Things I've made and done and done made.

I feel the need to redeem myself by posting photos of actual things I've done lately. And so, at long last, the pictures from my ice cream making adventure.







(Just in case you're wondering what the crap is going on, I'm making the custard base.)















I was far too excited by the time I got to the "freezing the ice cream and adding the strawberries" part to photograph anything else. But this is what it looked like.





And a couple of weeks ago, I painted a dresser that I got from Adam that he had gotten from someone else. It had been sitting in a closet for a couple years, so I thought it could use some spiffing up. So spiff I did.



It's somewhere on the continuum between "Little Girl's Dream Dresser" and "Liberace's House of Spangled Blouses".



And then for the cast party, I made a shortbread recipe from a Nigella Lawson cookbook, which of course, I couldn't help but tweak. It came out good, but it wasn't a sure-thing in the "during" process. However, the results were, to quote a fellow cast-member, orgasmic.



I sent a bunch of it with Matt to Bob and Melissa's. Partly because I think they might enjoy it, partly because I don't need to eat that much chocolate-covered, caramel-layered, peanut-filled shortbread.

Hopefully, there are more good things to come...

Aw crap. I'm a Twit.

I caved.

I joined Twitter.

Just like I always swore up and down that I wouldn't give in to Facebook (and now don't know how I'd keep in touch with anyone without it), I've given in to Twitter. BUT I only did it so that I could get in touch with Kogi BBQ and tell them that they need to come back to the spot behind the Guitar Center in Sherman Oaks because I've been craving their Spicy Pork and Short Rib tacos since they teased me with a brief stint a couple weeks ago.

http://twitter.com/hotcupofdana

Find me there. I have one follower, and I think it's a robot that's going to try and trick me into giving it a lot of money. And I'm a sucker for robots.

Would you believe...

... that spending most of your day sitting in front of a computer, writing, makes one want to do so MARKEDLY less in your free time? WHO KNEW!

*sigh*

Anyhow, "As You Like It" has closed. We had a fun run, it was a good time with some truly excellent people that I'm lucky to know and will hopefully work with again soon.

The new HG book is in the works... and that's all I can say about that. But we're working on it furiously and simultaneously trying not to let the daily emails suffer. Good times. Good, busy times.

PLUS, I just got cast in California Shakespeare Company's production of "Much Ado About Nothing" (one of my all time favorite plays) in the role of Hero. Last time I did this show, I was Dogberry, the bumbling fool. This time, I'm the pure-as-the-driven-snow damsel character. At least I'm not being typecast.

And finally, I'm making a little resolution to myself (which I'm sure I've resolved to do many times before) to stop worrying so much about everything preemptively, to quit picking on myself for stupid little things, to quit blaming myself for everything, to stop always assuming the worst, to stop stressing about what others think about me (or rather, what I think that others MIGHT be thinking about me). Because 95% of the stuff I find myself obsessing over is stuff that I a) can't do anything about or b) have made up and is all in my head.

Mashed potatoes for dinner tonight. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!

Booooo. Hiiisssssssssssss.

I officially broke my own self-imposed rule banning homemade martinis in my place of cohabitation. This rule was set into place on November 6...5...7...*&%*)*^%#$#&^... somewhere around there. I decided that they were fine to have in an environment where it was clear I would only have only 1 or 2 (i.e. ANY BAR IN L.A.), but if I was making them at home, the margin of repetitive consumption was far too great. However today, after the opening of "As You Like It"... I feel pretty entitled to a damn martini enjoyed on my couch and finished alongside my computer (an Apple, while my boyfriend ironically enough is asleep in preparation for a day working at the Apple Store).

Get a lawyer and sue me.

Oh my goodness, the slackitude!

How have I NOT posted about the ice cream that I made and have nearly polished off yet? I think the prospect of going through the entire experience again seems daunting to me. But I have pictures. And the ice cream is good. However, I feel like the next frozen treat I'm going to attempt shall be of the sorbet nature, because I honestly don't NEED a quart of full-fat frozen custard waiting for me in my fridge on these days where the temps are consistently 100+. Oh, you wacky San Fernando Valley, you!

Hmm.

I want to make a necklace out of washers and ribbon like this...
... in the style of Anni Albers. I decided I wanted to when they started selling "kits" to make her kind of "junk jewelery" at Urban Outfitters, and I thought to myself, "THAT DEFEATS THE PURPOSE! I mean, go get some friggin' washers and a piece of ribbon! This thing is MEANT to be easy, but still be a project! Get your lazy, skinny hipster asses off your re-upholstered vintage loveseat and put in the legwork."

So I went to my local Ace Hardware. They didn't have enough of the washers I liked. I figure I'll swing into Lowe's the next time I'm in the area.

(Lazy.)

OH! I DID make a dress, though! Yeah. From scratch and everything. Well, from fabric and string and without a pattern. I didn't weave and loom the cotton or anything. Pics to come...

(Lazy.)

And my recent decision to start going to the Santa Monica Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, in an effort to get me doing stuff on weekends, eating more veggies and fruit, and supporting local farmers has resulted in a grand upswing in my cheese consumption. Sorry, cheesemongers of Santa Monica. Gotta cut myself off.

There's a new (to me) dresser sitting in my living room. (Thanks Adam!) The plan is to paint it, fill it with clothes that currently reside in an old unsightly plastic set of drawers, and use said plastic set of drawers to organize and store some of my craft stuff. The farthest I have gotten into this project is doing my laundry. Crucial, and yet that dresser is still in my living room.

(Lazy.)

New show opens July 31st.



Anyone who'd like to sing me sing the hits of Wham!, The Smiths, Eurhythmics, Duran Duran, and Prince while dressed like Boy George would be well advised to attend.

"But Dana! What does any of that crap have to do with Shakespeare?"

Why are you asking so many questions? It's gonna be fun, okay? And they sell booze at the theatre, so that's ALWAYS a plus.

July 31 through August 23, 2009
Fridays @ 8 p.m., Saturdays @ 8 p.m., Sundays @ 6 p.m.

Click here for more info! And if you order tickets, tell them I sent you. It won't help you any, but apparently there's a cash prize for the cast member who brings in the most paying audience members. This is CLEARLY not going to be me, but it never hurts to throw it out there.

Alright, I've got a date with a man, a margarita, and pollo en mole. Adios.

Pardon my absence.

It's currently too insanely hot in my workshop to want to spend any large amount of my free time in there. Greg, I don't know how you did it all those years. That room be HOT.

Also, I'm in rehearsal for a show, so that squeezes out any evening blogging.

Excuses, excuses.

Back to work.

Gabrielle Anwar

I like her a lot. I think she's great. "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" is just the kind of movie I was into as a kid, so I was obsessed with it. Now she rocks big time on "Burn Notice", and makes rompers, wedges, and fanny-packs look cooler than they would ever look on anyone else.

My only concern?
She's looking a bit damn skinny.

Gabrielle, in the interest of keeping your fabulous cheekbones from cutting right through your skin, I recommend the book "The Perfect Scoop". Start with the Ice Cream chapter. Work your way through. Repeat.