If you have ever been a waitress...

...you might want to read about the "other side"; the struggles of line cooks, prep cooks, pasta cooks, and sous chefs in this terrific, funny autobiographical book written by a former New Yorker editor. Bill Buford fell in love with cooking -- and left the New Yorker -- while being a kitchen slave for the famous Mario Batali (aka Molto Mario) of Babbo in New York. It was a position he lucked into and at times performed with hilarious ineptitude. It includes among other kitchen secrets, an entertaining and disgusting tip on why you don't want to order pasta in a restaurant after 10 pm. (It has to do with the debris in the pasta-boiling pot that goes all night...shhh.) However, "Heat" is definitely not a gross-out extravananza -- it honestly celebrates the deep passion and heritage of traditional Italian cooking.