kristen p: the interview

A lady who needs no introduction. I present the [much anticipated] interview with Kristen Praz. Just a  brief primer: Kristen was my college roommate [read below for more detail] and is now one of my very best friends. She was the officiant at my wedding and according to Enrique, the "tia" of our dog- which is a probably the highest honor he can bestow on someone. 
I wanted to interview Kristen not only because I knew she would agree:) but mostly because I think she is an awesome person who is full of life and always doing interesting things. Plus there is a picture of her sleeping under a table and wearing a matching track suit with her bf. Enjoy. 

What are the basic facts of Kristen Przasnyski? 
I'm 26 going on 12. I live in Los Angeles with my boyfriend, John. I work for an entertainment marketing company where my chief responsibility is to watch TV. In my free time I love to bake, read and watch more crap TV. You may also find me begrudgingly exercising 4 to 5 times a week.

What is so amazing about Los Angeles that someone who lived most of their life on the east coast now loves the west coast?
In one word: John.

In more words: even though I've spent the majority of my life on the East coast, I've always been sort of a rolling stone, but not by choice. We moved a lot when I was a kid because of my mom's job. Before I met John, I had assumed I'd spend my post-college years in Philadelphia or New York, but he quickly convinced me to at least try one more major move. I was also still very young when we moved out here and figured "anything goes." Now I can't help but call it home, though presumably home is wherever you hang your hat. For me, this has always rung true.

What are some of your favorite places to visit in and around Los Angeles?
 I love when friends come to visit because it allows me to see parts of Los Angeles I never have time to visit, even after 4 years of living out here. I love going to the LA Farmer's Market, the Getty Center, Santa Monica Pier, and other tourist-ish excursions. I avoid the Hollywood & Highland area like the plague.
On a more regular basis, I love hiking Griffith park, running around Silver Lake reservoir, shopping in Los Feliz and eating at cool restaurants. When I need a little bit of the suburban life, we can hop on over to Glendale or Burbank and mall it up. Outside of LA, I've enjoyed visiting Santa Barbara, San Diego, Palm Springs and Long Beach. Vegas is also a fairly short road trip away. This October I'll be heading up to wine country (Solvang) for a couple days for a female retreat with my extended family. It's easy and nice to get away from LA, but I'm always happy to come home.

If you could take a trip anywhere and not have to worry about vacation time and/or money, where would you go?
 It's hard to pick one place, especially since I'm not as well-traveled as many of my peers (Ahem, Sara)... I've only ever been to Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. I guess for an adventure, I'd love to do a European excursion. I would eat and play and take photos and see historical things.
But for total relaxation and fun, I'd love to go to Hawaii. I have family there and it's the only state I haven't visited that I am really dying to (Alaska is great, BTW). They seem to have enough adventure (zipline, anyone?) mixed with just the right amount of comfort and familiarity that I'd like while on a vacation.

How far in Los Angeles from Portland?
Too far! Nearly 1,000 miles, I believe. But still way closer than PHL to LAX and a cheap enough flight (I presume) that we'll hopefully make our visits a regular thing. I couldn't be any happier unless you told me you were eventually moving into our second bedroom!

You are pretty creative. You are the female lead of the group Nick and Praz (or Praz and Nick as I like to call it), a food blogger, and in the film industry. What will you do next?
Who knows? Get a new job? Birth some kids? Open my bakery? One or more of these may be very likely. Unfortunately, and perhaps because of my wandering childhood, I tend to get very comfortable, very easily, and I fear change. It's hard to fathom finding a new job in this economy, especially one that lets me leave town to visit family and pays for me to see my doctor on the regular. However, small perks aren't enough to stop me forever, I'm just trying not to stress about it... I've come to realize that I'm not defined by how I spend my hours from 8-5, M-F.

Tell us about Nick and Praz? How did you guys meet and where are you headed in the future?
Do you think you will ever go solo?
Nick and I met on September 22, 2004, through my good friend Amanda Goth. The ensemble known as Nick and Praz formed in late 2006, releasing their first video, "Picture." After gaining much success and fanfare, they took to the studio once again, and released their hit video, "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart," in January 2007. Fan favorite, "Ain't No Mountain," garnered them praise from peers and loyal fans as well as international success. Perhaps their most popular video, "I Gotta Man," gained both praise and criticism for its social commentary on urban life in Philadelphia.
I can't even count how many videos we've released thus far. There are a few "secret" videos that will likely remain in the vault or lost forever. I can't really divulge what's next, but we're in pre-production for a really fun video right now. The end of this year will bring the 5 year anniversary of "Picture," so definitely be on the lookout for something special then, too!
I really don't think I could make it as a solo act, nor could Nick. We are a team!

You are the genius behind K thru Praz, a cooking blog for real people (ok that tag line was made up by me now, and is not actually on your blog). How do you decide what recipes make it to the blog?
Pretty much, if something comes out halfway decent, it's making the blog. That being said, I'm not posting pictures of my weekly Rice-A-Roni trysts... but, if something requires more than 4 ingredients, tastes and looks delish, and photographs even fairly well, it's making the blog. I'll sometimes post a recipe failure if I think the food has promise and I plan on maybe re-attempting it in the future. I've been a little lazy since moving and reorganizing the kitchen, but I have a bunch of posts coming up. I don't really consider myself a blogger, but it's nice to have a record of the things I've made, and a cute way to present it all to the world (ie, the 5 friends who read it).

Why haven't you mailed me any pumpkin doughnut muffins? Are they not shippable?
I have no real good answer for this. Except that if people find out I sent YOU pumpkin doughnut muffins, then EVERYONE will want pumpkin doughnut muffins. That being said, I will see what I can do. ;) (I can not wink in real life without looking creepy so I do rely heavily on emoticons)

What are your favorite online blogs?
Bring Your Own Sunscreen, Catalog Living, Art of Dessert, Annie's Eats (which you showed me), + many, many more. Blogs are cool, but if I start reading too many it's sort of like information overload and my Google Reader gets jam-packed really quickly. It's overwhelming.

Have you ever bought anything on etsy?
But of course! I bought a cute little cover for my kitchen-aid mixer. I also recently bought a case for my kindle. My brother used to sell these cute little polymer figures and some art prints, so I've bought a couple things from him, too. Oh, for John's birthday last year I bought a cute little personalized digital cartoon of the two of us and had it printed/framed.

Two movie recommendations?

#1, Easy A. This is a guilty pleasure movie that I don't feel the least bit guilty about loving. Adorable, fun and oddly satisfying.
# 2, Zodiac. This moving freaking scares the S out of me, not because it's gory or horror-like (it's really not), but because they NEVER CAUGHT THIS DUDE! How freaky is that? Also because John can impersonate the voice of the Zodiac really well, and does it at the most inopportune moments, rendering me down to the psyche of a frightened 5-year-old. I love it and think it's really well-made, albeit a little long.

Like Enrique and I, you and Johnny like to try new foods. What are some tasty things you have eaten lately?
New Orleans was chock full of tasty things I'd never had, or at least never had authentically: Gumbo, Jambalaya, Po Boys and Alligator, to name a few.
I recently blogged about trying out Chia seeds in a pudding recipe. It was slightly slimy, but really delicious and I never would have tried it without the recommendation from some online friends.

Reader submission: I thought KP did such an awesome job at your wedding, and one of the elements I loved was when she told the story about how you and Enrique met; so i would like to know about how Praz and shumans met.


I can't swear to the exact date, but it was on or around August 29, 2002, and we were lucky enough (at least I think so) to be paired up as roommates freshman year. Sara was (and still is) thin, pretty and blond, but she was (and still is) very down-to-earth and friendly, so I wasn't too intimidated by the thin-ness, pretty-ness, or blond-ness. I knew we were very similar when we attempted to attend a frat party the first or second night at college, presumably because we thought the other person wanted to go... within 10 minutes of being there, we just sort of looked at each other and knew this wasn't meant for us. We went back to the dorm and watched a movie (I think either Duets or Romy & Michelle's); Sara promptly fell asleep and I soon learned would become standard for our movie-watching relationship.
The next year we lived in separate rooms, but in the same building. Even though we liked our other roommates, we decided that living together was better and, along with another friend, got an apartment in South Philadelphia for the remaining years of college. Even though we have both moved around a bit during our post-college years, we have remained in touch and see each other at least yearly, for which I couldn't be more thankful.


Stay tuned for another interview next week.