Queens | Worlds Fair Site

For a few years now I've been wanting to go to the Queens Museum and World Fair site (aka the Queens Globe, set of Iron Man...) and this past Saturday night I finally did!

I was meeting a friend for coffee when I was invited to the museums grand re-opening. Offered free booze, free admission, and the chance to check one off my bucket list; so of course I jumped on board!!!

We hopped on the 7 Line and made our way to Flushing Queens. Meeting up with a few other folks at the local "white folk" Mexican restaurant (which was quite good), we went on an adventure hike to find the museum. Wandering around Flushing was an experience in itself, it felt as though we were in Anywhere-Suburban USA. That was, until we saw the iconic "T" shaped structure "Terrace on the Park" and knew we were close. We, in our ultimate wisdom, listened to the boys who tried to take a shortcut through the restaurants humongous parking lot; instead we were fenced in and it took us 15 minutes to realize so. After more wandering through parks at night in the dark... we finally found it!

I spotted the museum first, and hadn't realized that the globe was behind the museum, as we approached I witnessed the iconic globe! Seeing it at night was spectacular! It was just as shiny, watery, and lit up as I had dreamed. The water feature was magnified with the lighting, what a beauty!
Once I soaked up all my excitement, I turned around and went into the museum.

While the museum itself was nice, I was a bit surprised at how small it is. The exhibits were intriguing, but the piece-de-resistance was the model of NYC (photos below). As a city planner I had been wanting to see this for years. The scaled model is huge. The museum built a room and plexiglass walkway around it. Building heights, street widths, mini airplanes, the lot of it!

One of my favorite features is the little plane that flies in and out of LaGuardia Airport. It's tied to a string and circles back and forth. Too damn cute!!!!

After the museum we made our way to Flushing (another first for me) for the best Chinese food I've had to date! Fried rice with egg and scallion, eggplant, spicy chicken, and shredded lamb galore! Plus Chinese beer, tea, and all the white rice you can muster!

I'm sad I didn't take any photos while in Flushing, but you can bet your backside I will be back soon!

Back to the Bay!

Squid taking down a ship

I've been feeling very uninspired lately, which is the reason for my blog slacking. I'm not exactly sure where my time has been going but I've been staying busy. I've been working on some art including sketching up a wood box that I plan on burning a design into. I'm pretty excited to see how it comes out.

In other news my boyfriend and I went to the Bay area yesterday and spent the day at the beach and went by this little coastal town called Sausalito. We hadn't had a chance to go out of town in a couple months so it was a long overdue trip. We usually go to Stinson Beach when we head to the ocean which is where we headed this time, only this was the emptiest I've ever seen it. I guess because it was the day after a three day weekend so everyone had already had their fill of the beach. It was like we had our own private beach for the day!

There are only a couple of restaurants in Stinson Beach as it's a small little town with a population of about 500, but the restaurants they do have are really good! We tried a new restaurant this time called Breakers. The menu is somewhat limited in terms of seafood which is what I usually like to eat when I go to the ocean but they did have have a blackened salmon sandwich which was delicious! It had a really big salmon fillet and the bread was out of this world! The sandwich was served with crinkle cut fries (my fav) and coleslaw which was really good too. I don't usually like coleslaw but this one hit the spot. (Come to think of it i should've taken a picture of this scrumptious meal!) Last time we went to Stinson Beach we tried this one restaurant  Parkside Cafe and the food was really good too, I would recommend the crab cakes! I kind of liked Parkside Cafe a little bit more than Breakers because they have more seafood selections, but Breakers definitely had bigger portions and their salmon was just as good.

Sunset over the bay, Saulsalito

After the beach and lunch we headed to Sausalito. It was around 5:30 or so when we arrived there and a lot of the shops were already closed but we did get to go into a couple of our favorite shops downtown. Not only are the shops, and galleries amazing in Sausalito but they also have a really good ice cream shop!  Although I can't recall the name of it offhand, they offer a make your own ice cream sandwich with homemade cookies and all kinds of exotic flavors of ice cream, including Egyptian pistachio (which is what we ordered). After we had enjoyed an awesome view of the sun going down over the bay and our yummy ice cream sandwich we headed back to Sacramento. And although it is always nice to get out of town and see something new there's really no place like home.

Dorothy was on to something.

LeFou, I'm afraid I've been thinking...

A dangerous pastime I know!
- Gaston, Beauty and the Beast

While the quote is a silly childhood memory, the meaning behind it rings true.

We live in a world of our own making.
One in which we create everything, the earth, the air, the sun, the sky... This world is unique and different for each of us, yet we never recognize these differences.
We fight, we bicker, we laugh, we cry.
We find others who are like us, call them Democrats, call them Republicans.
We group, we coup, we charge on.

What is this world we live in?
Is it real, or is it a falsity of our imagination?
Do you really want to know the answer, or are we always seeking more.
Why not accept what is our fate, a destiny spent within our own minds.
A world in which we seek answers, and draw conclusions.
A world that is perfect in all its imperfections.
Why must we always question it, rather than enjoy being in the moment?

Thinking is dangerous.
It persuades us to escape from reality into our own perfect universe.
I can spend hours with myself, thinking, imagining, wishing, longing, dreaming.
Who is to say this world is not as real as the one outside my imagination?
I live just as much as a being within myself, as I do amongst the populous.

Today, I have been listening to spoken poetry and think I've fallen in love.
I began listening to Sarah Kay a few months back and again today.
I am in awe of how beautiful her words are, and the stories she shares.
I wonder if I am able to do the same, or if I am destined to be another amongst the crowd.
I want to know this beauty that she holds, this ability to make words come to life.

If interested, please watch her spoken word poetry below.

I promise you won't be disappointed.

http://www.kaysarahsera.com/

Mashed Banana Snack

As you're all well aware I have a bit of a sweet-tooth, an addiction to ice cream, and try to eat healthy. So for the past few weeks I've been creating recipes for making my own frozen things; it began with the frozen fruit, moved into mashed banana, and now has manifested into a new concoction I'd like to call "banana frozen treat."

This new frozen treat is awesome, flavorful, and healthy. I have 2 different versions depending if you want to eat it immediately or if you'd like to freeze it.

Ingredients

Banana

Cinnamon

Honey

Milk (I use coconut, but any milk will do)

Directions:

1. Mash bananas

2. Add cinnamon (to taste)

3. Add honey (to taste)

4. Stir

* if you're eating it immediately stop here, if freezing continue *

5. Add a gracious amount of milk

6. Stir

7. Freeze

You can add any additions you please, chocolate, caramel, nuts, etc.

My only issues have had to do with the amount of milk, if you use cows milk, cream, or yogurt it should turn out creamier. When you use any non-dairy milk it comes out a little bit icy.

I've been washing and saving the packaging from Steve's Ice Cream, which has come in handy when I am this, but any type of freezer friendly plastic Tupperware should do the trick.

Personally though, my favorite is eating it immediately without milk. The flavor is much more intense, plus I'm impatient.