More Firsts

Yesterday I had my first New York City celebrity sighting! I had breakfast at Norma's at the Park Meridian with my old friend Bella. She and I both worked at PSS in the early 90’s - only she stayed with the company long enough to reap the benefits of the stock upswing in the late 90’s and now lives in a gorgeous, tastefully decorated, million-dollar condo overlooking lake Washington in Kirkland. She drives a sporty Mercedes that she ordered in America and took delivery on in Germany. She’s one of the more successful & classy people I know.

Bella has always been fortunate in real estate and has had the “sexy” jobs at Microsoft – like MSN producer, business developer, etc. While in town this week on business, she ate at the Plaza, had a day in a spa, had drinks in the Cellar (a bar in the basement of the Bryant Park Hotel), and had several other fantastic drinking and dining experiences that she was eager to tell me about.

So, it’s always cool to see Bella and hear her stories. I hadn’t been to Norma’s before – a fairly upscale (i.e., fancy and expensive) restaurant that is renowned for serving a great breakfast. That it does. They actually have a couple of lobster frittatas on the breakfast menu with price tags of $100 and $1000. Printed underneath those is "Expense it if you dare.”

It took us forever to order – not because of poor service, but because we had a hard time deciding what to get from the fabulous menu. I finally settled on the Berry Brioche French Toast (about $18). The bread was the size of my plate, and about 4” tall – more like a French toast loaf! - but was light and airy like an angel food cake. The lady next to me turned around to gawk – she couldn’t believe the size of my meal either. It was one fantastic breakfast.

Guess who walked in not long after we sat down and sat about two tables away from us? Emmy award-winning Wendie Malick. She's the one who plays Nina Van Horn on the TV comedy "Just Shoot Me." How neat is that? I always liked her – she’s one of those rare down-to-earth actresses. She was there with two men in beards. And she looked even more beautiful in person than she does on TV. I discovered later that she is originally from Buffalo, was a model in NY, and now has a home in the Santa Monica Mountains. Anyway, seeing one of my favorite actresses up close was pretty exciting for me.

My second “first” of this past week happened last Saturday when I was waiting for the E train under Lexington Avenue after my Home Depot trip. There on the platform was a middle-aged, casually dressed man of Asian descent who was singing opera. Not just singing opera, but singing it very, very well. He stood there with his Yamaha keyboard and belted out tune after tune. He even performed a rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

I’ve seen a lot of subway performers in my three months here, but this one outranked them all. I’ve never before seen a larger crowd gathered around on the platform watching someone play. This guy was good. People of all shapes, sizes, ages, and colors were dropping money in his bag. And you could tell he was enjoying himself. The E train is always a long wait. I’m glad it took a while for the train to come this time.