Avid Reads: Kitchen Confidential

I'm not sure what it is, but lately food has been creeping into my reading repetoire beyond the usual food blogs that I incessantly read each day. On my vacation in Antigua, I curled up under a palm tree with Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, where not only did I read all about Tony's lifelong struggle with drugs (to me, providing some of the most interesting parts of the book) but learned all about the ways that the home cook dishonors food and all of its glory - most notably using jarred garlic, something that I do frequent in my own tiny apartment kitchen out of, really, sheer laziness. Sorry Tony. Oh, and did you know that one should never consume sushi on a Monday? I won't go into specifics, but let's just say that now I know why Hoboken's Teak offers half priced sushi Mondays. Anyhow, with his signature snark that I love so much, he details his rise to culinary glory - as a child, his first taste of oyster on a fishing boat in France, his coke-induced dishwashing days in Provincetown, all the way to heading up the culinary team at his now-famed Park Avenue restaurant, Brasserie Les Halles. Oh, and let's not forget a little show on Travel Channel called No Reservations, which just so happens to be my favorite travel show. Bottom line? I could have gone a lifetime without knowing the ins and outs of the culinary underbelly, but Tony did make it a fun ride. And my can't-get-enough-of-this-guy feeling has only gotten stronger. (Oh, and I should mention that many foodies have probably jumped on the Kitchen Confidential train long ago as this book has been out for a couple of years...I know I'm behind the curve, but what can I say? My love of all things food is still fresh...)

So what about you? What are you reading these days? Do you read food books? Food blogs? I just opened up Omnivore's Dilemma on the Kindle and something tells me I'm not going to love all of the information I get from this one...