An Actor, A Politician, and A Chef.... quite the afternoon

An Actor, A Politician, and A Chef.... quite the afternoon

• 11.15.2010

As I previously alluded to on Twitter, I had a trifecta of "celeb" sightings on Friday.

I'm a pretty big celeb gossip follower. I don't have a particular celeb that I follow or am invested in - I just find it to be one great way to waste some precious time. (Sidenote: A few years ago, I actually gave up celebrity gossip for Lent).

Since I've been in NYC, the celebrity sightings have been few and far between - perhaps you remember when I saw "Wolfie" from Nine by Design and Gary Busey. Since then... NOTHING.

Then Friday happened.

I got to Penn Station a smidge earlier than I normally would for my noon Acela home to Beantown. Procured my Auntie Annie's pretzels and took a seat in the Acela lounge. This dude came into the lounge sporting sunglasses and a hat inside... huge give away. Turns out it was Victor Garber. Normal people would probably remember him from Alias or other shows/movies. Me? I remember him from "First Wives Club". Yep, I'm that kind of special.

Source: Victor-Garber.com

To be honest, I didn't remember his name, nor could I clearly hear him say his last name when he checked in... but after wracking my brain for a solid hour I remembered he was in FWC.

Then, Charles Rangel walked into the lounge. He was pretty boring - except the fact that he was rocking a slightly pretentious red pocket square.

I also didn't know who he was but knew he was a politician that was embroiled in a bit of scandal. This morning when I was getting ready in my hotel room I saw Rangel's mug on the screen in regards to his current ethics scandal. Today he was featured on the MSNBC homepage after he walked out of his own hearing. Apparently he decided that he didn't have enough time to prepare and now wanted to get a lawyer (despite previously declaring he would act as his own lawyer to save cash money). The 80 year old is being charged accused of 13 counts of financial and fundraising misconduct that violated House rules. Sounds like he's been naughty.

Lastly ... and most exciting if you ask me. I saw Tom Colicchio get off the Acela right before I got on. My dad is generous enough to share with me his Amtrak Acela upgrade coupons, so I was waiting to get on the First Class car when Mr. Top Chef judge hopped off.

I'm a pretty big "Top Chef" fan and can say I've watched all the seasons pretty faithfully with the exception of the "Washington DC" season. It seemed not so exciting to me. I wonder if Tom liked the food service on the Acela and which option he selected for his lunch: the crab cakes, asian chicken, or the beef sliders. Personally, I preferred the Asain Chicken... I'm sure he cares.