It's nice, sometimes, to know how low you can really go

There's a quote in the Afterward of Kitchen Confidential where Bourdain is looking back on his career and the highs and the lows of where he's been and where he is now that has always stuck out to me.  I'll warn you now that if cursing bothers you, you may want to skip down a bit.  And if you don't like cursing you may want to skip this book altogether.

"Anytime I think 'This is beneath me!' or "This is fucking humiliating!' I have only to think of lying to my Mom to get a few dollars for crack, or selling my books and records on Broadway, or working at that horrifying TV-themed restaurant to remember what real humiliation is.  It's nice, sometimes, to know how low you can really go, what kind of bestial behavior you're capable of in times of extremis.  It makes lunch with some Hollywood fucktard -- or an interview with an over-Botoxed news anchor -- got down a lot easier." (307)

Everyone, at some point or another, reaches some sort of low and these lows give you perspective into the rest of your life.  It follows the idea that to truly be happy to have to experience sadness or you'll end up taking the good times for granted.  Maybe because this is a universal truth but this more than the no-fish-on-Monday, recycled bread, or the general tales of kitchen debauchery stands out as a memorable part.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't the only good quote nor is the Afterward my favorite section of the book -- that would be A Day in the Life as I mentioned in my previous post. It's just an idea that sticks with me long after I've put this book back on my shelf.

Next up on the book queue I'm thinking the set of Stephen King short stories Everything's Eventual.  It's a re-read so if I make it to a bookstore over the weekend these plans could change.  But since I'm using my Dad's mantra of "all plans are soft" when it comes to this blog to give myself the excuse to change my mind at a moment's notice.  And I believe that is as close as I'll make it to a Father's Day themed post, so enjoy that.

Bourdain, Anthony. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Harper Perennial, New York. 2007

Reading on the subway: how I pretend personal space exists during my commute

One of the ways I know I'm really enjoying a book is if when I'm reading it everything else around fades away.  I do most of my reading during my daily commute and the more I can forget I'm in a tin can sharing 1 square foot with 8 other people the better. My commute takes me right by Fenway Park so I dread any home game I'm not going to because it means twice the amount of people will be on the train, most of whom are oblivious to subway etiquette.  Today was one of those home games and I had to let 2 trains go by before I could finally squeeze myself onto one, so I was ready to forget where I was.  The cruelest part of a crowded train is when it's too crowded, there isn't even enough space for me to pull out a book, so we went a couple stops before enough people shifted around and I made myself over to a pocket of space where I could actually hold a book out in front of me, although the space behind me was still shared with 3 adults, 2 children and a large backpack.  But even the yelling of excited Red Sox fans and the bag hitting my arm at a steady rate I was able to block it all out and focus on the book, because the story pulled me in.

I guess I'm saying a good book is the equivalent of me holding my hands over my ears and going "lalalalala" to the rest of the world.

I suppose this isn't the best judge of a book, but it's certainly something I keep in mind whenever I'm picking out a book from my shelf to re-read.  Today I was lucky enough to be starting the "A Day in the Life" chapter of Kitchen Confidential. This is my favorite chapter and Bourdain's writing is vivid enough that I can picture the crazy restaurant whirlwind when the closest I've come to seeing the inner workings of a restaurant kitchen is reruns of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.  Perhaps it's some measure of schadenfreude (and yes I sang the song from Avenue Q to spell that) that I like reading about the insanity of the kitchen to make my commute feel like a leisurely stroll. And just as I finished the chapter the train pulled into my stop.  Perfect timing.

What are your escape books?

If you have any doubt which will dent -- the victim's head or your pan -- then throw that pan right in the trash.

I've actually followed the advice in the title quote when buying pans.  It certainly resulted in some odd looks from other shoppers when I made a comment about how a particular pan was no good because I clearly couldn't kill anyone with it. And so I begin re-reading Anthony Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.  

I first read this book 4 or so years ago, when a friend of mine kept giving me passages out of the book to read at as he was reading it himself.  I'd hear laughter and then "Come here, you have to read this part!" I borrowed the book from him as soon as he finished reading it and bought my own copy of it about a year later, when I no longer had direct access to his bookshelf.  I never really expected this book to become one of my go-to re-reads and yet this is at least the 4th time I'm reading it.  It's not the most challenging read but it's never failed to entertain me.

At this point in the re-reading I've gone through courses one and two.  I like the style the book is written in, jumping between memoir style chapters and general sections describing what it's like to work on the line.  Just as my friend used to have me read a paragraph here or there, I've found I can just pick up the book and read pieces here and there.  The tone of the book matches his TV show No Reservations especially in the chapter "From Our Kitchen to Your Table" chapter where he describes the food he avoids when he goes out to restaurants.  But as he says

"Do all these horrifying assertions frighten you?  Should you stop eating out? Wipe yourself down with antiseptic towelettes every time you pass a restaurant?  No way.  Like I said before, your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park.  Enjoy the ride." (73)

I've found it difficult to write these blog entries for a memoir type book like Kitchen Confidential is.  Since it's non-fiction, it doesn't make sense to examine the characters or plot points, in my mind anyway.  I suppose in this way the entry I have here can act as a general review of the book (I loved it, you should read it) and subsequent entries will probably focus on a single incident or line, because I've always written my papers off the tiniest scrap of a piece of work and it worked for me when I was at school.  May as well keep that theme going now.

Title quote from page 80

Bourdain, Anthony.  Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.  Harper Perennial, New York. 2007