Perfection

This weekend Yilin and I experienced perfection, after many many hours of paying our dues. But first, let me tell you about my first* celebrity sighting in NYC.

*OK, not really my first. In either the autumn of 1999 or spring 2000, I saw a guy who starred in a sitcom that was cancelled. I can't even remember the name of the show to IMDB him. That's how big of a celebrity he was.

While leaving the BAM theater after "Hedda Gabler" I saw Ed Bradley from "60 Minutes." Now, I never would've recognized him if I didn't have TV this past year, and I must thank my roommate for that one. Exciting, huh?

Aaaanyway, Saturday night marked 3 birthday parties, one of which was a joint birthday party. The first was my pal Laura, who had her party at this cool bar in Brooklyn called "Floyd." Yilin and I made the adventurous trek down there and stayed for about an hour before trying to get to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Let's just say that our subway experience was... long. Insanely long for what is probably a 5 minute drive, or $6 cab ride.

Once in the LES, we (eventually) met up with birthday-ites Katie and Jonah at a bar called "Fat Baby." We had a few drinks, chatted, and then began the trip back to WH because it was far too late to head to birthday party #3. By the time I dropped her off at her place, it was about 3:10am. Was I exhausted.

Sunday morning I woke up. Was I exhausted. I convinced Yilin to take the subway down to Claude's, despite her reluctance to ever ride it again. (We had spent more time during the previous night waiting in the subway stations and on the trains than we had at birthday parties.) I also convinced her to have a chocolate croissant at Claude's, something she never does (she usually has a bite of mine).

Why? Because chocolate is like a drug for her: when she eats it, she gets high. As a result, she doesn't like to eat it in the morning. However, as she was tired and not feeling well, I was able to convince her. Boy, was she glad I did. Claude saw us walk in, asked if we were going to stay this time (last time we were there we picked up croissants for my parents; he remembered that we had ordered to go!), and then brought out 2 chocolate croissants for us, from the back!

Let me explain why this is exciting: Claude clearly has preferred customers. It is obvious, because when one of these people walks in he says "Bon jour" and brings these people the freshest pastries from the back. Naturally, Yilin and I wanted to obtain this status, so we have made a point of going to Claude's every weekend, including at about 7am during the snowstorm that dumped about 20" a month or so ago. We also make a point of saying "Hello" and "Goodbye" (me in English and Yilin in French). Finally, our tactics have paid off!

Back to the croissants: These were perfect. Really. Crispy golden brown flaky crust, warm melting dark chocolate, rich and satisfying and straight from the cooling rack. As the other guy who usually helps bake wasn't present, we can only assume that the croissants were perfect because Claude made them himself, and without the bumbling apprentice to interfere!

I realize that this must sound ridiculous. "It's only a croissant." Ha. David is only a statue by some Michael guy. Sure, you could get a croissant that is >90% perfect at a few good bakery/pastry shops in NYC. But 100% perfect? Nowhere but Claude's. In fact, I need to update the links in the sidebar on my Food page, such that the link text reads "The God of Pastry" and points to Patisserie Claude.

After tasting Heaven, we were in such a good mood for the rest of the day. Yilin reminded me that I should buy a suit, so we took a look around 5th Ave and came across some people handing out fliers for designer suits at 40-60% off. Stop. I did say "designer suits" and I was inclined to look. I have never tried on a suit that fit me well, and getting a custom-tailored suit in NYC can be a bit pricy. So we decided to check it out.

Suits off-the-rack don't really fit me because I am not fat. Right now I am a 46 chest and 34 waist (I haven't been exercising much, hence the small chest and large waist). Any American made off-the-rack suit with a 46 jacket has a 40 waist. Six inches is a lot for a very good tailor to take off a pair of pants and have them look ok. So what to do? Well, apparently some European designers make suits that are more fitted. So I figured I would try one on.

The result? I tried on a suit that fit me so well I was amazed. It didn't fit perfect: the pants weren't quite right as I have a large butt. However, the salesman/owner of the small shop said he could easily tailor them to fit properly. You ask what sort of suit could fit me so well? How about an Italian designer named "Valentino"? Retail price: $1200. My price: much less. So, I decided to go for it. Of course, Yilin was drooling, and that made it easier. When I pick up my charcoal grey suit, I will be turning heads I tell you.