Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. Reducing meat consumption by 15% (the equivalent of one day a week) lessens the risk of chronic preventable illness and has a strong impact on the environment.

A couple of months ago I saw a tweet from Olivia Wilde (Marissa Cooper's lesbian fling, or if you prefer, Number 13 on House) that mentioned #meatlessmonday. Intrigued, I looked it up. The above sentence is all it took to convince me to give it a try. I've always said I'd be a vegetarian if I didn't like meat so damn much. This was a way for me to at least have some sort of impact- if not the full impact vegetarians have- on the environment (and my health [those of you that know my family history know I'm doomed]). Vegetarians, I respect you...

...and I'm learning what you eat.

What started out as "breakfast for dinner" and "I'll just have a salad," has quickly escalated to spinach-basil pasta with yogurt sauce and homemade lentil burgers with potato salad.

The latter, being last nights meal. Denny, Lauren and I (you see, they have joined me on this endeavor) made these burgers from scratch-



No, that's not the picture from the recipe- that's the picture of my burger. Looks good, right? I'll tack the recipe onto the bottom of this-

After an hour of cooking, the three of us sat down to our burgers and had one of the most fun dinners I can recall having in a while. Maybe it was the wine (it was definitely the wine), but we laughed like it was no bodies business. Meatless Mondays.... bringing friends together since June. Sure, cooking dinner does it, it doesn't have to be meatless but this is a fuckin' adventure people. I made burgers OUT OF BEANS. Invite friends over. Experiment with food. Laugh like its nobodies business. and maybe help out the environment while you're at it.

Anyone have any amazing meatless recipes to send my way? Here's mine-

Lentil Burgers

3 Cups Green Lentils
1 Cup Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
5 Eggs
1/2 Diced Onion
1 Diced Carrot
1 Diced Tomato
Garlic to Taste
Pepper to Taste
Thyme to Taste
Spinach as Topping
Sliced Tomato as Topping
Ranch Dressing as Topping
Cheese as Topping (We used Mozzarella)

In a large pot, boil lentils until soft. They're going to need to be blended or food processed, so make sure they're not hard. Drain the water and put the lentils, eggs, salt, garlic, pepper and thyme into the food processor. NOTE: We tried using a blender and were only moderately successful. Might be because my blender is crap. Might be because a food processor works better. Anyways, we ended up blending/forking/spooning the lentil eggs mix until it had the consistency of a hummus. There were still some whole lentils for sure, but they made for a great texture. Place in a large mixing bowl and add the onions, carrots and tomatoes. NOTE: We didn't use the tomatoes last night. This is something I'm adding to the recipe because I think it would make the burgers a little bit juicier. I could be completely wrong on this.... Moving right along- mix that up and then slowly mix in your bread crumbs until the mixture is of a consistency that you can form patties out of. Make your patties (ours were too big... err on the smaller side) and then place in a frying pan with oil. We seasoned each side with a garlic/herb seasoning. Cook 7 minutes on each side until brown on both sides.

Place on a bun and garnish with spinach, tomato, ranch, and cheese. Serve with wine (duh.)

Enjoy.

Rice A Roni

To truly appreciate Hollywood, sometimes you need to leave it. You need to see what other cities have to offer. As much as I love it here, it doesn't have everything you could want. Know what city comes close though? San Francisco.

Sure, part of that is because it houses the best friend (but not for long. [You hear that, Lauren? You're coming back down to LA. This trip has reminded me that life sans Lauren is NOT okay])

After bailing on work at lunch, Adam, Jeff and I drove up to the city on Friday. We were making great time until-

They decided to close down The 5. Excuse me? Closing The 5 Freeway on a Friday night? It took us an hour to go three miles to get to the detour. Then we got to drive through beautiful Coalinga*

After a plethora of tunes, some sub-par Baja Fresh and 7+ hours, we got into the city. San Francisco is amazing. They manage to fit so much in such a small amount of space. Everything "goes up to the sky and twists." Buildings, billboards and overpasses reach for the stars in a tall and wind-y city that's anything but sleepy.



Friday night:
We met up with Ryan and drank our driving frustrations away. There was drinking. There was dancing. There was Alan.

Whose Alan? In 7th grade I took tennis lessons. Go ahead and laugh. The classes were small and I had a friend Alan who I had lost contact with once I got older. Some 9 years later, in a city of over 700,000, I run into him. Crazy. Even crazier was that it was in a drunken stupor and he recognized me. Sad that I look the same as I did in 7th grade? This blog is getting depressing. Anyways- The night ended with us getting flashed by a woman, who it turns out, was a man.
That brings us to-

Saturday morning:
Brunch at Home. Jeff and I drank coffee, Adam and Ryan drank 2 Bloody Mary's each. I think you can tell who the smarter ones were (okay it was them, but shh!) After brunch we wandered around. Book stores, Art stores, Art supply stores, happiness.

Saturday Afternoon:
On our way to meet up with Lauren we stopped and checked out some performance art going on near the civic center. Interpretive dance, accompanied by music and plenty of chalk for sidewalk drawing. We were encouraged to draw and we did. For a while.

We found Lauren in the mess of the St. Patrick's Day Festival. She had successfully found herself a corned beef sandwich and was hell bent on finding green beer. We didn't.

We did find an Urban Outfitters and proceeded to play around in there. I got a sweet plaid shirt. Lauren got some boots. Jeff got a plaid shirt as well.



Saturday Night:
We rocked the plaid. We set out to eat a restaurant called Range that looked pretty good. We got there and decided we couldn't afford that menu, so we wandered the streets looking for something that looks good. This is how food eating decisions should always be made. We ended up in front of Cafe Ethiopia and, since none of us had eaten Ethiopian before, decided to try it.
We ordered a variety off the menu (none of which we could properly pronounce) as well as Ethiopian wine and beer. The Verdict? The food was spicy and good. The alcohol was sweet and bad. It was definitely an experience (we ate with our hands off of one giant plate) that I, not only would do again, but also recommend others to try (There are a handful of Ethiopian places in LA, lets go!).



We then ended up at an Irish pub (it being St. Patty's day weekend and all) and then to a house party with Ryan. Try to walk by houses in San Fran and not sing the Full House theme song. I dare you.

The party was a lot of fun, complete with new lesbian friends, dancing, mud, drinking, more dancing, and even more drinking. What a friendly bunch. We need to have more parties in houses and apartment in LA, guys.

Sunday Morning:
Well, more like-

Sunday Afternoon:
We got up and headed over to Pleasanton, CA a peaceful suburb of the bay and home to Lauren Emily Johnson. Downtown Pleasanton is exactly how you'd imagine it to be upon hearing the name. Diners, art shops, small town essentials and Thriving Ink.

Thriving Ink is an indie T-shirt company and the store in which most of my shirts are now from. It's Urban Outfitters, but indie. I know what you're thinking - Urban is as "indie" as they come. A chain of mainstream stores, while fashionable, is not indie. Kudos, Thriving Ink and may you be successful enough to no longer be indie.

A quick 5 hour jaunt down The 5 Freeway and we made it home. Simultaneously relaxed and exhausted from our trip to the foggy city.

It did something interesting, though. It makes me excited to explore LA more. I will love this city and everything it has to offer. I will find everything it has to offer and I will let it be offered to me. Los Angeles, it's just you and me (and nearly 4 million others).



*Coalinga is NOT a beautiful city.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Awards season is rolling around and I have some thoughts.... (oh, yeah.... and thanks to Lauren Johnson - I'm back [again].)



Best Picture: This ones tough. Even tougher is picking out the nominees. There are so many different directions this can go. There are some givens - Up in the Air, Inglourious Basterds, Up, Hurt Locker (which I still REALLY need to see). Hopefully, An Education makes the nominee list. It would never win, but deserves the recognition. Lesley and I were messes throughout that little picture.

What Should Win: Inglourious Basterds - I can't think of a single thing wrong with it, except maybe... nope. Actually. I've got NOTHING.
What Will Win: Up in the Air - It's just too topical to not win. It came out at the right time. Granted, most Academy members don't know what it's like to be unemployed right now... but that's another story entirely.

Best Director: The home of your real best picture. Now that there are 10 best pictures, the 5 with director nominations will be your true contenders. I think Pete Docter will slide in here for Up. Lee Daniels. Quentin. Kathyrn Bigelow and Jason Reitman. That's right James Cameron... I think theres only room for one animated director and it's Pete Docter.

Who Should Win: Kathyrn Bigelow. Give it to her! Break the barrier. If any female director deserves it - it's her. Slap James Cameron in the face. Do it.
Who Will Win: Jason Reitman. He was able to get great performances (minus Anna Kendrick) out of not only his actors, but also REAL people. That touch is the icing on his directorial cake.

Best Actor: Its been kind of a so-so year for leading men, even more so for leading women. More on that later. Also, I haven't seen a good number of these pictures (mainly because the main actor seems to be the only thing going for a lot of them.)

Who Should Win: I've heard nothing but great things about Jeremy Renner's performance in Hurt Locker. I've also heard Colin Firth is unstoppable in A Single Man. That being said - he'll never win. An actor playing a gay man won LAST YEAR.
Who Will Win: Jeff Bridges - He is always great and in a story that seems like a country version of last year's "The Wrestler," the academy might award Mickey Rourke through Jeff Bridges. I'd consider Jeff Bridges more deserving, anyways.

Best Actress: Don't make me choose! I can tell you who it won't be. It won't be Sandra Bullock (but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE nominate her. She deserves it for her completely different style of comedy exhibited in The Blind Side.) It won't be Gabby Sidibe. Don't get me wrong, she was great. But if were going to pick a breakout star of the year it's going to be -

Who Should Win: Carey Mulligan. Lesley and I were on the edge of our seats watching her in a drama. A drama! She had us right in the palm of her hands.
Who Will Win: Meryl Streep. I love her, and she was spot on as Julia Child. She hasn't won in years and in a year of weaker performances- this might be the time to award her again.

Best Supporting Actress: This is always one of my favorite categories. Sorry Lauren, I absolutely hated Anna Kendrick. I thought she was annoying. Not worth my time, or this award. If I was to give it to someone in Up in the Air - it would be Vera Farmiga- because in addition to tricking George Clooney and Anna Kendrick... she was able to trick me. I'd also love to see Melanie Laurent nominated for Inglourious Basterds. Not sure if she'll make that cut though.

Who Should and Will Win: Monique. I dare any actor to compete. I literally screamed during Precious because of her. A grown man behind me was bawling because of her. No one else even comes close. If I could giver her 5 Oscars- I would.

Best Supporting Actor: Another case where I haven't seen most of the contenders. I think the Academy will do the "reward a great actor for their years of service" thing with the leads this year - which leaves this category open for an ACTUAL great performance. That of-

Who Should and Will Win: Christopher Waltz for being the snarkiest, most loveable/hateable Nazi I've ever encountered on screen. He oozed sinister charm. I loved it (and it will be a chance for the Academy to recognize the movie - which they'll do in much fewer places than it should)

Best Original Screenplay: This was a great year for original screenplays. Definitely nominated will be Up. It won't win this award either. Don't worry- Best Animated Feature is still yours Pixar.

What Should Win: (500) Days of Summer. I read the script. It's great. The play on time is incredible. The characters, as much as I'd love to credit Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt - are on the page. What Will Win: Inglourious Basterds. Don't get me wrong- I'm 100% okay with this. And since Quinten won't win Picture and won't win Director - they're going to give it to him here.

Best Adapted Screenplay: I usually like to read the source material to accurately judge the quality of the adaptation. That being said- the movie also needs to stand as a movie on it's own. Sorry Lovely Bones.

What Should Win: An Education. It's the perfect little movie.
What Will Win: Precious. The book is tough. The movie is tougher.

So it begins...

My life in Orange County is slowly drawing to a close, and the next logical step is LA.

My lease here is up at the end of May, and then I'm off to LA. I began the apartment hunt with Lauren and Janove. We hit up a few places in Los Feliz and North Hollywood. Later that night, Nora and I went on a spontaneous adventure back to LA. We were trying to see Cake Eaters, but missed the movie and ended up eating at Du-Par's (best Raspberry Pie, ever) and driving around La Brea, Hollywood and WeHo looking at apartment buildings. Somewhere in there is probably here I'll end up. I'm only young once, might as well be in as much of a city as my industry will let me. I'm not ready for suburbia. I hope we all end up close together, though.

I'm super excited. Dreading the finances of it all. I made it this far up the mountain, now I'm looking over the edge. Getting ready to jump.

Damn it Lauren

Well here I am. Blogging. I blame Lauren - the best friend, and partner (non sexual, thanks.) a struggling screenwriter could ask for.

About the name. Something has always drawn me to Hollywood. Like old Hollywood - and here I am, using new fangled methods (blogs?!) to try and break into the Hollywood of the past, if it even exists anymore, I don't know.

I can't help but smile when I see the Hollywood sign - through smog and all- thats something, right?