Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Sushi, Skulls & Breakfast Sandwiches

Here comes the inaugural post of what we'd like to call: Sights, Sounds, Flaves & Faves, where we will post little diddies about our top places, music, food and obsessions of the moment. Let's begin, shall we?

SIGHT: Masu Sushi & Robata 

This has quickly become Hannah & mine's favorite local place to grab some sushi (we are sushi fiends). Not only is the sushi so perfectly wrapped, but the entire atmosphere of the place is so unique and eclectic. See?




We used to frequent another sushi place in downtown Minneapolis called Nami, where the sushi was possibly just as delicious, but its ambiance did not even come close to Masu's jamming vibe. If you find yourself in Northeast Minneapolis (possibly you just caught a flick at St. Anthony Main, finished a day of classes at the U, just stopped at Bibelot for some quirky gifts...you get the idea), then by golly, get your butt over to this place! The sushi could easily go under Flaves, and actually the restaurant's banging playlist of great tunes could go under Sounds, but it's overall funky decorations, including it's bright pinball machines and unique Japanese Munny dolls--a hybrid of cabbage patch dolls and those big headed Bratz dolls-- that keeps bringing us back! Freaking cool.

SOUND: Hollywood -- RAC (feat. Penguin Prison)



This is one of those songs that I discovered while listening to some random playlist on 8tracks (which by the way is a great site to discover new music), and immediately found myself listening on repeat, and getting really angry that it wasn't on Spotify. Hate that. RAC, a rock/electronica remixing agency, collaborated with Penguin Prison (Chris Glover), a New York-based singer, producer, and remixer, and released this original track in June. This track sparked my interest in Penguin Prison, whose original tracks and remixes always have this funkadelic vibe to them. How about I just add one of his to the mix, while I'm at it?! Here's a fave:

                 Don't Fuck With My Money -- Penguin Prison


I could go on and on with music. But I must stop there. Moving on...

FLAVE: Monte Cristo

I could easily create my own blog devoted to Monte Cristos. I bet you don't even know what a Monte Cristo is, do you? DO YOU?! Sorry, I'm really defensive of my dearest food item. 

My love for Monte Cristos is so extensive that I have it special ordered at restaurants for me. If they won't make it, I ask for sides of deli meat with my french toast. I've gotten looks. I don't care. Legends Bar & Grill has gotten so used to my order, it's sent to the cooks before I can even ask for my accompanying bloody mary.

Here's what you need to make a proper Monte Cristo sandwich:
-2 pieces of french toast
-turkey
-ham
-swiss cheese
-powdered sugar
-syrup

I always make sure I have these ingredients on hand at my place. The mornings (or late nights, post bar visits...) that I open my fridge and realize I am out of eggs, or there is no syrup (that was a recent one), are the worst. Le worst.

Basically, it's a sandwich made with french toast, doused in vast amounts of syrup. Perfect combo of lunch and dinner. And totally acceptable to eat for any meal of the day (at least that's what I tell myself).

Now here are only a couple of the probably hundreds of monte cristos I have devoured in the past few months. No shame, guys, no shame.


                                   Ideal when accompanied by either a Diet Coke or bloody mary.



Proud of this creation.

FAVES: Skulls

Yes, skulls. A recent trip to Mexico sparked this very current and very intense obsession of mine that I have yet to shake. I just spent about 2 hours favoriting anything and everything "skull" on Etsy, and only stopped myself because it was 4 in the morning. I just woke up at 8 and continued feverishly pressing that little heart icon over and over again. To clarify, I am not really talking about the Halloween-type skulls and skeletons, nor am I referencing the pirate-themed skull and crossbones. I am talking about straight up Mexican calaveras, here. Day of the Dead. These skulls are more cartoon-like and most definitely not meant to be scary. They are just plain awesome. 

It's this tray, that I bought in Mexico, that started it all:


And I've only been spiraling downward since...

 Two separate pairs of earrings I bought. Gold ones, bought at Buffalo Exchange in Mpls, silver I got for a buck at a flea market in Cape Cod, MA. (please excuse ridiculously bad quality of photo)
 Hannah and I made an impromptu trip to Joann Fabrics today and I hit gold within the skull category. Above is a pretty little lady that I named Eloise. I didn't buy this fabric, but I'm going to paint her on a mini canvas I bought.
This was my happiest purchase of the day. Bought 2.5 yards of this fabric (called "Los Novios") and plan on making two large pillows with it for the new place.

...and so concludes the first (and perhaps very long winded) SSFF post of Girl Palace history. Hope you survived it! 


Don't be afraid to share with us your SSFFs of the moment!

-G