I don't have too many shows I'm into. I like Deadwood and I started watching Hex but my new favorite is Hell's Kitchen. The show is a competition for cooks to win the opportunity to be the executive chef of a restaurant in Las Vegas. They are put through all sorts of cooking competitions with the big contest at night when they try to serve a meal in a restaurant setting. What makes the show is the executive chef in charge, Gordon Ramsay. He is in turn bombastic and harsh, handing out insults and swear words with glee. Then he turns around is very charming to the same people he has been haranguing. An awesome character.
As a I writer, I love him. I've been working on a story which revolves around cooking and celebrity chefs in the 18th century. Yes, chefs were stars in that era and cookbooks were everywhere. I'm in the midst of research but I've had a problem creating the characters. The heroine I've got down but not the hero. Until now. Gordon Ramsay is excellent, a mixed bag of over-the-top characteristics which would make for good reading.
I'm not really one to base characters on people however I will use bits and pieces of people. This guy, however, really clicked with me. Not looks wise, I never base by characters' appearances on real people, I can't. Not that I would mind thinking about a character who looked like Johnny Depp or Hugh Jackman all day, but it isn't how my mind works.
Other stuff....
Last night was a two-Tecate night. Our first day of summer break was rather rough. The kids got into stuff. I went to take a shower and when I got out, I discovered my kids trying to clean up a broken bottle of General Tsao's Grilling Sauce. They made a bigger mess trying to clean it up. I was constantly reminding them to clean up after them selves and my 6 year old followed me around the house asking questions, asking for stuff and generally annoying the crap out of me. We picked up a couple of more fire-belly toads to keep our other one company and got some crickets to feed them. Dummy me, I didn't think about it, but I woke this morning to find the bag of crickets with a hole in it where the critters chewed through. I've spent my morning picking up crickets.
