Michael Sautter

A columnist in the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer put forth the idea that the Eagles could trade Donovan McNabb to the Chicago Bears for LB Lance Briggs before the season starts. It’s not going to happen.

The reasoning behind this rumor is that the Bears need a quarterback and the Eagles still could use a little help on defense. Briggs, a very good linebacker, has vowed never to play for the Bears again. So, the thinking goes, why wouldn’t Chicago trade him and get something for him.

Well, for one thing McNabb is still rehabbing his ACL injury. Speculation varies a bit but no one will know for sure how health he is until he plays some real games which will not be until the pre-season games at the very earliest. And even then I’m not so certain Chicago would make the trade since McNabb would then have very little time to learn the Bears’ offense.

From the Eagles point of view, they do not want to trade him because they feel they can compete for the Super Bowl this season. Without McNabb the Eagles will not contend this season. Also the Bears stand in the way of the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl this season, why make them stronger? Finally Lance Briggs would not make the Eagles defense that much better. Certainly the not such a dominating force that they could win with A.J. Feely at quarterback. A quarterback can make or break a football team, not so much a weak-side linebacker.

The 2007 may be McNabb’s last with the Eagles however I doubt very much that he will be traded before the season even starts, mostly due to his ACL.

This is chef Bourdain’s autobiography as it relates to food. It should appeal to people who are interested in food, cooking or restaurants.

Tony first became aware that food is important as a child when his family spent a summer visiting relatives in France. Later in life, as a teenager he worked in a kitchen at a seaside resort town in New England. This is where he decided upon a life as a cook. Tony dropped out of college and entered the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).

After graduating from the CIA, Tony returned to the seaside resort town and worked in a restaurant and did catering on the side with a friend who was a pastry chef. Tony then continued to chase the dollars which led him to New York City, where he cooked in a number of places, including a large union shop high atop a sky scrapper (that Frank Sinatra frequented), a smaller Italian restaurant owned by a very organized Italian family (ya’ know what I mean), and a restaurant near Broadway owned by a gay couple. Tony and his cohorts even tried opening their own restaurant in the city. Notice I said ‘tried,’ it flopped.

Then Tony realized that the food had to come first and he became the executive chef at Les Halles, the restaurant in Manhattan that he is most associated with and which he gained some notoriety. The book’s final section deals with a typical day for Tony at Les Halles. Tony also compares his career with another chef who put food first his entire career and there is a trip to Tokyo to instruct French chefs before the opening of a Les Halles restaurant in that city. All along the way there are a number of colorful characters, my favorite is Adam Last-Name-Unknown. The book ends with a commencement speech Tony gave to a graduating class of culinary students.

When it was first published, Kitchen Confidential caused a bit of a stir for Tony’s recommendations for restaurant diners. He suggests the best days of the week to eat at restaurants and which day that it might be best to avoid the seafood. If you like your steak well-done then you may want to change your mind after reading Kitchen Confidential.

For home cooks, Tony recommends making your own stock and demi-glace. He also gives a few tips about kitchen knives.

I really like this book and I read it in a weekend, however some people are turned off by Tony’s personality. His style is not of a fancy-pants chef who visits the Met to watch opera with his free time. Tony is a straight talker with the odd curse word thrown in here and there. His music taste is for 1970s US punk - Ramones, Dead Boys and Television. Think sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll rather than wine, women and song. Whether you like him or loath him, Tony gives you a look into the kitchen of the restaurant business.

I like Legend, it’s a good, heroic sword and sorcery story. I intend to read more of the books in The Drenai Saga.

The basic plot is that the Nadir empire is threatening to swallow up the Drenai kingdom. A lone castle stands in the way of the Nadir horde, can it stand up against the invaders and save the Drenai people? Coming out of retirement and to the defense of the castle is Druss, a legendary warrior.

The story takes a little bit to really get cooking and the end is a bit contrived but in between it is a real page-turner.