It was Michael's birthday on Sunday, and I played a rather fun little trick on him by presenting him with a portable vacuum cleaner that I purchased after brunch, declaring with a flourish that it was his birthday present. We've needed a small vacuum cleaner and I bought it thinking only of crossing the item off my to-do list, but when the idea came to me right outside the apartment, it was too good to pass up.
The ruse didn't last long, as after he confirmed in disbelief that I had indeed bought him a vacuum cleaner for his birthday, his mood went from mildly grumpy to heinously grouchy in a matter of minutes. Poor guy. I guess because I hadn't even wrapped the thing. To be fair, I would be scratching his eyes out if he bought me a vacuum cleaner for my birthday. Well, maybe not if it were the newest iRobot...and probably supplemented with some other nice presents.
As for the real birthday celebration , I brought him to dinner at Wagyu Lounge, a restaurant rumored to have THE best burger in Hong Kong. Was this possible? Michael's quest here for a really good burger has been never-ending and I'd begun to think of it as his Hong Kong holy grail. So when I read the reviews I knew that this was the place we had to try.
. . .
His reviews were very favorable. A success! We can say with confidence that this has been the best burger in Hong Kong thus far. Not bad, my friends, not bad.
We had spent the afternoon shopping in Central, trying to find some work appropriate pants, shirts and sweaters for him. But because it's Michael, we came away with no business attire (too thin, too cheap, too short, too dark, lack of neck integrity, etc. etc.) and instead only a t-shirt and a hoodie. (See above picture for the newly acquired hoodie actually!)
Fittingly enough, he had also asked me to bring his old Hugo Boss suit in for dry cleaning. I shuddered and complained about the (old and now rather ill-fitting) suit, while barely concealing my glee over my real birthday present.
Because the real birthday present was of a sartorial nature, of course. The bespoke suit. It's quite a special experience, requiring three or more fittings with a tailor who hand pieces your suit together. The fun (and intimidating) part is getting to choose all of the little aspects of your suit: material, color, lining, width of your lapels, length of your jacket, etc. etc. Essentially, equipped only with a measuring tape, chalk, paper and pins, a tailor measures and fits you, and continues to tweak and fit the suit to you in each stage, until the finished suit is literally made for you. After the first suit, the tailor has the individual's paper pattern for future suits, one that the experienced eye can translate into the slightly longer leg, the thinner arm, or the lower shoulder.
In preparation for setting up this appointment, I diligently trolled a lot of web pages about Hong Kong tailors and men's suiting, learning a lot about gorges, plackets, breaks, pleats, darts, lapel widths, button types, and last but not least, fully canvassed versus fused jackets...
We go for his first fitting on Wednesday.
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