Improv Initiation at UCB, Homemade Bone Broth, and Avocado Chicken Salad

Today I did my first improv performance as the final act of a beginner class I've been taking at the Upright Citizens Brigade. UCB was started in NY by Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. They have 2 theaters in LA, one of them in a brand new state-of-the-art facility. It has been a great experience, although I've learned I'm not that fast of a verbal thinker on my feet. But I wasn't the least funny person in the class, so that's good. UCB takes a very theory-based approach to teaching improv, plus they give you free entry to shows as a student. Although at $5-10 a ticket, it won't break the bank.

I think I'll probably continue with more classes at UCB, or one of the other major comedy institutions here in LA. But I don't think the casting agents will be banging down my door anytime soon.

As for my Whole 30 progress? Today I invented a pretty cool recipe for lunch, and I made some nourishing bone broth for my cold. For those of you new to the bone broth craze, check out this article from the NY Times. Normally I don't go crazy for fads, but there's nothing I love more than soup so this one was right up my alley. Also as someone more into savories than sweets, it was a nice break from the endless juices of LA.

For my bone broth, I roasted a small cornish hen and 4 marrow bones. For the hen, I mixed some ghee, lemon zest, orange zest, ginger, salt and pepper, and rubbed it all over the little bird. I also put half a lemon and a chunk of ginger inside the cavity of the hen. Then I roasted it in the oven at 450 for about 25 minutes, flipped it over, and roasted it another 25 minutes until it was 165 degrees. After it cooled down, I stripped off all the meat and set it aside for later.

The bone marrow was even easier. Rinse the bones, pat them dry, sprinkle with a little salt, and roast them in the oven for about 15 minutes. I ate the marrow from one of the bones and I swear, my throat felt better immediately. It doesn't look like much but it was delicious!

When all the roasting was done, I threw the meat and bones in my favorite dutch oven. I added 1 leek, a bunch of garlic cloves, 2 carrots, 4 stalks of celery, and about an inch long piece of ginger. I also added 1 tsp of cider vinegar and 2 tbsp of Red Boat fish sauce (paloe friendly). I let that baby simmer for a long time - about 9 hours - until it was rich and golden.

And here's my lunch recipe! Avocado Chicken Salad on Mini Portobello "buns"

I love making chicken salad with leftover roasted chicken, but I didn't have any paleo-friendly mayo. But I had some perfectly ripe avocados - another perk to living in California! So I basically made a "rustic guacamole" with ingredients on hand, mixed in the chicken, and voila! Paleo friendly chicken salad.

Ingredients
Shredded roasted chicken
1 Avocado, mashed
1 shallot
1 clove garlic
lime juice
cayenne pepper
jalapeno (if you have it, I didn't)


Preheat the oven to 350. Mince the shallot and garlic. Mix it with the avocado, lime juice, pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Let chill in fridge for a few minutes while you prepare the mushroom buns. Hollow out the portobellos and brush them with melted ghee, coconut oil, or other Whole 30 friendly fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for about 8 minutes, flip over for another 5 minutes.

Mix the roasted chicken and avocado mash. Scoop into the mushroom caps and enjoy!


Whole 30 Day 3
Breakfast - kale, pineapple smoothie
Bone broth
Lunch - Avocado chicken salad on portobello buns
Dinner - Himalayan sherpa stew at Tara's Kitchen. This is a tomato-based vegetable soup with chicken and yummy spices. I dream of it on cold(ish) days.

Whole 30 - Day 2

Somehow I've contracted a nasty cold this week. Maybe my East Coast constitution is not used to these West Coast germs? I've passed the worst of it, but my throat is so sore it's made eating a chore. Luckily, my Whole 30 soups have felt pretty good going down. I can't wait to make more this weekend!

Whole 30 Day 2 Menu

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach; fruit

Lunch: Leftover Thai-ish soup

Dinner: NY strip steak, vegan kimchi, leftover Creamy Leftover Veggie Soup

Vegan kimchi??? I was passing a froofy health food store in Los Feliz and they happened to have 4 kinds of kimchi. All of them had sugar except the vegan brand. I actually don't eat kimchi that often, but when I lived in Korea and ate kimchi almost every day for 2 years I never got sick. SARS also didn't hit the country that hard and Koreans attributed it to kimchi. Is kimchi a magical medicinal superfood? or just stinky cabbage? Regardless, it's tasty and if it gets me over this cold faster than I'll eat it.

My bestie also sent me this pic of her Whole 30 soup recipe today. It's the Carrot & Cardamom soup from Nom Nom Paleo.  Poor girl lives in Chicago so I'm sure it really warmed her up today.

Whole 30 - Day 1!

So around new year's I got it into my head to do the Whole 30 diet. The Whole 30 is based on a paleo style diet, but slightly more strict. No dairy, no coffee, no honey, no wine...basically all the best things in life (that you can consume). But I wanted to give myself a reboot, and I convinced some of my besties to do it with me. So we planned and shopped and we're starting today. And I'm going to keep myself accountable on this blog. Sorry for those of you who don't care, but there will be some tasty recipes I'll try to share!

Today's Whole 30 Menu:
Breakfast: kale sautéed in ghee and scrambled eggs
Lunch: Thai-ish pork curry soup
Dinner: Creamy Leftover Veggie soup and Pan-roasted chicken thigh

I need to work on making my pics look more like food porn, but I just want to eat it up! Recipes below. Enjoy!

Creamy Leftover Veggie Soup

Ingredients:
1 leek
3-4 cloves garlic
1/2 cauliflower head, chopped
Chicken or vegetable stock
Coconut milk
Cumin
Sea Salt
Pepper
Any leftover veggies! Tonight I used some leftover spring mix salad greens, Trader Joe's broccoli & carrot slaw, and spinach

Directions:
Saute leeks and garlic in a diputch oven or large pot. Add cauliflower and heartier veggies, like broccoli and carrots. Add about half can of coconut milk and enough stock to cover the veggies. Add 1 tsp cumin, salt and pepper. Let come to a boil and then simmer till cauliflower is softened. Add remaining greens. When the greens have cooked down, take pot off stove and blend the mixture with an immersion blender or blender appliance of choice.

Enjoy!

Thai-ish Pork Curry Soup
I use this soup base with whatever protein and veggies I have on hand. That happens a lot. This is how I did it last night.

1 Shallot
3-5 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger (fresh or powdered)
Thai green curry
Pork cutlets
Sweet potato
Red pepper
Carrot
Celery
Chicken stock
Coconut milk
1 tbsp Coconut oil
Red Boat fish sauce (gluten free)
Lime juice
1/2 cup pineapple, cut in chunks

Heat the coconut oil in a dutch oven or good simmering pot. Brown the meat on all sides. Remove and set aside. Saute the shallots, garlic, ginger and curry. Add back the meat. Add veggies. Add coconut milk and enough stock to cover everything. Bring to boil and let simmer till your meat is tender. At the end, add 1 tsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp line juice, and throw in some fresh or frozen ( unsweetened) pineapple.

Pork cutlets were all I had on hand and they weren't the best choice for souping. If you have a tougher meat, add your veggies after the meat and broth have simmered a while.

I would have also added some chili peppers if I had some. And thai basil or lemongrass.the options are limitless!

Househunt Week 2

I had another fun weekend of house hunting. Saturday I found a cute, renovated 3-bedroom in an up-and-coming neighborhood in Mt. Washington, which borders Highland Park. It was 80% perfect, which was good but not quite good enough. The common space had an awkward layout which couldn't really accommodate a living room and dining space well, and the closets were small. But I was really excited by the outdoor space which was completely bare. I could envision my little grill and dining patio, a vegetable patch, some fruit trees and a hammock, and xeriscape drought resistant plants...But I think I can find something better which already has most of that stuff in place. And a place for my tv.

Today I looked at some condos around Culver City, which is on the West side of Los Angeles. One of the units was really nice, but it was in a huge complex which I didn't love. I live in a big complex now, and while it's nice to feel kind of cloistered, it has its inconveniences as well. Plus, I really don't like carpet and all the places I saw on the West side had beige carpet. 

I also like the idea of living in an area which is in transition. The last few places I've lived went through major development while I was there - Red Hook Brooklyn and East Cambridge. It's exciting to see a neighborhood changing before your eyes, and NELA feels like a real community. Yesterday there was a street fair on York Street with local artists and vendors, kids and dogs running around, etc. What's not to love?

Chalk art

Yarn bombed bike rack

Househunter Los Angeles

Spring is in the air in Los Angeles. While it is pretty much 70 and sunny all the time, December-January had a somewhat "wintery" feel at night. Cooler temperatures, more rain and overcast skies...I know this is nothing compared to what my hometown of Boston is experiencing right now so I'll just be quiet. But this week I definitely felt a slight seasonal shift. Cherry blossom trees suddenly exploded with pink and white flowers, and I almost hit a hummingbird on my way to work! I didn't even know hummingbirds lived here!

With spring, comes real estate season. After spending a week at home in the cold, snowy climes of Boston, I realized I was ready to a.) never live another winter and b.) find a real home to settle down in. Originally I was planning to wait another year. I wanted to try renting somewhere on the West Side to try out a new neighborhood and test the commute. And who knew? Maybe I would start to hate LA like many people do. But after seeing all that snow back home, I decided I'm ready to take the plunge. Plus interest rates are at an all-time low, so if I buy now, I can afford more home than if I wait another year. 

So this weekend I checked out my first round of open houses. The housing market in LA is crazy right now. A house will go on the market one day and be gone the next. Prices are pretty outrageous depending on neighborhood, but at least you can get more for your money here. For instance $500K could get me a nice 2BR condo or house with decent amenities, whereas I don't think I could even find that in Brooklyn now.

Of the 8 places I saw this weekend, only 2 caught my fancy. And both demonstrate the decisions I need to start making:

1. Condo or house? Do I want to deal with maintenance? Or do I want to pay an HOA fee (which range from $300-400)
2. Urban or Suburban? Do I want to feel like I'm in the middle of the action? or do I want a private oasis away from the traffic, noise, and griminess of LA?
3. Beach or Mountains? This is the best part about LA. You can live close to beautiful beaches or have spectacular mountain views. The closer you get to the beach, the pricier it is.

The first place that I saw and liked was a brand new development in Eagle Rock - an up-and-coming neighborhood between other more up-and-arrived neighborhoods in Northeast LA. The interiors were gorgeous, spacious, and modern. And there is the option to design some of your own fixtures (at extra cost). And the price was right. BUT it was on a really busy 3-lane boulevard and next to a small freeway. So while it was perfect on the inside, once you step outside or even open a window, you feel like your on a highway. Puppy and I did not move to LA to stay inside.

The second place I saw was a charming cottage which needed some updating, but it was a private oasis with amazing mountain views and outdoor space. I actually liked the vintage kitchen since it suited the character of the space. And I could really picture myself kicking back and relaxing in front of my picture window with a glass of wine and Puppy on my lap. But it was a little on the high end of my price range considering it needed work, and it was on top of a mountain with very narrow streets. This doesn't affect me too much, but I think it would be tough for car-less visitors or roommates. It was also a bit further off the beaten path in Mt. Washington, which is next to the hip neighborhood of Highland Park.

Not bad for my first weekend though. Here's hoping I can find something inbetween these two to call home!

Return of the blog! West Coast Edition!

Do people still blog? It's been a long time since I lasted posted to this blog - almost 3 years. What happened?! A lot. Since my last post, I became a workaholic at a new job, went totally crazy, had the last straw with winter, and finally quit the job and winter and moved to Los Angeles. But don't worry, I won't become, like, totally LA. I mean, you'll probably see more posts about smoothies and bootcamp, but I still eat lots of yummy bad food. I'll probably start a new home search sometime in the next year, which means new DIY projects. My new LA life allows me the time to be interesting again, in a crafty/cooking/old lady kind of way. Just the way I like it. So welcome to the new and not-quite-improved blog - West Coast Edition!

In the meantime, I've kept up my crafting obsession, especially as my friends and family have kept up their procreation activities. Most recently I finished some baby quilts. Quilting is great because it is so much faster than knitting. But it requires way more precision and careful measuring than I am capable of. Plus, I hate ironing and you have to iron every little piece, and then again and again. But these turned out beautiful and the recipients were happy with them.

Korean alphabet quilt - pattern from Monomo at Etsy

Amurican alphabet & numbers quilt - these were for twins so they both got their own

Baby Athena's quilt inspired by Cluck Cluck Sew

Most of the materials were fat quarters I bought at my favorite craft store in Cambridge, MA - Gather Here. For Athena's quilt I created one of the fabrics on Spoonflower.com using the logo from my college a capella group (which her mother was in). Surprisingly I also found some cute material at Target. Who knew Target carried fat quarters?

And in case you're wondering, Puppy is enjoying his new life in the California sun! Here he is modeling a cute dinosaur hat (Dino Cap by Kris Hanson on Ravelry)