How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Keiko Agena

Keiko Agena likes to make moments of coziness — not conscionable connected Sundays, but whenever she perchance can.

“Oh, there’s my atom cooker,” she says erstwhile she hears the dependable successful her Arts District home. “We’re making steel-cut oatmeal successful the atom cooker, which by the way, is simply a crippled changer. I utilized to person to babe it and ticker it, but present I tin conscionable enactment it successful determination and hide it.”

In Sunday Funday, L.A. radical springiness america a play-by-play of their perfect Sunday astir town. Find ideas and inspiration connected wherever to go, what to devour and however to bask beingness connected the weekends.

The 52-year-old actor, who played music-loving bestie Lane Kim successful the beloved bid “Gilmore Girls,” delights successful circumstantial comforts similar a vessel of lukewarm oats, talking astir Enneagram numbers and watching cooking competitions with her husband, Shin Kawasaki.

“It sounds truthful simple, but I look guardant truthful overmuch to spending clip connected the couch,” Agena says with a laugh.

It is clip that she’s intentional astir protecting, particularly amid her kaleidoscope of projects. Over the past mates of years, Agena starred successful Lloyd Suh’s moving play “The Chinese Lady” successful Atlanta, acted successful Netflix’s “The Residence,” showcased her artwork successful her archetypal diagnostic exhibit, “Hep Tones” (some of her ink and pencil drawings are inactive for sale), and performed regularly connected that L.A. improv circuit. And her enactment endures with “Gilmore Girls,” which turns 25 this year. Agena narrated the audiobook for “Meet Me astatine Luke’s,” a usher that draws beingness lessons from the series, and is featured successful the upcoming “Gilmore Girls” documentary “Drink Coffee, Talk Fast.”

She shares with america her cleanable Sunday successful L.A., which begins earlier sunrise.

5 a.m.: Morning solitude

I similar to beryllium up early-early, similar 5 a.m. I similar that feeling of everything being quiet. I’ll spell into the different country and bash Duolingo connected my phone. I americium a small addicted to societal media, truthful the Duolingo is not conscionable to larn Japanese, but besides to support maine from scrolling. Like, if I’m going to bash thing connected my phone, this is amended for me. I deliberation my streak is 146. Shin is Japanese, from Oyama. So I’ve been meaning to larn Japanese for a while. For him and his mom.

Then I’ll bash [the penning practice] Morning Pages. I don’t cognize erstwhile I learned astir Julia Cameron’s publication [“The Artist’s Way”] — astir apt astir 2000. I cognize a batch of radical bash it handwritten, but I’m a small paranoid astir people, like, uncovering it aft I die. So if I person it connected my machine and it’s password protected, I tin beryllium truly honest.

Then a batch of times, I’ll spell backmost to bed. Shin, arsenic a musician, works astatine night, and truthful helium wakes up a batch later. So I’ll autumn backmost dormant and aftermath up with him.

9 a.m.: Gimme that breadstuff

I don’t bash java anymore due to the fact that it’s a small excessively pugnacious for my system, but I’ll locomotion with Shin to Eightfold Coffee successful the Arts District. It’s tiny but precise chill. Then we’re going to Bliss Bakery wrong the Little Tokyo Market Place. We get these tapioca breadstuff balls. If you marque immoderate benignant of sandwich that you would usually make, but usage that breadstuff instead, it ups the game. It’s life-changing. The Little Tokyo Market Place is not fancy oregon anything, but it has everything that you would want. There’s Korean food. They person a small sushi spot successful there. You tin get premade Korean banchan and blistery nutrient successful their blistery nutrient section. They besides person a truly bully nuts section. It’s conscionable 1 large array with each these nuts, conscionable piles and piles.

10 a.m.: Nature without leaving the metropolis

We’ll spell to Los Angeles State Historic Park adjacent Chinatown. I similar that spot conscionable due to the fact that it’s precise accessible. Like, they person accessible bathrooms and I’m ever checking retired whether a spot has bully bathrooms. We telephone it Flat Park due to the fact that it’s a large walk. Like, you’re not truly retired successful nature, but there’s a batch of greenery. You tin instrumentality your shoes disconnected and astatine slightest interaction writer for a second.

11:30 a.m.: Lunch and TV cooking shows

One of my favourite salad-sandwich combos is astatine Cafe Dulce successful Little Tokyo. A Korean cheesesteak and a kale salad. That’s ever similar a — bang, bang — bully combo. So we mightiness spell determination oregon Aloha Cafe, though it’s not afloat unfastened connected Sundays. But I emotion it due to the fact that I grew up successful Hawaii. They person this large Chinese chickenhearted crockery and spam musubi and different Hawaiian nutrient that is truthful good.

We’ll bring location nutrient and ticker something. Cooking contention shows are my pick of the crop. My favourite close present is “Tournament of Champions” due to the fact that it’s unsighted tasting. To me, that’s the champion mode to bash it. “The Great British Bake Off” is Shin’s favorite. He loves the quality and the accents arsenic overmuch arsenic the existent cooking. He conscionable loves the vibe, the dilatory gait of the full thing.

I’m specified a TV girl. I emotion spending clip connected the sofa and eating a repast and watching thing that’s appetizing with my favourite idiosyncratic successful the world. I’m fortunate due to the fact that I get to bash that a lot.

2 p.m.: Browse the aisles

I’ll spell to this bookstore called Hennessey + Ingalls. I emotion creation and architecture and design, but you can’t ever bargain these monolithic books. But you tin spell into this bookstore and look astatine them and it’s ever chill.

If I person time, I’ll locomotion astir creation proviso stores. Artist & Craftsman Supply is simply a bully one. I’ll look astatine pens, pencils, stickers, tape, washi tape, antithetic kinds of paper, charcoals. In my art, I effort to find things that aren’t meant for that peculiar purpose, similar small things successful a hardware store that I’ll usage it successful a antithetic way.

5 p.m.: Downtown L.A. successful its glory

We truly emotion to locomotion the Sixth Street Bridge. It’s architecturally beauteous and they’re gathering a immense parkland implicit there, truthful we’ll locomotion astir and cheque it out, like, ‘Which trees are they planting? Can you see?’ We benignant of imagination astir however it’s coming together. But the different beauteous happening astir that locomotion is that if you spell astatine sunset and you locomotion backmost toward downtown, it’s conscionable gorgeous. Los Angeles doesn’t person the astir majestic skyline, but it’s truthful picturesque successful that moment.

6:30 p.m.: Cornbread and Enneagrams

I’ll caput to the Park’s Finest successful Echo Park. It’s Filipino barbecue. It’s conscionable truthful savory and affluent and a peculiar hang. Their cornbread is truly good. Oh, and the coconut beef, but I’m trying to devour little beef. They person a blistery nexus medley. Oh my gosh, conscionable looking astatine this paper close now, my rima is watering. OK, I’ll stop.

One of my favourite things to bash is inquire friends astir their Enneagram number. So the thought of sitting with friends implicit a bully repast and asking them a clump of idiosyncratic questions astir their puerility and what motivates them and what their parents were similar and what their top fearfulness is and past fig retired what their Enneagram fig is? That is top-tier enactment for me.

9 p.m.: Rally for improv

Because I get up truthful early, if 9 o’clock, I’m acceptable to spell to sleep. But I americium obsessed with improv, truthful connected my perfect day, there’d beryllium a amusement to do. There’s this spot called World’s Greatest Improv School successful Los Feliz. It’s tiny and they conscionable opened a fewer years ago, but the vibe determination is spectacular.

Then there’s different spot wherever my bosom is truthful invested successful present called Outside successful Theatre successful Highland Park. Tamlyn Tomita and Daniel Blinkoff created it unneurotic and not lone is the abstraction gorgeous — I mean, they built it from scratch — they person absorbing programming determination each the time. They’re truthful supportive of communities that are not seen successful mainstream creation spaces. It’s my favourite place. Sometimes I’ll find myself successful their lobby till 12 o’clock astatine night. The benignant of radical I similar to bent astir are the radical that bent retired successful that space.

11 p.m.: Turn connected the ASMR and unopen down

I americium firmly an ASMR miss and I person been for years. I person to find thing to ticker that volition dilatory my encephalon down. Then it’s beauteous consistent. I don’t past precise agelong erstwhile I crook thing on. My eyelids get dense and it chills maine out.