> wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Dee Randall wrote:
>> > wrote in message
>> oups.com...
>> >
>> > Dee Randall wrote:
>> >> > wrote in message
>> >> ups.com...
>> >> >
>> >> > Virginia Tadrzynski wrote:
>> >> >> Fictional:
>> >> >> "Mama" in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. No money, no government
>> >> >> support,
>> >> >> and
>> >> >> she made sure her kids were fed. My kind of woman, she knew what
>> >> >> was
>> >> >> important.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> TV/Real(?): Tony Bourdain, hands down. The man is a trained cook
>> >> >> who
>> >> >> isn't
>> >> >> afraid to eat damn near anything.
>> >> >
>> >> > Plus, when something Bourdain eats tastes foul (like the Iguana
>> >> > tamales
>> >> > he eat in Mexico on the old Cook's Tour show), he says so. In fact,
>> >> > he's arguably at his most entertaining when he's ranting about how
>> >> > bad
>> >> > something is. And when Bourdain says something's great, it's
>> >> > believable. Someone like Rachel Ray is useless as a source of info
>> >> > because she has the same feigned orgasmic reaction to everything she
>> >> > puts in her mouth.
>> >>
>> >> I can't remember which program it was, but he went to the restaurant
>> >> "French
>> >> Laundry" (I believe it was - it's considered by many the best
>> >> restaurant
>> >> in
>> >> the U.S.) and was tasting each dish and commenting. My favorite was
>> >> when
>> >> he
>> >> ordered the lowly "french fry" to see how it compared. He really had
>> >> a
>> >> long
>> >> face when he had to admit how good they were. Bet he was back in the
>> >> kitchen pronto asking chef how they were made.
>> >
>> > That was an episode I didn't see, unfortunately, but I read the chapter
>> > in his Cook's Tour book about that meal at the French Laundry.
>> > Bourdain says it's the only restaurant on earth that is so great he
>> > doesn't mind not being able to smoke there. And then when it came for
>> > dessert, Thomas Keller, the FL chef, knew Bourdain's tastes well enough
>> > to create for him a dessert infused with tobacco!
>> >
>> I have only his book "Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines" which I take
>> with me to read for waiting purposes and have not got through it --
>> I see in that book, he has listed other titles,
>> "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly"
>> "Bone in the Throat"
>> "Gone Bamboo"
>> "Typhod Mary (an urban Historical)"
>>
>> Would you know which of these books the French Laundry experience was in?
>>
>> Yes, Bourdain's is really a smoker, and you can tell the toll it (and
>> probably other things?) takes on him.
>
> It's in his book A Cook's Tour, in a chapter called "West Coast." It's
> one of the most entertaining chapters in the book. He gives a bunch of
> CA. vegetarians the chance to convert him to vegetarianism ("Not one of
> them could cook a ****ing vegetable," he concludes), then goes to SF,
> where he makes note of all the prostitution, junkies, and homelessness,
> and finds it strange that in such an environment he has trouble finding
> a spot where he can smoke some tobacco. Finally he ends up with a
> positive note, his dinner at the French Laundry.
>
> Yeah, smoking's a lousy habit and it has taken a toll on Bourdain. Did
> you see the Chinese episode of "No Reservations"? He tries bicycle
> riding but doesn't make it too far.

Hmm, The book I have is also entitled "A Cook's Tour" in large letters, but
in smaller letters, "Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines." I'm wondering
if these are a series of books of "A Cook's Tour" with each one of them
being under a different category/title.

I've got the Chinese episode recorded from a few weeks ago. I'm looking
forward to seeing it. I'm also recording all the old Global Trekker (or
Globe Trekker) reruns of the 80's, I believe. I'm enjoying them more today
than I did when they first came out. Not enough food in them, but
sometimes.
Dee Dee