my first star sighting, it's a sign!

today on a walk in the meatpacking district, feeling totally glamorous after a wonderful (and free!) haircut at the bumble&bumble salon, who should i cross paths with but stephen. no, not that steven. we're talking -ph, not -v: this one!

for those who are unaware of who stephen is, and why on earth it would be a sign that he was my first star sighting here in new york, allow me to explain.

in 2006, bravo tv started a little competition. twelve contestants, twenty one days. eleven hopefuls and only one star would rise to the top. this mes amis, was top chef season one. among those first contestants was stephen aspirino. he made it a good portion of the way through the entire series, ending up getting eliminated in the eighth of twelve episodes.

without going back and watching the entire first season of top chef again, i don't really remember much of stephen's performance that time around. it is of note though, that this would not be the last time we would see stephen in the top chef kitchens. he came back for a charity episode before season three, and was a contestant in a holiday episode. more relevantly, he was a top chef all star.

i have nothing to say of his performance on the show itself, because it serves no purpose to gush, guffaw, or gossip about his cooking. it's a difficult task to rise to, and i don't envy his position, returning to such a cutthroat competition after not being directly in the kitchen for so long.

and with all of this in mind, here i am, wandering the streets of new york, feeling wonderful and i almost walk directly into stephen. stephen, who is a successful, and well-known chef. stephen, who knows what's what in a kitchen. stephen, who is, for what it's worth, an all star. i had been writing a text message and had i not looked up right when i did, would have completely missed him.

no, i didn't stop him. (we were walking in different directions). no, i didn't get to talk to him. (he was talking with two other people, about something that seemed relatively important). i did get to make eye contact (so yes, it was him!) and beamed for the rest of my walk to union square.




i feel accomplished.