The guy had the personality of a dial tone.

Don't get me wrong. The restaurant (Picholine) was lovely and the staff beautiful and attentive. The room in which the class was held was elegant and tasteful (though easily within earshot of the kitchen...noisy!). But man alive, after the 23 students were seated around the large square table, Mr. McCalmer started in in the most quiet and unobtrusive way that it took me a minute to realize "Oh wow! The class is starting and this low-talking dude is the teacher!". He rambled on and on in a ridiculous monotone about how he came to appreciate cheese. Now, I find the topic quite interesting, so I was able to hang on for the most part. But after 30 minutes of humorless, dry discourse about cheese (and two glasses of very nice wine) it was EXTREMELY DIFFICULT not to burst out laughing when Max very dryly relayed the fact that he injured himself "cutting the cheese".

AAAIIIEEE!

We were so relieved when the class was over. We giggled all the way to our next stop.

Which was: Calle Ocho. A wonderful Cuban restaurant where we drank "mojitos" (think fresh, minted limeade spiked with rum) and ate ceviches and plantains and some delicious food. We gave Rachel some lewd gifts, including pinning a lovely "bride's veil" to her hairdo. The veil was white tulle with small pink plastic penises (penii?) hanging from it. MY GOD!

We then hightailed it to the theater, where we saw the musical "The Full Monty". What a TERRIFIC show! I can honestly say it's now my favorite musical ever. The songs are lovely, the lyrics are touching and funny, and the choreography was stellar. If it comes to your town, don't miss it! I've already bought the soundtrack and I play it all day long.

But as I was watching the show a man's head was partially blocking my view. He was an older man with white hair and a distinguished look, and as he turned to the side I thought "I know who that guy is. Who is he? I know who he is!" Well, after recruiting my sisters and my mom to take a look, I finally figured it out on my own. And I was STUNNED.

It was Nick Clooney.

Nick Clooney is a Cincinnati celebrity. He writes a column for the Cincy Post which goes out on the web. He was a local ABC news correspondant, a radio personality, a movie show host on American Movie Classics... and much more. He also happens to be the brother of Rosemary Clooney and the father of actor/director George Clooney! I'm a huge George Clooney fan, and I knew who Nick was. I'd read his column a few times and I knew his wife, Nina, sometimes subbed for him on his column. After the final curtain, I tapped him and said "Excuse me, are you Nick Clooney?"

"Yes, I am! What's your name?"

"Leslie Evans! And are you Nina?" I addressed the lady next to him.

She looked surprised. "Yes, I am."

"I read your column on the Internet!" I told them. They both gave a shout of surprise. "We're here tonight to celebrate my sister's wedding. It's her bachelorette party!" I gestured to the gang I was with, and started introducing them. The girls who were with me were a rather bemused. "This is Nick and Nina Clooney!" I said enthusiastically. They shook hands and then it was very funny when they realized who they were meeting.

"What a perfect show for a bachelorette party!" said Mr. Clooney.

We began to file out, and my mother still hadn't met them. I started to feel guilty because at intermission I had raced over to my mother (she was sitting alone in a different section) and told her I thought I was sitting behind Nick Clooney. She was all charged up to go find out and I got scared and begged her not to approach him. Now here we were chatting with him! I tapped him on the shoulder in the aisle and said "Mr. Clooney, I'm really sorry to bother you, but would it be possible for you to wait for my mother? She sitting in a different section and I know she'd just love to meet you."

"Sure!" he said. "I'll wait out front."

And he did! He met my sister and her friends out front, and chatted with them until my mother showed up! When she finally did, he made a big fuss over her and how glad he was to meet her. My sisters and I decided to get cute (as he was being very suave and charming) and we all smooshed our faces up against mom's. "Do we look like her?" we asked.

Mr. Clooney shook his head regretfully. "You're not as pretty," he said, then gave a sly smile to my mom.

We all howled. What a smoothie! He left soon after, and all of us had trouble standing as our knees were so weak. George Clooney clearly gets his charm from his dad. (Though his mom was very nice, too.)

Shortly after that the cast from the show herded out. One of the women in the play (who had a showstopping number called "You Gotta Love That Man") approached my sister. "I saw your veil when I was out in the audience! Congratulations!" We got to chat with her for a bit and tell her how much we loved her number. Her name is Andrea Burns and she played Belle in Beauty and the Beast among other things. She was very very nice and sweet and recommended a great restaurant for us to get dessert at. So with a big TA TA to Broadway we went to Thalia's Restaurant...where we had wonderful desserts and "Mocha Loves"... their signature chocolate martinis. DEE-LISH!

My god, what a night. I spent the whole time at Thalia's reeling over my evening.

The next day was Sunday, and people were starting to head home. My older sister and I went to the Guggenheim museum and saw a great exhibit of Brazilian art. They were also installing a six-story tall Brazillian altar piece in the main corridor that was simply breathtaking.

We saw some Kandinksys and Chagalls and other wonderful cubist art. The Guggenheim is fabulous.

On our walk home we stopped at a Greek Diner and chowed on some good solid diner food. Then we walked back up Madison Ave. where we poked into some adorable shops (including the CREED parfum store where I bought a bottle of Imperial Millisime...my new favorite). Shortly after that it was time to head home (a lovely traffic jam delayed our cab to the JFK, but we managed to make our flights nonetheless.)