A Very Sushi Birthday

Yesterday I celebrated my 29th birthday. I had lunch at my favorite local sushi place, Miyako in La Mirada with my family. Food was wonderful as usual, and I was treated with a wonderful sushi floral arrangement made of salmon and albacore sashimi and fried California rolls. Though this picture looks like the roses are made of thick slices of fish, they are actually sliced very thin, each rose made of about 12 slices.

After stuffing ourselves with lots of sushi, Gaetano helped me open my gifts which included a sashimi knife from my dad, a book all about sushi from my brother and sister-in-law as well as a gift certificate to a sushi preperation class.

Mom, who even hesitates to eat chicken terriyaki for fear they won't cook it enough, didn't go with the sushi trend. She gave me a set of 4 vanilla decorative candles and a Vornado 210B air circulation system that I'm really looking forward to testing out. (I don't have air conditioning here and summers are brutal.)

From Gaetano (via my mom), I was given a date displaying paperweight. It is hard to describe, but it is made of wood blocks that have numbers that can form the current date. There is a set of 3 blocks, each having a different month on each of their 4 sides. The blocks allow you to form any date of the year.

After lunch, we made a quick dash over to my brother's house and had cake. It was a bit rushed because I had a 3 o'clock appointment at Burke Williams and it was already 15 after 2.

I barely made it to Burke Williams in time for my full session massage, courtesy of John and Andrea (bother and sister-in-law) alla Christmas 2003 gift certificate. I swear, they give the best gift certificates!

So after my massage, I really wanted to soak in a jacuzzi but in the rush of the day I'd forgotten my swimsuit. Swimsuits are optional, but I really didn't feel up to it this time.

I decided to treat myself to the Calistoga Getaway. It's not like me to splurge and spend money on myself like this at all... With all my health problems recently, I figured a body wrap couldn't hurt if it indeed does rid the body of toxins.
I'm so glad I did, and hope to be able to afford the luxury again once I recover from paying off all my medical debt.

Those who know me well know that I very rarely have occasion to get out of the house for time to myself, so this was a much needed break. All in all it was a very nice birthday that won't soon be forgotten. Thanks to everyone who made it special!

Oh, almost forgot... I even got a special sushi birthday poem/song written just for me from a friend (you know who you are ;-)) in Canada:

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to ~Angela,
Happy Birthday to you!

May you live to a thousand and one,
May you drink loads and loads of rum,
Enjoy raw fish, you sexy dish,
Happy Birthday to you!

I think this is what they should sing for birthdays in Japanese restaurants. Would be quite funny...

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