Enchiladas, linguine, and salads (oh my!)

Salad Nicoise i whipped up last night. I love all the ingredients - it's sort of like a hodge podge of unusual but quite tasty items. Here you see tomatoes, kalamata olives, tuna with pesto, a boiled egg, steamed green beans, and a baby red potatoes.

Not the clearest shot of my chicken enchiladas, but boy were they good. Corn tortillas, cheddar cheese, shredded chicken, and a homemade red sauce. Beware, this is such a messy meal!

Pesto Linguine with whole wheat pasta and some parm.

Lemon Pepper roasted chicken with carrots, potatoes, and onions.

Tortilla chips I made by quartering some corn tortillas and lightly frying in oil. A dash of salt, and these babies are the perfect snack!

When Keepin it Real Goes Wrong

I tried to keep it real and it backfired. Today I got caught. My health insurance ran out a month and a half ago. I applied to Aetna, only to be denied because o my pre-existing condition - a disease i will have for the rest of my life but is manageable with medicine. Denied? Well fuck you! I didn't want to apply to anymore health insurance companies. I am not a rich woman (yet) and could not afford the monstrous fees they would charge me just for having a disease, so I decided to take action in my own hands. I reduced the amount of medicine I take daily, thus stretching out my medicine supply until I absolutely needed to get some more. It's lasted be a long time! But lately I've been having splitting headaches, sleeping all day, so tired... uh oh. I told my mom about what I did and she told my dad and I sort of got in trouble. "What were you thinking?" "You are not a doctor!" "You're probably making yourself more sick." I WAS JUST TRYING TO KEEP IT REAL. Dang.

So what is one supposed to do? Well, I'm searching for a second job to help relieve the financial pressure. When is Obama going to pass this stupid health bill?! Help a sister out!

The Cake That Made Me Cry

My mother's birthday is on tuesday and with my brothers girlfriend in town, we decided to cook a big dinner.

Appetizers: white bean and rosemary dip, crudites, and radish en croute (a name I made up) - toasted ciabatta with butter, radishes, a touch of salt and pepper. So simple and so good.

Dinner: Garlic Shrimp, whole wheat pasta and mozzarella, lobster, and mixed veggies. We had spent about an hour preparing to make a vegetable napolean (roasted zucchini, squash, red peppers, eggplant, and mushrooms layered in between mozzarella cheese, baked in the oven for a quick 5 minutes to melt the cheese) - but a kitchen disaster quickly changed that. NOTE TO ALL - never put cold water in a hot dish and vice versa. IT WILL BREAK! No one was injured, but we lost a pirex dish and the oven was splattered with glass.

Dessert: So, for my moms birthday I made her a 3 layer caramel cake. Talk about a cake! I started cooking it at 4 pm and finished at 7. Everything was homemade, including the frosting. we used 5 sticks of butter and alot of brown sugar. I literally cried when I finished putting the frosting on. It was so beautiful. And it tasted even better. OH MY GOD.

Split Pea Soup and Bruschetta

Split Pea soup for lunch and bruschetta for dinner. I was fully inspired by "Julie and Julia." I just want to cook and eat!

This Week At A Glance

Some highlights:

- a job interview that went well. Will I take it.. now that's the question.

- scheduled a meeting for a fall internship with ABC. very cool.

- a great audition. always feels good to have one of those.

- wrote another song. it's very funky!

- first table read of a play I was just cast in. I play a villian!

It's only Thursday, but I have many things up my sleeve. I plan on making split pea soup, bruschetta, and cinnamon chicken this week. All new recipes. I hope they turn out well.

I'm going to see a matinee of 500 days of summer someday this week. Just me and myself. And I will treat myself to popcorn!

Hope the rest of the week is eventful!

Piano Wizards

Went to see these 2 guys at the Hollywood Bowl last night. First off, the Hollywood Bowl is such an amazing venue. 18,000 people, open air facility situated in the Mountains of Hollywood - very nice. The LA Philharmonic played behind them and it was just a great show, esp. for musicians. It was purely about the music, and boy did it sound good! They also had Josh Groban as a special guest. That was pretty awesome. Made me want to practice piano more.

Hi It's Been A Long Time

Wow, I feel like I've abandoned "Diva Please." I'm back though. Took a little hiatus, traveled to NY, sang at a wedding in Massachusetts, began blogging for Backstage.com. Here's a peek through (what else): photos of food.


cupcakes i made today. Yellow cake with almond milk chocolate frosting. yum.

pizza from Adrienne's in NY. i dreammmmm of this pizza.

chorizo patatas. and white wine in mugs :)

rib sampler and sweet potato fries (with maple dip) from Blue Smoke. Whoa.

decent mexican food on 2nd ave.