EXPERIMENTAL MONTHLY 5: Tea Ceremony

http://www.kulovteafest.com/

WHAT: Tea Ceremony Workshop
WHERE: Royal-T
WHEN: May 2nd @ 2:00pm

WEEK 18: Pizzas

WHERE: Mom's house
WHEN: Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 7pm

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jays-Signature-Pizza-Crust/Detail.aspx

REVIEW on WEEK 17

Monday
- pilates
- playwriting class

Tuesday
- EDD - finally got through
- pizza lunch with CJ
-

Wednesday
- Tofu House with Eun-ji and Mehu
- wrote a 10-minute magical realism/absurdist play

Thursday
- Pizzeria Mozza

Friday
- editing/compositing
- made my favorite meal: Japanese Chicken Curry (since my Popover pan didn't come yet)


Saturday
- Muse Tix
- Took mugshots for "Brooklyn"
- Diane's bday dinner at Kaizuka in Culver City

Sunday
- Write Act Meeting
- edited a Tori Amos/Alice in Wonderland Video

WEEK 17 - Popovers

WHEN: Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 7pm
WHERE: My place

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Popovers/Detail.aspx

REVIEW on WEEK 16

Monday
- lunch with my girl Eun-ji and Jessica at Octopus
- Costco
- first day of class

Tuesday
- pilates


- lunch with Gabe at Grub

- dinner with Deane at Fogo de Chao (super yummy!! I don't know if I ate my $60 worth of food though...)

Wednesday
- Amy's house - I made my Flavor of the Week there - watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
- Mexican market
- Made tacos al pastor that night

Thursday
- writing
- FOH duties at Write Act for the Freeway Series - All the Wrong Placed by Herman Poppe

Friday
- met up with Lou at Whole Foods to discuss Sunday's reading
- writing


- REVIEW on SUPPER: PUPUSAS
This was pretty hard to make. I bought Maiza de Harina, which I thought was the same as Masa Harina, what the recipe called for. I mixed the corn flour mix with water and separated them into balls. I filled it with beans and cheese and tried to cover it again. Then I brushed it with olive oil and put it in a hot skillet for 4 minutes a side. I made about 10 of them, knowing it would be just me and Jessica.
- Paramount Movie: Green Zone (Jessica and I were kind of bored. Such a guy movie. So depressing with the war... plus, I felt like I was going to puke half the movie with all of the camera movement.)

Saturday

- Grub breakfast with Deane
- writing





- Shoshanna's bday

- Sam's bday

Sunday
- Made food for reading
- Reading Rehearsal
- MONTH 4: We rehearsed at 3pm - 6:30pm. The actors were happy I brought so much food, all of it made by me except for the sandwiches Deane picked up from Quizno's.
We had potato salad, garden salad with mustard dressing, cheese, bread, salami, carrots, and apple pie. Yum! A lot of my friends and family came at this time as well, and got to eat a bit, and drink some before the show.






The reading itself went pretty well! Very smooth. The actors were really good. I was so impressed, and of course thankful for their time to be there and the energy they brought to stage. The audience seemed to enjoy it, and their feedback benefited me. Much of the feedback included:
1. Too much exposition (a lot of redundancy, especially with Joe - trust audience's intelligence)
2. Joe's character developed more (i.e. his lifestyle with Lauren before the accident, like Kate and Trevor's flashbacks)
3. If stylized, use more.
4. Set up the mother more - want to see more of her drunkenness/comedy
5. Liked the ending and the twist
6. Some stage directions can be clearer, done better (i.e. Kate's boat scene)
7. Too many stage locations
We recorded most of it (I ran out of space on my recorder) so I plan to edit it together soon for you to see!

My own FLAVOR of the WEEK - Teriyaki Noodle-Veggie Stir-fry

I made this up using ingredients I found in my kitchen that had no place to call my stomach for a home. Together these ingredients are healthy and delicious, so much better eaten together than solo. They like to hold each others' hands and dance with each other to our mouths, happy to be among friends.

I made this for Amy this week at lunch, and she was so excited to have extra to keep for dinner.

Rochelle's Teriyaki Noodle-Veggie Stir-fry

Time: 15 mins.
Servings: Makes 3-4 servings

1. In a large pot bowl 2 quarts water
Add one bunch SOBA NOODLES when boiling (I use Hime brand)
Cook for 4 minutes.
Drain.

2. While that is boiling, heat 2 tbs OLIVE OIL in pan on med-high heat.
Add 1 WHOLE ONION, chopped - let wilt slightly, 2 minutes
Add 2 cups large eggplant, chopped
Add 1/2 cup WATER and 1 tbs SALT, stir - let simmer 3 minutes
Add 1 or 2 TOMATOES, chopped
Add 3 cups SPINACH - stir till spinach wilts

3. Add noodles to pan - stir.

4. For sauce, add to pan:
1/2 cup SOY SAUCE
1/4 cup SUGAR (I like to use brown sugar)
3 tbs SESAME OIL

5. Stir and serve!

Enjoy!
:) Ro

WEEK 16 - Pupusas

WHERE: My place
WHEN: Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 7pm

REVIEW on WEEK 15

It's so hard to keep up with these weekly reviews! For one, I don't think my life is necessarily all that exciting lately. I'm losing steam...

Monday
- portfolio - prints, drop off at CN
- lunch with Davrick
- emailed "Life as Lauren" play for staged reading next weekend
- Jami's staged reading at the Blank Theatre "Living Room Series"

Tuesday
- pilates fusion
- met with LB
- Freelance


Wednesday
- cleaned house
- OC
- visited Mehu and Nika - Indo-Chinese Dinner and Edwar's Fruit Tarts
- girl sleepover




Thursday
- lunch with Leticia, Jen, Sophia
- Happy Happy Show at El Cid (awful! one of the worst shows I've ever attended.)
- Scoops with Deane, Nika, and Tony

Friday
- Kamin Thai food (meh!)
- Alice in Wonderland at Paramount (I actually loved this movie, though thought Burton should have retitled it: "Alice Returns to Wonderland."

Saturday
- started a new full-length play "Pineapple" (semi-autobiographical)




Sunday
- SUPPER SUNDAY! Grape Leaves
These were actually pretty easy to make... well, a little time-consuming because I had to rinse the leaves, pat them dry, de-stem them, and put the filling in and fold. I used less cheese than was called for each one, so instead of 12, I made double that with only 1/3 the filling ingredients. Although it said to grill the grape leaves, I just broiled them in the oven for a few minutes on each side. I made dressing that consisted of olive oil, dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Pretty tasty. I arranged tomatoes on the bottom of a pie dish and dropped some olives on top, laid the grape leaves on top, and drizzled remaining dressing and olives.

The grape leaves with rice recipe I found on the jar of grape leaves took about 1.5 hours to cook on the stovetop, with a glass pie dish on top to keep them down and together. But the rice came out of the leaves... it tasted good, but I felt like I couldn't eat too much because of how salty the grape leaves were. Next time I will exclude the extra salt I added because the leaves provide enough, if not too much, of the savory. Overall, both were pretty good. Nader liked them anyway. I should have had more people over because there's no way I can finish the rest of the grape leaves on my own.
- Company of Angels - "Hunger and the City" - 10 minute plays/Leon's play

WEEK 15 - Goat Cheese in Grape Leaves with Tomato and Olive Salad

WHERE: My place
WHEN: Sunday, April 11th, 2010

EXPERIMENTAL MONTHLY 4: Rochelle's Staged Reading

My full length play, "Life as Lauren: A Photography Gallery Theater Performance," will be work-shopped.

Here's a brief synopsis:
After a skiing accident in Mammoth, Lauren awakens to her surgeon-husband who miraculously "brought her back to life." Forced to live with amnesia, she struggles to remember and relearn who she really is. But when she happens upon Trevor, a former lover, she discovers she's an entirely different person now than before the accident. Join Lauren and her photograph of memories as she battles to identify love and identity and the happiness and woes they entail.

--

I hope you can come out and support. Your feedback and attendance is greatly beneficial to my growth as a playwright.

We will begin at 7:30, but if you want to hang out with me and the actors beforehand over some yummy pizza, snacks, and drinks, please arrive around 6:30 or 7:00.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,
Rochelle

REVIEW on WEEK 14

Sorry I've been slow to update. I can't keep up with how fast time passes these days!

Monday
- Family (drama) time - went to take my grandparents to a "head doctor."
- revised my 10 minute plays

Tuesday
- started new storybook art
- "That Hootchie" at Write Act with Carolyn

Wednesday
- AHH!!! No internet at home! (felt so unproductive... didn't end up going to this month's event - Bingo night. Boo hoo wah wah!)
- Deane played a prank on me in honor of April Fools.

Thursday
- Had to go to UCLA to use internet (freelance deadline that day)
- Nate N Al's for dinner - corned beef and cabbage (bland!)
- Worked on Portfolio

Friday
- Printed out Portfolio and wrote Cover Letter and updated Resume... not fun. (Finding a job is so much harder to do than the actual job. Train anyone and they can do what you want them to do.)



Saturday
- Aunt Lisa's house for early Easter party - lots of food, people, and an Easter egg hunt
- revised my play "Life as Lauren"







Sunday
- Easter party at Aunt Janet's - We had turkey, beef, asparagus, salad, pancit, and dynamite sushi rice. I brought two steamed artichokes, lemon butter sauce, and vanilla wafers cookies (via TJ) with peanut butter frosting inside. Dealt with small doses of family drama.
- EARTHQUAKE!!