn’t taste more different either – the Kardea bar was crispy and chewy, with a subtle chai essence, while the Perfect Foods one had the consistency of raw cookie dough (it’s kept refrigerated) with a rich peanut butter flavor. I liked both of them, but I would save the Kardea one for dessert since it reminded me more of a candy bar.

With some burdock root tea, which is supposed to be grounding – perfect to calm my nerves before reading for a room full of producers -

My audition was at a studio that my friend Michael works at, so afterwards he and I met up to chat. He gave me a little tour of the lot, which was fun.   

By the time I got home, it had been 3.5 hours since my bar breakfast and I slapped together a sandwich:

On toasted Vogel’s Multgrain bread – roast beef, greens, Dulcet Creole Mustard, and Crofter’s Organic North America Superfruit spread.

Terrific combo of flavors! I needed something crunchy too, so I had a handful of TJ’s Honey Wheat Pretzels:

Best. Pretzels. Ever. I’m a sucker for anything with the word “Honey” in it.

Time to take a walk with Julius. I can’t believe it’s already 2pm!

Fried food goes a long way! I wasn’t very hungry most of yesterday; consumed some audition fuel around 11

Organic lowfat cottage cheese, strawberries, and Justin’s Peanut Butter (heated and thinned into a sauce)

By the time I felt a rumbly in the tumbly again it was very late in the afternoon. Dinner plans were in a few hours so I ate nature’s perfect snack…

….which left me with a voracious appetite at 7 for my Date with Kate

She came all the way to my side of town to get our Pho on

It may look like we were the only ones at Simply Pho You but the place did fill up at one point. The food comes out so quickly that most people were in and out, while we lounged around chatting for over an hour!

First comes the raw onions (look away Kath) which we doctored up ourselves with table condiments

Oyster sauce + chili paste

Then we customized our soups as well!

I ordered the Pho Ga (Chicken) and asked for some veggies to be thrown in

Basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, and lime

More rooster sauce

Mmmmm! Everything was nicely flavored, even the noodles. I tried a sip of Kate’s tofu pho (this is the only place in K-town I’ve found that has a vegetarian option) and the seasoning in that was delightful as well.

Did a decent job of finishing everything, save a few bites of onions and broth

On the drive back, we stopped by Koo’s Grill for dessert.

Kate’s first Ho Dduk (and my second!)

We ate the sticky sweet rice pancakes while wandering around the grocery store, which was blasting Madonna at 9:30 pm.

As if my ladies’ night out couldn’t have been more perfect, Kate hooked me up with some LOOT

I don’t think I’ve ever owned such pretty polishes! O.P.I. has the cutest names for their colors too – I can’t wait to slather my nails in “I’m Suzi and I’m a Chocoholic.”

Julius might want his paws painted too.

This recap of yesterday will be brief – the craziness that is pilot season is here….I’ve had to cancel plans/drop everything to prep/run around, and stop only to eat…

I didn’t have time to get to the grocery store so I just put together a bunch of mixed frozen veggies with 1/2 a chopped up Tofurky sausage and a dollop of Cedar’s Hummus. All mixed up:

It’s been in the high 70′s, so I read my scripts outside. Julius wanted to be outside too, but I needed to concentrate…

Dinner was more pantry staples. Dried mung bean noodles and shitake mushrooms, which got soaked/cooked according to package directions:

A jar of drained Granny Choe’s Kimchi (mild flavor), 3 TB Kimlan’s Soy Paste, and Soy Deli Hickory Organic Baked Tofu:

Stir fried in grapeseed oil, seasoned with S & P….

Then add the noodles, the Soy paste, and a squirt of Sriracha:

It was okay. I overcooked the noodles so they were too mushy, and I could’ve used less kimchi (I like it more as a condiment than a main feature). But I’m happy there are leftovers for tonight because I won’t have time to cook!

Dessert was courtesy of Granola Gourmet, who sent us some of their energy bars to try:

This was the Brownie one. As you can see, it’s super good for you. Here’s what’s in it:

And here’s what it looks like:

Both Abe and I liked it a lot! Tasted like a healthy brownie, with lots of interesting textures from the various seeds. You can order them online. They aren’t mass distributed, so check their website to see if your local grocery store carries this brand.

We watched some of the Westminster Dog Show, cheering for Julius’ breed, of course:

Then some Ahlaska Cocoa, a Yummy Earth Organic, and “Lost” -

Hmm…for what was supposed to be a post of few words, I did a lot more explaining than I thought I would. I CAN’T HELP MYSELF!!! I obviously won’t be reading blogs or answering comment questions, but I did want to address the Oats-In-A-Jar post from yesterday’s breakfast since so many people responded – I DID indeed make the oatmeal in a separate container and THEN poured them into the empty nut butter jar. Even with that, the plastic got a bit warped, which shows that this is NOT SAFE. It seems like a lot of people have had similar problems/concerns, and yet I see breakfasts all over the blog world like this. So I may be unpopular in stating this, but I feel pretty strongly – WE SHOULD NOT BE EATING OATS-IN-A-PLASTIC-JAR ANYMORE!!!

Okay, I’m ready for the backlash…but I won’t be able to address it until Friday or so. Sorry!

I’m overwhelmed with everything on television – Olympics AND The Westminster Dog Show!!! When will I find time to get any work done?!

I did some lazy conditioning while learning about a new breed – with my name!

Just call me Lynn “Low” Chen.

I think we kinda look alike, actually. Abe couldn’t see it…

…can you?!

Oats-in-a-jar is a popular way in the food blog world to use up the last bits of your nut butter. I’ve done it before, using glass containers, but this was my first time using a plastic one – the remnants of my PB & Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl -

Filled with 1/3 cup oats cooked in water, 1 small organic gala apple, 1/2 a frozen banana, and 2 TB egg whites:

I was a bit freaked out that the container got so hot the label came off. I don’t wanna even think about what kind of toxins I was ingesting…I cannot recommend this to y’all unless you are using a glass container. Heat + plastic is not a good idea.

That said, it was delicious. I didn’t even need to add any additional sweetener because the nut butter had sugar in it.

Wish I could lay low today, but there’s too much to do! First off is a walk with my friend Alex, who I saw at a college/industry networking event last night but it was so crazy we didn’t get a chance to really chat. Then a few scripts to read, some writing to do, groceries, my shrink, housework….when oh when will I have time to watch all this great television?!