Why Breakfast Is The Best

Some people drink a little too much and reminisce on past romances....I drink a little too much and whip out the photos of past meals I've loved.

What? You're on Instagram I'm sure, who do you think they created that for? Food porn lovers.

Out of all the meals I cook that I'm most likely to photograph, breakfast is the top contender for most pictured.

My breakfast creations, sadly, are not pretty. Which is why I'll share a few of my favourites now, while the wine is flowing and I'm feeling reminiscent.

Most often they resemble something that your cat barfed up after a night out on the town.

And with that image in your head....

My breakfasts are my favourite thing to cook out of anything. My favourite meal to eat at restaurants is usually going to be breakfast. If a restaurant claims to be all-day breakfast, it's usually my favourite restaurant. And the most looked at, most drooled over recipes in my cookbooks is always breakfast.

I think I've trained myself to love breakfast the most because, as an adult, it's the one meal that is most often cooked just for me and not for anyone else in mind. Because of how my Crohn's operates, breakfast literally is the most important meal of the day. My body has had a nice 6-8 hours of fasting during the night, something my Crohn's loves (intestinal rest period), and a lot of times, the first meal of the day will help determine how well I operate or how low energy I'll be for the rest of my day. So my breakfasts usually revolve around high protein, low sugar, low carb for the most part, and always, always easily digested veggies.

GF bread (it just tastes good to me), smashed avocado with lemon and salt, and nitrate-free bacon. Just trying to keep it hipster-friendly, obvi.

Current fav: avocado, lemon, salt and 'pancaked' eggs...not scrambled, pancaked.

I'm one of the crazy people that will lose sleep if it means getting up early enough to cook myself a big breakfast. No porridge or cantaloupe and cottage cheese for this girl. Take your diets and get out of my kitchen cause that is not how I play. Sure, if I'm trying to lose weight I'll eat soup for lunch and salad for dinner, but damnit there is a good chance that I'll be having three eggs and/or bacon for breakfast.

Bacon. The lover that loves you back. It handles you well......heh, heh....get it? Love handles....


Nevermind...

GF toast, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, spinach, lemon, salt.

As much as I love cheesy pick up lines, don't ever ask me 'how do you like your eggs cooked in the morning?' cause I would most likely go off on a crazy person rant about how I'd be the one cooking the eggs cause I'm particular and you don't get to voice an opinion on how you want them cooked cause I'm gonna go make some shit up in the kitchen when I'm cooking them and you're gonna like it. DON'T PRESSURE ME.

Future post: Why Am I Single?

I don't know why I'm single, LOOK AT THE GOOD THINGS I COOK.... For myself....cause if I tried to cook this for anyone else, I'd burn the house down and somehow undercook the eggs.

I've always felt the Brits have breakfast down pretty good...or elevenses. I could always go for a sausage roll and a cuppa. The best in Southeast London are either at Heap's Sausages or, as pictured below, Hand Made Food in Blackheath.

A meal I miss from America.

You'll need:

to hang out in your pjs early on a Saturday morning

watching Doctor Who

eating Organic Peanut Butter Bumpers with Almond milk and a side of milky tea. 

It's all in the details.

As much as I love tea, thanks for that addiction England, I will always be a coffee addict at heart. It's literally my family's business. So these are just pictures of love. Enjoy!

Notes Coffee, London

TAP Coffee, Wardour Street, London

 And the creme de la creme....Monmouth Coffee, brewing in my V60 at home.

xx Lindsay

Corporate Acting Gigs...and Why I Am OK Being Paid in Food

One of the many delightful ways to earn some money as an actor is the ever interesting Corporate Acting Gig. 

Not actually what it's called, I think, but that's just what I decided.

I heard about these things from my friend Raven back in DC when she regaled me with tales of working at training facilities where an actor is hired to play an abused child (because clearly getting a real one would be absolutely NOT okay) in order to have a doctor train how to properly question a patient (this is just one example of the different parts you'd play). There's also jobs out there of the same thread but with law enforcement.

And then there's the odd ball gig. This is what I did about a month ago now. 

My friend's partner does a lot of stuff for events at a big hotel in London and for this particular event he needed to hire some actors. To sit in a hotel room to make it feel more homey....for three hours....while tourist agents came in to have a look.

Yup. Totally a gig. 

Are you jealous yet? Do you totally want to ditch your career and sign up for the bohemian chic actor lifestyle?

Well don't quite yet. We weren't able to get paid in cash for this gig but we were offered to be paid in a free ticket to the party afterwards...with free food and free wine.

So, duh. That's, like, my favourite thing ever...I mean, after money, of course.

This particular event was put on by Thistle at Marble Arch and boy do they know how to throw an event.

My cohorts and me at the after party. Brazil World Cup themed. 

First, the actual job.

I didn't think to take a picture in the hotel room, but I should have. The room we were in was actually really swank and lovely. Me and a fellow actor, Mark, were requested to bring a packed bag to make the situation seem more real. So I brought a few things and hung out barefoot in the room, with the tv on, chatting with Mark about my London food obsessions.

See, if we hang out in real life, guys, that's how riveting my conversation gets. FOOD.

The dessert selection was ON POINT.

The event that was organised involved bringing tourist agents around to see the different room options. A pretty good idea in my opinion. If you're gonna be selling people on this place, you should know what you're selling.

It was pretty hysterical to see the reactions to us being in the room. First the guide would warn people, 'don't mind the actors'. Which confused us as much as it made us laugh. 'Hi, we're the actors, feel free to ignore us!'

Then they stopped doing that and people would walk in and almost always say 'Oops! Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone would be in here. Umm...are you enjoying your stay?' or my favourite 'I hope they're paying you to let us into your room, that was nice of you!' All the tourist agents were delightful people with a great sense of humour for such a unique situation. I do wonder if other hotels have done this. I think it was a great idea.

After we were done, we were invited to take our fill at the party. And boy did we. You really need to be comfortable offering a bunch of students/actors free food and drink. We definitely consumed our pays worth. I basically just camped out at the station with the STEAK and YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS.

Dear Thistle,

Feel free to hire me again if you're paying in Yorkshire Puddings.

Kind regards,
Lindsay

P.S. I'm serious.

They had a mariachi band walking around at drunk o'clock part of the night. Good idea, guys.

The room the party was in was masterfully decked out.

This is my 'HOW FANCY IS THIS BATHROOM?!' photo.

And the best way to end the night....free cupcakes in a carrier box on our way out.

Blue Cupcake. Not sure of flavour, but it was delicious...and blue. 

As a thank you, they also have offered us a free afternoon tea on a day of our choosing with whomever we want to attend.

Guys, it's like they just knew what my heart wanted.

Or my stomach.

xx

**Thistle Hotel in no way asked me to write this post. This was just an interesting experience I had, and enjoyed and didn't mind writing about their fabulousness. All opinions are my own. 

Pretty Dresses, Sneaky Photos, and Acting Advice

Is there any better way to spend a sunny day in London than hidden away inside the dark halls of a museum? Well normally, if I was truly English, I'd be pulling my clothes off and indecently sunning in the parks with some booze (no really...people go crazy when the sun comes out here. Goodbye modesty.)

A new exhibit just opened at the V&A called Wedding Dresses: 1774 - 2014. I may have snapped a few photos in a possibly, maybe, I just can't remember no-photo zone.... I'm only showing a few here, but you really should go check out the exhibit if you're in London. Have a girly day and enjoy 'ohh' and 'ahh'ing over the lovely dresses they have on display. (My only qualm, other than no-photos, was there just wasn't enough. I wanted so much more! But the two floor compact display space was spectacularly filled regardless.)

 I dragged Amanda along with me from Rhyme & Ribbons, one of my favourite expat friends to adventure around with in London! Additionally, she didn't bat an eye over any sneaky photos in the museum. I mean, come on people, DRESSES! Pretty, sparkly, WEDDING DRESSES. Of course I'm gonna take quick, sneaky photos with my iPhone. #sorrynotsorry

We were pretty happy with a lot of the purple dresses. This was an old maid's wedding dress. She was past 30, so ya know...practically dead. She did what she wanted.

By far my most favourite. Check out my Instagram for more info on this piece.

I want them Louboutin's. Dream a dream.

And another favourite. So gorgeous. Look how it sparkles!

After drooling over the dresses we quickly found our way through the rest of the photo-friendly and free fashion exhibit, also worth a good look around.

Before we headed out into the sunshine, Amanda showed me the joys that is the Theatre and Performance collection, which is nicely hidden away in an even darker corner, where you'd only really stumble upon it if you were in a school group having lunch...or you were really lost.

There we learned some hard facts about acting. Don't know why I even bothered working on my master's degree. Let me hit you up with some knowledge:

'Building a character: Acting is central to any performance. The way an actor speaks and looks and moves onstage changes the audience's emotional response to that character. There are many approaches to acting technique that consider both the external and internal life of a character, from emotion through to the way of speaking and moving onstage.'

I'm off to get my Oscar now that I understand it all.

I just thought this was fascinating. And kinda what I'd like to wear to breakfast.

Amanda introduced me to her favourite section...the costumes. They didn't smell so pretty, but neither does theatre, kids. And don't you forget it. It's smells of tears, sweat, ambition, and poorness. ... Ya know, if it could smell like that, it would.

But we smelled pretty cause it was a girly day.

Oddly enough we were the only ones enjoying this thoroughly enjoyable collection. Maybe because it was put off in the dungeons of the museum. Where no hope survives. Welcome to the Theatre collection, where dreams come to die.

So that got morbid. Go back and look at the dresses. Preeeeetty.

Overall it was a delightful visit and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. I would recommend going to visit the pretty dresses, and please, if you have time, go say hi to the lonely Theatre and Performance section. There's even stuff on Shakespeare!

xx Lindsay

Summer 2014 Book Challenge

Hello, old friends....

So maybe I don't blog as regularly as I'd like...silly MA getting in the way of my creative outlet. Whatever, dude. One thing about me that you can count on not changing is my love of reading. Serious book addict right here. I will always love some good YA fiction, sci fi/fantasy, mysteries and a few non-fiction comedy books thrown in for good measure.

Booknerd who likes wine and giggling. Well, not really giggling, more like hysterical snorting.

My main guilt in life is that I feel I don't read enough. I would rather read all the books I currently own and haven't yet read (over 250 at this point, split between my home with my parents and my flat here in London) than catch up on all the trendy shows this season.

I'm feeling excited about this Summer Reading Challenge being put on by Megan over at Semi-Charmed Kind of Life. I'm a rule follower and I do love a good set of reading rules to follow (stop yelling 'nerd', Mom. I believe everyone is fully aware). Check out her page for the check-in rules, or you can just follow the point system if you want a good reading challenge for the summer. If anything, share with me what you're reading so I can add to my ever growing list of books to check out. I do love a good nerd chat over books.

So here's the points and here's what I'm, hopefully, going to be reading this summer:

Don't be judgy about my Blogging book. I never said I was good at this shit.

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.

--Take Your Shirt Off and Cry by Nancy Balbirer. Should be an easy read, an auto-biography about one woman's experiences as a struggling actor. Looks like a funny read and I'm trying to read more of those. Someday, I wanna write a comedic book. 

10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.

--Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. No, I've never read it. *Hangs head in shame*

10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around. (You must have at least 150 pages left in the book to use it for this category.)

--Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, it's what became my downfall for my Jane Austen Book Club reading challenge. I just couldn't get past Mansfield Park. Ugh.

10 points: Read a book from the children's section of the library or bookstore.

--The Giver by Lois Lowry. Always wanted to read it and my sister loved it. It was either this one or possibly The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, which also comes highly recommended by my sis.

15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.

--The Circle by Dave Eggers. Recommended by my other blogger friend, Taylor, who loved it. And hopefully it'll stay on that list until I can get to it!

15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.

--The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier. My lovely friend Laura just gushed about it and lent me her copy.

15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge. (So I'll be checking in June to see what other blogger's have read in order to get my next one...or I'll just take one from Amanda over at Rhyme and Ribbons as she's updating her post as she goes along. Win!) 

--The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester...I'm hoping Amanda reads that one soon, cause I've been dying to read it for years (I used to work at several bookshops, this title has always caught my eye).

20 points: Read a book with 'son(s),' 'daughter(s)' or 'child(ren)' in the title. No other words will count--including kids, offspring, etc. 

--Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014.

--Fault in Our Stars  by John Green. OKAY, OKAY, I will give in and read it. I've been avoiding it because everyone has cried over it and I hate crying. But alas, I must give in because I've heard too many good things. Damn you, John Green. I hope you're not going to be another Nicholas Sparks.
**Finished 19th of May....sobbing.**

25 points: Read a book written by a blogger.

--Straight Up and Dirty by Stephanie Klein. I had fun searching for this one. Nooooo, idea of what to chose other than cookbooks and any book by Jen Lancaster...oh wait, read all those. She's actually who I want to write like someday. Hopefully this Stephanie Klein author will be as funny and/or inspiring.

25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.

--The Disastrous Mrs. Weldon by Brian Thompson, and just for fun, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling, because I must read this book. 

30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.

--Ummmm, I'll get back to you on that one.

BONUS ROUND...just cause I want some of my own personal challenges:

Read a book you said you would never, ever, ever read:

--50 Shades of Grey .... ugh. Maybe I can't do that challenge...

Read a book that you've borrowed off someone and you really have kept it too long and need to return it soon...like, really soon:

--The Art of Acting by Stella Adler, borrowed off my friend Olivia...and I just really have had it too long.

I have so many other good books waiting for attention on my bookshelf.

I'm sure this will all fit in nicely while I freak out about getting a job and whattheHELLamIdoingaftergraduationfuuuuuuuuck!

xx Lindsay