Darling, last night was WONDERFUL.....

The shiatsu massage, that is.

Yes, had a nice adjustment with my buddy down the way, Dr. Stussy, then off to Great Metropolitan Back Rub for a great shiatsu. This therapist really knew his stuff. For a guy, he really knew about the female reproductive cycle in an empathetic way I've never quite heard before. He, like many wonderful Shiatsu therapists around the Twin Cities, were all trained at CenterPoint in Dinkytown. They are very well-versed in things that you only wish allopathic practitioners were trained in....things like pulse reading and tongue reading.

The one type of healing art that I've found to be quite scarce in the Twin Cities, however, is cranio-sacral. If you've ever had it performed on you, you know what a subtle technique it is. The first time I had it done, I was in Seattle. The practioner's name was Nicholas Night. I met him in a mall in north Seattle where he did some chair massages. I went to him a couple of times after my rotation at the hospital. I was so sore from taking three buses to and from that rotation every day, carrying around a backpack (when you commute an hour and a half each way you need your reading material!).

Anyway, he told me about this cranio-sacral technique he practiced. I was intrigued and made an appointment at his home massage studio about a half a mile from the nearest bus stop! It was a dark rainy Seattle evening. Here I am walking to a total stranger's home for a "massage" I've never heard of before! But it was fascinating! It lasted about an hour and a half and it doesn't really feel like anything is being done to you, but then wham! You get off the massage table and you feel three inches taller! Amazing!

I've heard the same thing about people who are rolfed. I'd like to try that sometime as well. My body really needs it. It's contorted into so many unhealthy positions ranging from what I'm doing right now on my computer (typing slouched) to the repetitive motion of dispensing scripts and not using a headset, because, hey, what's the point when you have to take it off every two minutes as you run across the room to run the cash register, counsel patients, turn off the Baker Cells beaping, or answer a technician question?

Well, at my shiatsu, one cranio-sacral technique was practiced on me...it's called the stillpoint. It's just heaven.....otherwise, besides a few other shiasu practitioners dabbling with it, only one other practitioner down the road has ever practiced on me and I have no idea where that person is anymore. All I know was that my body was aching from all that studying for pharmacy boards in 2002 and when I finally took the NAPLEX after a cranio-sacral session, I did extremely well on that exam!

Well, back to the heart of the blog. Food. Yes, it's been a wild and crazy 24 hours of dining for Erika Klus. OK, not really but I just ate that Swiss Chard I told you all about which I bought at the Wedge. Verdict: too salty. I don't know if some stoned little hippie dude put too much salt into it or if that's the way the recipe was written, but I don't think this will be a repeat purchase. Otherwise, the palak dal was nice. The chocolate-peanut butter yin yang shaped tofu pudding was all right. Also ate some chicken from Lund's. Last night was a mustard-based sauce and this afternoon was a thai peanut-based sauce. Garlic green beans completed the meal. White tea at work.

Tonight was a lovely food night! Got off work, had dinner with a colleague I'd been aching to catch up with from another store. We were planning to go to Sebastian Joe's for ice cream, but I was so hungry by the time I got off work that we went to Chino Latino instead. They have these fun two dollar happy hour specials. I had enchiladas w/chicken and black beans. Also some tortilla chips topped with a fried egg and salsa. Both things were topped with sour cream and that peaved me greatly because I hate sour cream and it wasn't listed on the menu. But scraping it off is always an option so that's about all the bitching I can do when the food costs two bucks a head! Also had a fufu martini: blackberry mojito. Yes, it has some sort of distilled liquor but that blackberry puree with mint was just heavenly!

The meal ended with a dessert considered to be almost as good as the real thing after what it's named: Hot Monkey Love!!! Yes, behold, a deep-fried Snickers bar a la mode. So much for keeping with the BTD. Oh, well. Peanuts, at least......

On that note, time to hit the hay.

Ps- if you left me a comment in the last few weeks in which you'd like a response, hold tight...let me get thru this work week and I'll be more than happy to answer your Qs. Really. Promise.