Last night Andrea and I went to a schmoozy event for Sandra Lee cookbooks at Le Cirque, this fancy pants restaurant on the East Side. Of course we were underdressed and the youngest people there, but we kept to ourselves and chatted it up. Since the event was for a bunch of cookbooks, I arrived with an appetite, expecting excellent food. The satay sticks and crackers with avocado were delicious, but I managed maybe four mouthfuls of food the entire night. I definitely didn't stay thirsty, though - the open bar, and my new good friend Avery the bartender from Milwaukie, Oregon, kept me supplied with Merlot and Godiva liquer-vodka concoctions.

While talking with Avery toward the end of the night, a suit in his 40s started talking to Andrea. Because Avery and I were talking about Oregon ("Oh my gosh the Country Fair," "Portland is the microbrew capital of the world," etc), Suit said that his brother - Billy Crudup - played Pre in "Without Limits."

I've recently come to realize that I have very little idea of what my facial expressions say, and this condition worsens as I drink. Apparently my face said "I'll eat my Nikes before I believe you're Billy Crudup's brother" because Suit whipped out his wallet and threw his license on the table - yep, last name Crudup. (I don't remember his first name.) I was sure that he just happened to have that last name and used the ruse to talk to young ladies at the bar, so I went back to talking about Widmer with Avery.

Today Andrea did some sleuthing and apparently Billy Crudup has an older brother by the name of Tommy who lives in New York. And Billy's photos look remarkably like the Suit. And Suit's email address is something like tcrudup@blahblahblah. Andrea emailed him today in the hopes he replies and signs with his first name (like people usually do) so we can see if he truly is Tommy Crudup.

Looks like I might end up eating my words, with a side of Nikes.