Quick and random: The book [Ball Four](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0020306652/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0020306652&linkCode=as2&tag=noelrap-20)) had a big impact on me as a kid. I stumbled across a copy when I was about 12. If you don't know, _Ball Four_, written by Jim Bouton and published in 1970, was one of the first big athlete tell-alls (though it...

Everything I know about the world of fine dining I know from watching _Top Chef_ and from eating at Five Guys. But I do know this: chefs have the concept of _mise en place_ (which does not mean Mice In Place), which is the idea that everything the chef is...