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Keiko Agena likes to create moments of coziness \u2014 not just on Sundays, but whenever she possibly can.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, there\u2019s my rice cooker,\u201d she says when she hears the sound in her Arts District home. \u201cWe\u2019re making steel-cut oatmeal in the rice cooker, which by the way, is a game changer. I used to have to baby it and watch it, but now I can just put it in there and forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.<\/p>\n The 52-year-old actor, who played music-loving bestie Lane Kim in the beloved series \u201cGilmore Girls,\u201d delights in specific comforts like a bowl of warm oats, talking about Enneagram numbers and watching cooking competitions with her husband, Shin Kawasaki. <\/p>\n \u201cIt sounds so simple, but I look forward so much to spending time on the couch,\u201d Agena says with a laugh.<\/p>\n It is time that she\u2019s intentional about protecting, especially amid her kaleidoscope of projects. Over the last couple of years, Agena starred in Lloyd Suh\u2019s moving play \u201cThe Chinese Lady\u201d in Atlanta, acted in Netflix\u2019s \u201cThe Residence,\u201d showcased her artwork in her first feature exhibit, \u201cHep Tones\u201d (some of her ink and pencil drawings are still for sale<\/a>), and performed regularly on that L.A. improv circuit. And her work endures with \u201cGilmore Girls,\u201d which turns 25 this year. Agena narrated the audiobook for \u201cMeet Me at Luke\u2019s,\u201d a guide that draws life lessons from the series, and is featured in the upcoming \u201cGilmore Girls\u201d documentary \u201cDrink Coffee, Talk Fast.\u201d<\/p>\n She shares with us her perfect Sunday in L.A., which begins before sunrise.<\/p>\n 5 a.m.: Morning solitude<\/b><\/p>\n I like to be up early-early, like 5 a.m. I like that feeling of everything being quiet. I\u2019ll go into the other room and do Duolingo on my phone. I am a little addicted to social media, so the Duolingo is not just to learn Japanese, but also to keep me from scrolling. Like, if I\u2019m going to do something on my phone, this is better for me. I think my streak is 146. Shin is Japanese, from Oyama. So I\u2019ve been meaning to learn Japanese for a while. For him and his mom.<\/p>\n Then I\u2019ll do [the writing practice] Morning Pages. I don\u2019t know when I learned about Julia Cameron\u2019s book [\u201cThe Artist\u2019s Way\u201d] \u2014 probably around 2000. I know a lot of people do it handwritten, but I\u2019m a little paranoid about people, like, finding it after I die. So if I have it on my computer and it\u2019s password protected, I can be really honest. <\/p>\n Then a lot of times, I\u2019ll go back to bed. Shin, as a musician, works at night, and so he wakes up a lot later. So I\u2019ll fall back asleep and wake up with him.<\/p>\n 9 a.m.: Gimme that bread <\/b><\/p>\n I don\u2019t do coffee anymore because it\u2019s a little too tough for my system, but I\u2019ll walk with Shin to Eightfold Coffee<\/b><\/a> in the Arts District. It\u2019s tiny but very chill. Then we\u2019re going to Bliss Bakery<\/b> inside the Little Tokyo Market Place<\/b><\/a>. We get these tapioca bread balls. If you make any kind of sandwich that you would normally make, but use that bread instead, it ups the game. It\u2019s life-changing. The Little Tokyo Market Place is not fancy or anything, but it has everything that you would want. There\u2019s Korean food. They have a little sushi place in there. You can get premade Korean banchan and hot food in their hot food section. They also have a really good nuts section. It\u2019s just one big table with all these nuts, just piles and piles.<\/p>\n 10 a.m.: Nature without leaving the city <\/b><\/p>\n We\u2019ll go to Los Angeles State Historic Park<\/a> near Chinatown. I like that place just because it\u2019s very accessible. Like, they have accessible bathrooms and I\u2019m always checking out whether a place has good bathrooms. We call it Flat Park because it\u2019s a great walk. Like, you\u2019re not really out in nature, but there\u2019s a lot of greenery. You can take your shoes off and at least touch grass for a second.<\/p>\n 11:30 <\/b>a.m.<\/b>: Lunch and TV cooking shows <\/b><\/p>\n One of my favorite salad-sandwich combos is at Cafe Dulce<\/b><\/a> in Little Tokyo. A Korean cheesesteak and a kale salad. That\u2019s always like a \u2014 bang, bang \u2014 good combo. So we might go there or Aloha Cafe<\/b><\/a>, though it\u2019s not fully open on Sundays. But I love it because I grew up in Hawaii. They have this great Chinese chicken salad and spam musubi and other Hawaiian food that is so good. <\/p>\n We\u2019ll bring home food and watch something. Cooking competition shows are my cream of the crop. My favorite right now is \u201cTournament of Champions\u201d because it\u2019s blind tasting. To me, that\u2019s the best way to do it. \u201cThe Great British Bake Off\u201d is Shin\u2019s favorite. He loves the nature and the accents as much as the actual cooking. He just loves the vibe, the slow pace of the whole thing.<\/p>\n I\u2019m such a TV girl. I love spending time on the couch and eating a meal and watching something that\u2019s appetizing with my favorite person in the world. I\u2019m lucky because I get to do that a lot. <\/p>\n 2 p.m.: Browse the aisles <\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ll go to this bookstore called Henness<\/b>e<\/b>y + Ingalls<\/b><\/a>. I love art and architecture and design, but you can\u2019t always buy these massive books. But you can go into this bookstore and look at them and it\u2019s always chill.<\/p>\n If I have time, I\u2019ll walk around art supply stores. Artist & Craftsman Supply<\/b><\/a> is a good one. I\u2019ll look at pens, pencils, stickers, tape, washi tape, different kinds of paper, charcoals. In my art, I try to find things that aren\u2019t meant for that particular purpose, like little things in a hardware store that I\u2019ll use it in a different way.<\/p>\n 5 p.m.: Downtown L.A. in its glory <\/b><\/p>\n We really love to walk the Sixth Street Bridge<\/b>. It\u2019s architecturally beautiful and they\u2019re building a huge park over there, so we\u2019ll walk around and check it out, like, \u2018Which trees are they planting? Can you see?\u2019 We sort of dream about how it\u2019s coming together. But the other beautiful thing about that walk is that if you go at sunset and you walk back toward downtown, it\u2019s just gorgeous. Los Angeles doesn\u2019t have the most majestic skyline, but it\u2019s so picturesque in that moment.<\/p>\n 6:30 p.m.: Cornbread and Enneagrams <\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ll head to the Park\u2019s Finest<\/b><\/a> in Echo Park. It\u2019s Filipino barbecue. It\u2019s just so savory and rich and a special hang. Their cornbread is really good. Oh, and the coconut beef, but I\u2019m trying to eat less beef. They have a hot link medley. Oh my gosh, just looking at this menu right now, my mouth is watering. OK, I\u2019ll stop. <\/p>\n One of my favorite things to do is ask friends about their Enneagram number. So the idea of sitting with friends over a good meal and asking them a bunch of personal questions about their childhood and what motivates them and what their parents were like and what their greatest fear is and then figure out what their Enneagram number is? That is top-tier activity for me. <\/p>\n 9 p.m.: Rally for improv<\/b><\/p>\n Because I get up so early, if 9 o\u2019clock, I\u2019m ready to go to sleep. But I am obsessed with improv, so on my ideal day, there\u2019d be a show to do. There\u2019s this place called World\u2019s Greatest Improv School<\/b><\/a> in Los Feliz. It\u2019s tiny and they just opened a few years ago, but the vibe there is spectacular.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n
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