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Anthony Bourdain's "Nasty Bits"

Richard_D

By Richard_D
in Food Media & Arts

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Claudia Greco

Claudia Greco

Posted
Posted
Dear Lord.  Bourdain looks so pale in that white coat.  And so CLEAN---like he's about to do a heart transplant. 

I hope he's feeling OK.  And like WRITING some more.  Now.

Tony was anything but pale - it was the kleig lights. He was very relaxed, much like a man working in his own home kitchen, and not in the intensity of a NYC restaurant kitchen at the height of service, as you might have thought. He has contributed to the follow-up of Do Not Try This At Home (it's called How I Learned to Cook, and will be out on October 31, according to Amazon), and says he is working on a crime/mystery novel, I believe.

It must have been a long day for him - he was on campus by at least noon (which means he must have peeled out of Manhattan by 10 am), finished the cooking and Q&A at 2-ish, signed books forever, was scheduled to do an interview with a reporter from the Stony Brook paper at 4 (she made a point of telling me while we were on line - 19 year-old girl reporters are just adorable, don't you think?!), got stuck in the same rush-hour traffic going back to Manhattan that I was in, in the rain, and then wedged in an interview with the 92nd Street Y - hopefully, by phone. Just in time to hear that Corey Lidle of Tony's beloved Yanks was killed in a small plane crash into the side of NYC apartment building. This was after 2 days of cooking prep for this gig. But it appeared to be well within the range of AB's legendary gigging stamina (!)

Both AB and Beth The GrillBitch seemed quite upbeat and accessible - Tony only got a little "verklempt" when I asked him, specifically, who wrote the endpiece for the Malaysia episode (about travel SHOULD leave scars on you - on your skin, on your conscience, etc.) - he did, every word. It was personal to him. And when I asked him about his own inner equilibrium NOW, after he was traumatized witnessing Beirutis being "crushed under the wheel" and beind devoid of hope. The short answer is, while he always gets cheered up news like Paris Hilton's been punched (!), his own zeitgeist in the long-term "is a function of time and travel." Lebanon is, I think, still too fresh for him. Afraid that I had cut too close to the bone by asking him that, I apologized to him later at the book-signing table, but he replied that it was fine, and however bad it was for him, it was far worse for the Lebanese. And then he tormented me a little about an earlier book-signing I was at, so, yes, I'd say he seems to be in good form (!) :cool:

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K_A_S

K_A_S

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Afraid that I had cut too close to the bone by asking him that, I apologized to him later at the book-signing table, but he replied that it was fine, and however bad it was for him, it was far worse for the Lebanese.  And then he tormented me a little about an earlier book-signing I was at, so, yes, I'd say he seems to be in good form (!)  :cool:

This is one of the many reasons why I am a Bourdain fan; from his writings and his U.S./Mexico border show (in which he gives credit to the people who are doing so much of the cooking in high-end restaurants they could never afford to patronize) right up through his Beirut special (where he manages to share his own traumatic experience without failing to grasp that others have it even worse), the man manages to understand the big picture, and in a serious way. My hat's off to him.

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Dianne_VA

Dianne_VA

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Dear Lord.  Bourdain looks so pale in that white coat.  And so CLEAN---like he's about to do a heart transplant. 

I hope he's feeling OK.  And like WRITING some more.  Now.

He has contributed to the follow-up of Do Not Try This At Home (it's called How I Learned to Cook, and will be out on October 31, according to Amazon), and says he is working on a crime/mystery novel, I believe.

Bourdain posted elsewhere that it is his fourth crime novel due out next year and titled NO NEW MESSAGES.

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jsmeeker

jsmeeker

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I didn't get in on the free copy thing. But I did pick up a copy today. Something easy to read for my trip to San Francisco next week.

So far, it's good. I've never READ any of Tony's stuff before other than Kitchen Confidential, but I've seen a lot of him on TV. So, some of the stuff is familiar (the Vegas article) and some of it is like stuff I read in KC. But it's still AB. And I have a lot more to read. I also like the background notes for each story that are at the end of the book.

Jeff Meeker, aka "jsmeeker"

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Margo

Margo

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Me, too. Great variety--I really liked the piece on crime and gangsters. And it was fun reading the, um, expurgated story of his dinner at Masa with Ruhlman and Ripert, since the rough draft appeared here first.

Margo Thompson

Allentown, PA

You're my little potato, you're my little potato,

You're my little potato, they dug you up!

You come from underground!

-Malcolm Dalglish

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rooftop1000

rooftop1000

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My free copy arrived last week

keep the faith

tracey

The great thing about barbeque is that when you get hungry 3 hours later....you can lick your fingers

Maxine

Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

My Webpage

garden state motorcyle association

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arbuclo

arbuclo

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While reading an article on Anthony Bourdain and barbecue on msn.com, I noticed a link for a free book (which just happens to be The Nasty Bits).  It's only for people in the US, which I am not, (nor do I have anyone whom I can use in my place and who can then send it to me).  So, for all you lucky US residents, here's the link. 

No strings attached, but you must be of legal drinking age (it's sponsored by a beer company).  Oh, and from what I can tell from the fine print, Californians do not qualify, either.

I signed up for this free book ages ago and it finally arrived! I totally didn't think it would actually happen so I was very very pleased. Thanks so much for telling us about this. I'm very much looking forward to the read. :biggrin:

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. – Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973, Italian Designer

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Kent D

Kent D

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Posted

Winter (and the toilet seat) won't seem so cold now - my copy of "Nasty Bits" has arrived. Perhaps MSN knew what they were doing when they delayed sending the copies until I really needed it...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A favorite dish in Kansas is creamed corn on a stick.”

-Jeff Harms, actor, comedian.

>Enjoying every bite, because I don't know any better...

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