hot oil and hot lights
Well, there were no midgets or clown cars, but sufficient to say I did enjoy myself yesterday. I had guessed correctly, after several subtle hints dropped by Justin and one accidental look into his "calls received" on his cell phone, that he was sending me to Habitude day spa in Ballard. (Did I honestly believe that Monk would drive all the way from West Seattle to Ballard just for Chai at Mr. Spots'? Noooooot really.)

So, at 3 PM I went in for an essential massage, herbal salt scrub, and scalp treatment. I came out at 6PM marinated, rubbed, steamed and broiled, feeling like a very happy Christmas Roast. I guess I'd made Justin wait for over an hour as I sauna'ed with my smoothie and then showered, but it was well worth it and corresponded nicely with our dinner plans. He kidnapped me (again) to the Space Needle and walked me around aimlessly for half an hour, nearly dragging me into Italian and Thai restaurants before stopping at a small, hole-in-the-wall Japanese place called Shiki.

The sign in front of the door said ふぐ料理(fugu ryouri) in Kanji. Which, if you're not "in the know," means "blowfish food." We weren't there fore blowfish but for the seasonal cuisine served there. It's been almost a year since I had nabe, Japanese cooked-on-the-table soup, and Justin and I made short work of a large pot.

For those in the Seattle area, the chef of Shiki used to be the head chef at Shiro's, a well-known downtown sushi bar, before opening a place of his own. He's a Japanese master chef, and the only holder of a high-ranking FDA approved liscence to serve fugu in the USA. They had some pretty amazing, hard-to-find, authentic cuisine at that place, and while I felt sort of like a traitor going to a Japanese restaurant other than Toyoda's, it was definitely good food. Well recommended.

This morning... well, this morning doesn't top yesterday for pampering but definitely for surreality. To steal a line, the strangest things are beginning to seem rather routine. I've just returned from a photo shoot with Monk at a rather conspicuous dungeoun/ studio and while well-pleased, it is probably good that I'm not going to be running for office any time soon.


Merry Christmas, everyone!! May yours be as interesting as mine.

*wink*