[Blarg]

Katie, if you have not read Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential, you really should give it a try. It's absolutely hilarious in many places, and gives a really intriguing look at how the business really runs and what it's really like at all levels. If you have any interest in cooking shows or just like a pretty hilarious, sometimes rude romp through what is for most of us a different world, you'll get a bang out of that book. I've read a couple others of his, and he's just a pretty fun guy and a really good writer. He's got a real gift for skewering pretentious stuff yet really grooving on people trying to do high level things, including some that he knows he'll never be able to do himself. Reading him raving about Thomas Keller, often called the best chef in American and maybe the world, is a wonderful take on the kind of high artistic levels a chef can reach that I wouldn't have been able to understand without his help. Reading him rip a new arsehole into people who crow about being vegetarians but then have the nerve to cook vegetables in really crappy, indifferent ways is a hoot I can relate to, as well.

Food Network Star is on tonight, Katie, and I think it's the final episode for the season. I'm sure Bourdain will also have a very interesting blog post on that, too.