Can I just say?

Anthony Bourdain, while eating Ali’s food: “I’m insanely jealous of people who live in this neighborhood now.”

Hell, yes!

Now watch the clip:

The funny thing is, I was _there_ for the taping. In the other half of the restaurant that you don’t see on TV. It was not as thrilling as it sounds, to be 10 feet from Anthony Bourdain et al., but the food kicked some incredible ass. (Despite–or perhaps because of–the fact that Ali was drinking his “special” espressos from the cafe across the street, meaning with a slug of sambuca.) If you’re looking very, very, very, very closely, you can see the edge of my glasses in the background while they’re smoking sheesha afterward.

However, if you go here and get to photo No. 9 of 11, you’ll get to see my actual boobs, all decked out in baby blue! Granted, I’m hunching over a little, so they’re not at their best. And you unfortunately can’t quite read my culturally appropriate “New York”-in-Arabic T-shirt from Rana Hajjar. But it’s me. And Tamara. And Nina, another KC loyalist.

But, really, it’s all about Ali, and he looks fantastic. Independent sources confirm this. We have a houseguest arriving in a couple of days from Savannah, Ga., and he said, “Oh, there are two places I want to go in New York! I just saw them on TV! One’s this place called Kabab? In this neighborhood called Astoria? And the other is Prune.” (Sorry–no one’s posted the Prune section online yet.)

Welcome to my world! I know how to cook potatoes rosti the Prune way, and Tony Bourdain is jealous of me!