Tracy also is working on a documentary film called "Ghaiaanook: The Canadian Picasso," about colorful Gulf Island, Canada, artist and sculptor Tom Duquette.
Also coming out is a dry spice mixture called "Rub It In," which Tracy hopes to have on shelves in the near future.
While she's an adamant "foodie," Tracy insists she's no food snob. "Nah, because I still like my burger and French fries. But I love and appreciate really good food."
When Tracy is not doing any of the above, she finds time to play an NSA researcher who has become the personal physician of Jake Foley (Christopher Gorham).
Jake is a former IT tech elevated to undercover agent after having his strength and senses enhanced by an accidental dose of molecule-sized robots, or nanites (one of Diane's projects).
Showtime viewers may remember Tracy as Audrey Malone, the rebellious, devil-may-care daughter of TV executive Rob Malone (Brian Kerwin) in "Beggars and Choosers," a behind-the-scenes drama set at a struggling television network.
"I wasn't slutty!" Tracy insists. "I was just stupid. It was a pretty funny show, and particularly if you're involved in television in any way, shape or form, it was particularly poignant."
"Beggars" was a U.S. production shot in Vancouver, as is "Jake 2.0." But that wasn't exactly what Tracy had planned.
She says, "This year, I was down in L.A. I wanted a half-hour sitcom shot in L.A., and I wound up in a one-hour drama that's shot in Vancouver. I go to L.A., and they keep sending me back. I don't know if I should take the hint."
While Tracy is glad to have wound up playing Diane, she originally read for the part of Sarah, a Washington, D.C., insider who is Jake's college crush, played by Marina Black.
"I always love the quirky girl," Tracy says. "So either Sarah was quirky, if I were her, or they would put me in the slot of the quirky girl, and there I am."
While Diane is charged with physically and emotionally looking after Jake, their relationship has not quite evolved beyond the buddy stage. Tracy would like to see it become more than that, and apparently she's not the only one.
"From the vibe that I'm getting," she says, "and from what people are saying on the Net, they really like Diane, and they would like him to notice her. I would like him to notice her, because it means I get to be around more."
While Tracy, an avowed "vocabulary hound," hasn't found Diane's technical talk especially taxing, creating the character has been an acting challenge.
"She's pretty far from who I am, other than being goofy," Tracy says. "I suppose I'm goofy and quirky. But she's much more reserved and shy and less assertive and everything than I am. It's almost like a disguise that I put on, the glasses and the hair, the lab coat and everything."
For proof of this, viewers may peruse the glam lingerie shots of Tracy in the December issue of Stuff magazine.
"It was funny," she says, "the juxtaposition between this centerfold picture and, down in the corner, Diane."
But it's not like Tracy has been typecast. "I've been a lot of things. I don't fit the girl next door, but I have played the innocent girl and the victim. ... I've been very lucky to have a varied career."
Tracy would also like to see Diane get out of the lab a little more often. "I'd like to see Diane apply to be an agent. She's a smart cookie. She just needs a little confidence. We'll get her out there. It could be like 'Alias,' except Jake's going and doing all the Jake things, but she could join in every once in a while. You could fix her up. She could look good."
Diane could use some fashion advice, but according to Tracy, it could have been so much worse.
"Originally I said, 'Look, let's make her like she doesn't have a clue. Her socks don't match; she wears weird layers.' I wanted her to be messed up, but we very quickly realized that you can't get away with that on television.
"If it were a film, I'd be absolutely willing to look as ugly as you want me to look, but for television, it doesn't fly. So we're leaning her toward Bohemian, just left of center, is the way I like to describe her. She doesn't fit the mold of somebody who works for the NSA."
Asked what she thinks Diane's New Year's resolutions should be, Tracy says, "To push the boundaries of where she is, both as a scientist and as a woman. She's not been really aggressive in trying to get Jake, and maybe that's one of her resolutions. 'I'm going to try harder. I'm going to push through this. Maybe I'll get my hair straightened, start wearing sexier clothes. Maybe I will ask him out.'
"Or maybe she'll apply to be an agent. I think she should."
