Somerset’s Mom

Hello all, I decided to focus my blog in the next few weeks on the amazing culinary experience that is New Orleans.  I arrived here on Friday and so far, every meal that I have had has been amazing.

To backtrack:

Friday, I went straight to the production office to set up my office.  I was starving so I asked the rest of the production people where I should get a bite to eat, and they all suggested the Blue Plate Cafe, which was directly across the street.  It was a totally adorable little cafe, which was mostly empty.  Not surprising as it was nearly 3pm.  I had a grilled chicken sandwich with avocado.  Ummm…I don’t know what they did…because it wasn’t mayonnaise…but the sandwich was delicious!  I think they marinated the chicken in something special.

Friday night, I wandered around looking for something to eat as I got to know the neighborhood where my crap hotel is. (Don’t worry, I’m moving to the French Quarter today.) We are around the corner from Emeril’s original restaurant, but I didn’t want to go there by myself.  I ended up going into a bar/restaurant called Lucy’s, which had a crowd of 30 people standing outside getting drunk.  It is definitely a party place and I would not recommend it for food, except that the food was actually pretty good.  Just no atmosphere…and the service is a bit more about bringing beers, than food.

Yesterday…we ate food in our lobby, which was free.  The food was actually pretty good, they had an omelet station.  But lunch was the next amazing discovery.  The valet kid at our crap hotel recommended a place called “Mother’s” that was within walking distance.  Holy Mother of Christ!  We got the ‘Mae’s File Gumbo’ and something called Crawdad Etouffee.  We also got the bread pudding.  Ummm…every bite was like crack rock.  And the place felt like the real deal…you walked along the counter and ordered your food and paid for it, then found a place to sit and they brought you your food.  It was tons of pictures of celebrities who had visited yellowing on the wall…and crazy types of people.  It was awesome!

mothersrestaurant.net

For dinner, we drove to an adorable neighborhood, far from the tourists to find a little restaurant called Atchafalaya Cafe.  It was a  restaurant that was on the corner in a residential neighborhood. It was very reasonably priced…and freakin’ delicious.  Our menu was:

Appetizer: we shared Fried Green Tomatoes with lump crab.  Umm..I’m always a little afraid of fried food…which i’ve had to get over pretty fast here.  But this was light, flaky and delicious.

Entree: My mom and I decided to share one entree and the vegetable plate…which was a choice of four sides.  For the entree we got the fried catfish.  We selected macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans and collard greens for our sides.  Every bite was delicious.  Again, to feel less guilt, I did separate the fried crust and ate the white catfish meat inside…it was still amazing!  The mac and cheese was very good, but neither my mom or I are huge fans, so we just had a few bites.  The mashed potatoes were so delicious.  They had the skins in, and were really salty.  Amazing flavor.  I’m still not a fan of collard greens.  The fish came with french fries…that were ridiculously off the hook.

www.cafeatchafalaya.com

I still haven’t figured out how to get pictures on this thing…or I would post the pics!

On the baby note…I still don’t know if I am pregnant yet.  I am a little worried that I feel pms right now, so probably am not…but it’s still too early to tell.

So, things are basically bananas in my life right now.  I’m about to leave to cast for three weeks out of town (at least….line producer doesn’t even want to book my return flight) and this week I set up a pilot that we are doing.  Vaccari in my office will handle it, but he’s not ready to head up yet as he’s finishing some things first.  So, I’m handling the pilot…it’s awesome…Barry Levinson directing… but will hand it off tomorrow.  Then today, we got the call…we’re starting on a new film that will begin shooting Mid-May.  JESU!

Love it though and working til 11:30 at the office is totally the new black.

But, it has been incredibly stressful and today I had the first bit of excellent news in a long time.

That’s right…I’m ready to get inseminated.  I go back tomorrow morning at 8:30 and we are doing it.  tonight I had to give myself a shot to stimulate the egg to drop.  I was freaked out all day by the idea of giving myself a shot in the stomach, but hey, i’m learning that I’m pretty strong…and I just did it.  It didn’t even hurt.  That’s right! ROCK ON.

I Just want to say that I love all of the friends in my life and I’m so filled with positive energy right now…to start my family…I wouldn’t have this confidence in myself if it weren’t the lessons that I learn from you, my friends, every day.

Wow, normally I’m not this cheesy, but I feel completely filled with gratitude.  I feel strong, powerful, capable and truly happy.  I’m doing it.

Love you guys.

Hi all, and I apologize in advance for the nature of this post.  But I know my dearest Sacramento friends read this and I need to communicate something very important here.

As you all know, I have considered Jordan Smith to be one of my dearest friends.  No, not even a friend.  A family member.  Since I was fifteen years old, I have always thought of him as one of the great men that I know.

We’ve certainly had our ups and downs, but throughout, my passion for our friendship and belief in him as a good, strong person has not waivered.

Recently, he has disrespected me and our friendship in such a way that I can no longer feel this way.  My image of him has shattered and not to be dramatic, but it feels like shards in my heart.  And the sad thing is, he admits that what he has done is wholly disrespectful and admits that the reason he did it is because he is ‘lame.’  Now, that is his word, and it doesn’t really mean anything to me but I know it is basically a synonym with weak.

I need to communicate this discovery because as my friends, I need you all to know that I will not be able to be around Jordan in the future.  Again, I know it sounds dramatic, but just imagine what it would feel like to discover that one of the most important people in your life is not only not what you thought, but at the base disrespectful of you.  The thought of ever seeing him again is too sad.  Too disappointing.

So, you all know that I love you and relish every moment that I get to spend with you.  So, if I am in Sacramento, I will, as usual, try to organize time for us to spend together.  If it is important to someone to have Jordan at an event, I will not only totally understand, but appreciate you telling me so I can avoid it.  I will try to carve out some time for us to get to spend together so I do not put a damper on any events.

Commander Plaza- obviously yours is the next event that I image there may be a conflict.  Please try to  understand that this is not a scenario where I want childhood friends to have to choose who they like better or love more.  I completely understand if you plan to invite us both and would never stand in the way of that.  I will try to come up with an alternate plan, perhaps I could come to LA or Sacramento early and take you and Liorah to dinner to make up for my absence.

Anyway- I am quite devastated and feel very strongly that this is the only way I can recover.  Obviously, if you are upset or confused by this, I respect those feelings.  Totally.

I love you guys so much, and consider the friendships that I made with all of you to have shaped the person that I am today…a person that I am proud of.  Please try to respect and understand why i need to do this and help me to avoid painful situations.  If you feel like you know another mutual friend who might help by knowing the situation, please let them know.

It feels weird…I’ve always thought that being best friends with Jordan was who I was.  In my spine.  While it is painful now to discover that he is not capable of that sort of strength, I know I will be a better person in the future knowing who he really is.

On another note….I should be getting inseminated this week!  Hoorah!  Apparently my uterus is “PERFECT.”  Hey, doctor’s words.  If only my judgment in humans was as good.  Love you all.  TLC

I will be leaving for Miami to cast the movie.
I, HOPEFULLY, will have been sperminated.
God, I hope I get it! (Sung to the tune of “God, I hope I get it” from A CHORUS LINE.)

On a less scientific, yet show-tuney note: my two dogs are amazing. They are seriously the funniest, snuggliest things ever. If I ever get any time, I think I need to tape their antics and create a You-Tube show.

ever happened to Tom Kennedy?

Remember him?

Hello all.  Things are good in NYC.  I’m quite busy both holding audition sessions for I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS in New York as well as setting up my casting trips to Miami and New Orleans.  I’m very excited that my mother is going to come to New Orleans and be my assistant.  She rocks as a casting assistant and the alternative was some random person from the production.  Who knows how good they would be???

Baby-making update.  I’m doing it!  I started my cycle on Saturday.  This was slightly stressful as I’d anticipated it starting on Wednesday.  And I planned all my traveling around that start date.  Luckily, I was able to convince my boss that I didn’t need all that time in Miami.  So, I’m leaving a bit later on that trip…hopefully giving me plenty of time to get inseminated before I leave.

I purchased the baby daddy and he will be fed exed on the 13th to my doctor’s office.  I think I made a great choice.  I sure hope it works!