Take-Away Dinner Disaster

Eating properly in London has been difficult -- audition days are packed, and it has very much been a "go-go-go" situation.  On top of packed days, my Invisalign prevents me from casual snacking.  In fact, I really can't afford to eat without getting food nastily stuck in my teeth, unless I have enough post-meal time for brushing and flossing my teeth... which, on days with very short lunch breaks, is not afforded.  This means I have not been good about eating substantial meals, and my jet-lag has been really bad this time around.  All in all, it's been super long and intense focus-required days, spotty meals, and not enough sleep.  Tonight, I decided I will stay in, get loads of take away food and just PIG OUT.  I went to one of our reliable Thai chains, Busaba Eathai, and got two people worth of food.  Sadly, the chicken curry container opened in transit and spilled all over the environmentally-friendly paper containers and bag.  Thank goodness for the USA Today newspaper I had lying around, so I can lay out my curry soaked dinner.

Not a pretty sight, or easy to eat, but it was good to eat my fill (I didn't eat everything, but a lot!) for a change.

Audition days have been very packed indeed.  I've done this all before, but I'm surprise just how tasking it is this time -- I suppose it's because this year, it's really just me and the casting director.  The resident director is not part of the process, as she is leaving at the end of contract.  This time around in London, it really is between me and the actor auditioning.  No buffers.  This process takes a lot out of me -- on one hand, I have met some incredible, super-duper experienced actors who have worked with directors I'd consider The Greats.  It's an honor to read them for parts and direct them, give adjustments in my own way.  But on the other hand, this great honor is a great stress -- I feel too young and inexperienced to be noting these incredible actors who have worked with directors and on shows I have studied about on paper.

I did make it to the gym once, so I'm not doing too shabby on the fitness front and not just drinking rose wine.  Although the wine does help me "ease" into sleep a bit better.

2 more days of auditions for this round!

Back in London - and back to a life in a hotel for the week

I arrived into London tonight -- fairly smooth trip.  Now back in the familiar Radisson Bloomsbury for the week.  I'm not happy with the room I'm in, but there's nothing the hotel can do for tonight (my having checked-in at 10:30pm or so).  Hopefully I will move rooms tomorrow.  The room I have looks onto the courtyard of an awful-looking apartment building deeply reminiscent of a prison.  I can't keep my blinds open because it's so ugly and confining.  Okay for a night, not good for a week's stay.

Anyway, it's too late to get any food, really, so I've gotten myself some take-away wine from the bar downstairs.  It's a Californian Syrah rose I've come to drink whenever I am staying at the Radisson Bloomsbury -- I find I drink more rose than white in London -- which I hope will help me get over the jetlag and go to sleep, ready for a big big day tomorrow, working with actors on my own.

London-bound

I leave for London early Thursday, will be there for a week.  Still no better at packing... And the dreaded question is, How do I pack for a week of London rain?

Back to the... Tray 2

I am going to London next week, so I went to the dentist today as part of my prep for being away from NYC.  I'd expected the visit to be a short and concise one, in which I pick up Tray 4 and 5 and be on my way.  This was not to be.  It proved to be time that I got attachments for the top (uncomfortable process, but necessary), and my dentist has instructed me to go back to Tray 2 for 2 weeks -- she is not happy with the way my teeth have moved.  BOO.  That's losing 3 weeks, since I'm already halfway through Tray 3.

*sigh*

Good thing I kept Tray 2.

TRAY 3

In an on-line discussion forum about Invisalign, a few people mentioned that it is good to put in the new trays of Invisalign the night before one's start date, as over night the teeth will adjust to the new trays.  I followed this suggestion when beginning Tray 2, and so I repeat this process tonight.  As before, it hurts a lot as I put in the brand new trays.  Although one can't tell much difference between Tray 2 and Tray 3 simply by looking at them, my teeth definitely feel the slight adjustment.  But I'm excited to start the brand new trays.

I'm keeping all the old trays so that I could line them up and see the difference in the end.  Plus, I spent a fortune on them, it feels weird to just dispose of them so readily.

Rum Pear/Hazelnut Cake

Having never been much of a baker or a dessert person, I didn't have a spring-form cake pan... just this larger pan, so I have been making the cake at 1.5 times bigger.  I now own a spring-form pan, inspired by this cake and wanting to explore others, but David requested that I continue to make this bigger, rectangular version, because there is more in the end.

P.S. I just gave up on trying to create any design on the surface because the cake just seems to rise over it anyway.

David and I have a new snacking addiction... I mean, snack sensation we like to have available to us in the fridge.  It's Rum Pear Cake, which is the altered version of the Rum Apple Cake I made a couple of weeks ago.  After several passes at making the cake, we have hit the ideal combination.  It's truly delicious, gluten-free, wheat-free and totally satisfying.

I follow the recipe as was posted HERE, but make the following substitutions:

- Hazelnuts instead of almonds
- Anjou pears instead of apples
- I double the amount of rum (we use Mount Gay Rum - Eclipse, which is a darker rum)
- I use muscavado sugar, which is listed in the recipe as an option.  I don't use the full amount, just a little bit less, because we prefer it less sweet

I found that our superpower blender does an excellent job grinding the hazelnuts.  I put the blender on "Snow" setting, works like a charm.  No need to get a spice/coffee grinder.

David LOVES this cake (I do, too), and it is quickly beginning to beat out the chocolate flour-less cake as the home-made dessert choice.  It's easy, lovely, and has gorgeous, almost pudding-like texture because of the rum.  We highly recommend this recipe.

Tray 2 - finding spaces

I know this is a weird and perhaps unattractive photo to post... but as I go through the Invisalign process, I thought it's good to record this experience alongside everything else, to see the changes.

It's hard to see in the photo, but I noticed today that I suddenly have more space between my teeth on the bottom.  I attribute this slight alteration to the Invisalign.  I really feel there is a change -- floss goes through easy and with room to spare, I can see a definitive space between each tooth.  During the Invisalign process, one usually gets one's teeth "shaved."  This shaving process is necessary to make room for the teeth to move.  Basically, the dentist/orthodontist takes a tool and "shaves"a bit more space between teeth.  While I've had my teeth spacings shaved on the top, not on the bottom.  And yet suddenly all this space!  Remarkable.

Tray 3 next week.  I've gotten used to wearing Invisalign.  It's still a hassle that I have to take the trays out each time I want to taste something or drink anything with color, but it's not too bad.  Having Invisalign certainly prompts you to ask yourself, "How much do I really want to eat/drink this?"

The most difficult times for me with Invisalign is when I am cooking, when I want to taste the seasonings.

It's that time of the year...

... when we start talking about the London re-cast and we start planning to live in London for about a month.

It always gets busy all of a sudden when this re-cast season comes upon us.  Suddenly I'm incredibly aware of London time -- the work days are necessarily earlier, mornings are packed with phone calls and emails, which peter out in the NY afternoon once London has closed for the day.  As always, I don't think this re-cast will be easy.  And with the show going into its 5th year and the budget seeking to be smaller, there will be a lot to do in the 4 weeks David and I currently plan to stay in London.

Because of the demands and specific difficulty of this re-cast, I requested to have a week on my own in London to do further preparation work before the 4 week re-cast period that was originally allotted.  This request was approved this morning, which means I head out to London for a week around March 25.  While I feel fantastic and relieved about having my request approved (the letter to the producers took painfully long to compose), I feel sad about having to leave David and NYC for a week.  I know it's only a week; and I've done casting sessions on my own in London and elsewhere before, on some occasions for 2 weeks instead of 1.  But we'd fallen into such a great groove of healthy eating and living at home, I'm loathe to leave it all of a sudden.  I have great aspirations to continue the gym sessions while I am holed up in a hotel in London, however... crossing fingers!

So as of now, I go to London for a week the end of March, come back to NYC; then David and I go to London around April 11 for 4 weeks.

In other news, I've had some stomach issues this week, which explains why my cooking blog entries had stalled.  I've had recurring stomach virus issues this year, and it's been a painful and nauseous few days.  Hopefully I am on the mend, finally, and will be able to enjoy the weekend -- NYC is supposed to see some hints of spring this weekend, so we are looking forward to it!

Cauliflower Shepard's Pie (sans potatoes)

Last night I made my Cauliflower Shepard's Pie, which proved very successful.  In the end, I ended up only using cauliflower puree for the crust, no potatoes.  For the meat filling I sauteed ground veal, leeks, shiitake mushroom and baby portabella mushrooms.  Like the Michael Chiarello recipe I mentioned before, I added chopped thyme, parsley, flour (tablespoon), tomato paste (tablespoon) and cinnamon (only a teaspoon and a half).  As the filling cooked, I added a cup of white wine and about a cup and a half of chicken stock (unlike the red wine and beef stock Michael Chiarello calls for -- I thought the white wine/chicken stock combination would be lighter and more suited to veal).  I simmered it all down for about a half hour.  After all done, I lined the bottom of a pan with the filling, then layered the cauliflower puree on the top as the "crust."  I used two heads of cauliflower -- steamed the florets until very very tender, then pureed it in the blender with a dash of olive oil.  I sprinkled a thin layer of parmesan cheese on the top, then baked it until golden.

We had some leftovers for lunch today and I must say, it's even better the next day.  The shape comes together more as it's had time to settle.  Substituting cauliflower for potatoes worked wonderfully -- very flavorful, creamy in texture, but not stodgy.

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