I remember when the obsession began all too well. It was the summer of 2007, and I was living in NYC for a part of the summer with my awesome sister, Lindsay. I was living it up, playing gigs and was experiencing all that the city had to offer. One night, I went on a date and saw “Knocked Up”, went out for drinks, and then got hungry and the craziest thing happened. At 2 in the morning, we were walking by Parisi Bakery in Astoria, and in goes my date to the side door to buy a fresh hot baguette from the bakers. He had a few words with the bakers, slapped a couple dollars on their floured work surfaces and said to me, “Wait til you try this.” The bread was literally fresh out of the oven, so hot it burned the roof of my mouth but I didn’t care, when drunk hunger sets in there’s no way around it! From that point on I was convinced that eating a whole or partial baguette after a night of drinking could prevent a hangover. My family and friends tease me to this day and like to take pictures of me asleep with bread. Weird, I know.
My most recent visit to Parisi’s came a few weeks ago. I was in NYC for less than 24 hours but managed to eat my way through the city like a champ and naturally, I ended the night at Parisi’s! Believe it or not I was at Parisi’s twice in less than 8 hours…once for a 2 AM pick me up then later that morning at 10 AM. I bought six loaves of semolina bread told the cashier I’m bringing them all back to D.C. since we don’t have any good Italian bakeries. She laughed in slight disbelief.
I put together this photo montage on the evolution of me and the light night baguette, I hope you enjoy! Also, stay tuned for a recipe coming up using the bread I recently purchased. Be sure to check out Parisi’s if you ever find yourself in Astoria!
Present Day Parisi Obsession:
Late Night Parisi:
Enjoy this classic Amy Winehouse song, “Rehab.” I sang this song at karaoke almost every night while living up there, and it never fails to bring back good memories.
