Tantalizing Treats

I had brunch with Deesha, a former colleague, on Saturday. We went to Good on Greenwich Avenue in the village, it was packed as usual and a bit of a wait for a table, but it was worth it, their orange sour cream donuts are too gorgeous to pass up. Afterwards we wandered around the West Village and Chelsea, popping in the odd shop to browse, although I’m trying to minimise shopping sprees in favour of saving towards a deposit for an apartment these days. A laughable effort quite frankly given the price of apartments over here. I received a card in the post a few weeks ago advertising studio apartments at one of the new buildings going up a few blocks from me for $685,000. Can you believe that? For a studio? It's outrageous. I think the only way I will be able to manage to remain living in Manhattan is to marry a hedge fund manager, although if Manhattan is going to end up populated only by wealthy finance types I probably wouldn't want to live here anyway.

After a few hours window shopping we ended up at Cafe Grumpy for a coffee, a really good coffee shop on 20th St and 7th Ave where they take their caffeine very seriously. They do that coffee art stuff too, y'know hearts and leaf shapes in the froth. I can't resist that for some reason. I was waiting my turn at the counter when I noticed a guy filling the pastry case with the cakes the cafe brings in from Kyotofu restaurant, a high end dessert spot on 9th Avenue and 49th, and decided that Deesha and I needed to celebrate with a cake - her divorce coming through, my green card, any excuse. I’m really stretching out this green card celebration, mainly with food related treats, but you’d understand if you’d ever had one of Kyotofu's mini miso chocolate cakes. They are DIVINE, around 1/2 inch high and 1 1/2inches diameter chocolate cakes with a gooey chocolate center, and perfectly sized to have with a cup of coffee.

The guy behind the counter heard me rhapsodizing about the cakes to Deesha and asked me if I'd tried the muffins (missus). I hadn't, he told me they were also really good and we got to chatting about Kyotofu, how good the desserts were, and how I hadn't managed to go yet even though I worked fairly close by. He introduced himself as Michael, asked where I worked, told me I should come in - which was when I realised he worked at Kyotofu and not Cafe Grumpy and was there delivering the cakes.

Not to sound big headed or anything, but I was getting a vibe he was interested in me. My new resolution is to run with any interest if the man in question is seemingly normal, pleasant and of good hygiene, so I looked at Michael in a new light and noticed he was actually pretty damn cute and assumed he was some delivery boy-slash-waiter-slash actor type working at Kyotofu to pay the rent until he got his big break on Broadway - not that I was letting my imagination run away with me or anything.

The 'I-think-he-might-be-interested-in-me' vibe was further reinforced when he hung back a bit as he was leaving to say goodbye, he shook my hand, told me it was really nice to meet me and said that I should stop by Kyotofu soon. When he'd left Deesha turned to me and said "WOW!! He seemed to be REALLY interested in you!! What is it with you and restaurant types? [GS is a restaurant manager] You should definitely stop by Kyotofu next week."

"You don't think he was just looking to drive more business to the restaurant?" I asked Deesha

"Absolutely not, he seemed to be really interested in you and kept looking you up and down as you were waiting to order. You should go in and say hello to him next week, he was really cute."

I can barely wait to go, it's so nice to finally be interested in someone else after all the crap I put up with from GS. I'm already plotting who I can coerce into coming with me and kicking myself for not giving him my number then and there.

Saturday evening was a good laugh, I braved a salsa social with dance pals Azniv, Jacqui, and her friend Rinna who, it turns out, lives two blocks from me. We went to a vietnamese restaurant in Chelsea first, Safran - great food, but the service was a little lacking, although I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now as they seemed a bit short staffed - and I told the girls about meeting Michael this afternoon - I'm so lacking for male attention that I feel the need to share even the most insignificant of encounters. Rinna it turns out was at Kyotofu for 'dinner' - a dessert sampler - on Friday night.

"Oh I was at Kyotofu yesterday, I met Michael. He's really nice, such a charmer and so cute. He's one of the owners."

I was flabbergasted when she said that. One of the OWNERS?? Delivering cakes to Cafe Grumpy?? Maybe there are two Michaels at Kyotofu. I quizzed Rinna for a description, but sure enough it sounded as if 'her' Michael was the same guy as 'my' Michael, which had me questioning whether he was actually interested in me or whether he really was just trying to drum up new business for his restaurant.

Of course to be sure we were talking about the same person I Googled "Kyotofu owner Michael" when I got home - I know, I know, stalker behavior. I can't help myself, I'm Google mad. Most of my female friends shamefacedly admit to a similar affliction. I would google GS on occasion after we broke up, there is a female porn star who shares his name ha ha!!! I share my name with a police officer in Canada. I imagine her riding around CHiPs style on her motorcycle, ridding Canada of hoodlums.

Anyway, sure enough a Michael Berl pops up on Google as a co-owner of Kyotofu. There is even a video interview with him, so I know he's the same person I met in Cafe Grumpy. What I wasn't prepare for was the fact that he's 24! TWENTY FOUR!! Can you believe that? I'd have probably said late 20s, but twenty four?? I'm gobsmacked he's so young and owns his own restaurant in New York. Mr. High Achiever

Given the age difference I'm slightly rethinking my decision to go over there this week, I mean, who am I, Demi Moore? Madonna? Miles????

Then again, cute men who show interest in me are few and far between, so maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth...