Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 107
October 17, 2011
How I Fixed The Lighting In My Kitchen
Last we talked about my L.A. kitchen, I'd mentioned how much I hated the overhead lighting. Fitted with a round, white fluorescent bulb that would be difficult to replace, the resulting light had all the charm of a middle school science lab or the waiting room of a hospital. I tried to time my cooking so there'd still be natural light coming through the windows; but once it got dark, the fluorescent bulbs came on and the room went from charming California kitchen to a scene from "Dexter."
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How I Fixed The Lighting in My Kitchen
Last we talked about my L.A. kitchen, I'd mentioned how much I hated the overhead lighting. Fitted with a round, white fluorescent bulb that would be difficult to replace, the resulting light had all the charm of a middle school science lab or the waiting room of a hospital. I tried to time my cooking so there'd still be natural light coming through the windows; but once it got dark, the fluorescent bulbs came on and the room went from charming California kitchen to a scene from "Dexter."
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October 13, 2011
Does Food Writing Matter?
[Photo credit, Dallas Observer]
By this point it's old news that Sam Sifton, restaurant critic for The New York Times, has stepped down from his job after only two years. It's a pretty short run for a restaurant critic, and his reasons for stepping down have been explained matter-of-factly: he's going to become the Times's national editor. That means instead of covering Parmesan flan and celery leaf sorbet he'll be focusing his energies on issues such as the debt crisis, the job crisis and any other crisis that creeps up before the next Presidential election.
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October 12, 2011
Someone's In The Kitchen With…Zach Brooks
When Craig got his L.A. job offer and I knew that we'd be moving out here, I took great comfort in the fact that Zach Brooks, creator of the legendary N.Y.C. food blog Midtown Lunch, made a similar move a year prior. Which is why, when I thought of starting up my web series "Someone's In The Kitchen With" again here in L.A. (check out my new L.A. kitchen in the background!) I knew precisely who my first guest should be. Join us as, then, as we chat about Zach's blog, his childhood, his life in radio, how he thought up the idea of a site that'd tell office workers where to eat a good lunch in midtown Manhattan and how he's expanded his empire to include downtown New York, Philadelphia and, of course, L.A. Thanks, Zach, for being my first L.A. guest! Your final interview bit about L.A. makes me excited to be living and eating here.
October 11, 2011
Tavern, Wurstküche & Gastronomico
If you're writing your doctoral thesis on The Amateur Gourmet, you've probably discovered, at this point, the methodology behind my madness. Or, if you haven't, it works like this: in a given week I take a bunch of pictures. Some of the pictures I take on my iPhone, the others I take with my fancy camera. On Monday morning, I process all of the pictures and put them up on Flickr and then I sort through them: which ones are good enough for the blog? Which would do better in my newsletter? It's not always based on the quality of the pictures–sometimes, even if the pictures are bad, I know something will make a great blog post; inversely, sometimes even if the pictures are great, there's just not enough there there to blog about. Usually, restaurant pictures are relegated to my newsletter; but sometimes if a restaurant experience is notable enough, I save it for the blog. And thus this is a post about three restaurant meals that I consider blog-worthy.
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October 10, 2011
Oven Roasted Hamburgers
What if you could make hamburgers for your whole family in a matter of minutes, without dirtying your stove or having to light a grill?
That's the beauty of this game-changing recipe from Molly Stevens and her latest book, "All About Roasting." I've been a huge fan of Molly Stevens ever since I bought her braising book ("All About Braising") and, I'll confess, that when the roasting book arrived (I was lucky enough to get a press copy) I dropped whatever it was I was doing and immediately tore into the pages. The recipes and pictures of glorious roasted meats all screamed out to me (I've got like 20 recipes bookmarked already) but the one that intrigued me the most was the one for roasted hamburgers.
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October 6, 2011
What You Can Do With A Kaboucha Squash
At the farmer's market, when I bought those chanterelles, I also spied a Kaboucha squash. It's a pretty squash, as you can see from the picture; the kind of thing that you might use to decorate your kitchen in the fall. (And here in Los Angeles, where things aren't so autumnal, I can use all the help I can get.) Only; if you just used the Kaboucha to decorate, you'd be missing out on its great flavor.
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October 5, 2011
A Gory Banner
I'll confess that I didn't immediately get this month's Halloween-themed banner by Lindy Groening. When I asked her what was happening in the image, she wrote: "In tribute to all those people who have filmed their own horror movie using ketchup for blood…It's you, stabbing the ketchup bottle, as ketchup flies out everywhere, and zombie tomatoes lurk in the distance." I'd ask more questions but now that Lindy's revealed her diabolical side, I'm too afraid. Suffice it to say, it's an appropriately creepy image for this month of ghosts and goblins (and tonight's the premiere of "American Horror Story," which this reminds me of too). Thanks, Lindy, for your creepy work!
My First Chanterelles
It's a known fact that chefs prize chanterelles more than any other mushrooms. In one of the cookbooks that I own (I forget which one), the chef/author instructs: "If you ever see chanterelles, buy them."
And so it was that when I first saw chanterelles at the Hollywood farmer's market more than a week ago, I kind of freaked out. I froze. I was like, "Oh my God! I'm supposed to buy these!" But a small bag of them cost $10 and I felt scared. So I didn't buy them, mentioned the experience on Twitter, and my followers scolded me. Chef Sara Jenkins Tweeted to me, "So easy to cook! Saute w/ butter, thyme, parsley, toss w/ penne and parmigiano! Easy!" Emboldened, I made a point to buy chanterelles the next time that I saw them; and sure enough, this past Sunday, that's precisely what I did.
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October 4, 2011
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Until I get a cease and desist letter from Kim Boyce, whose book "Good To The Grain" inspired me to buy six different kinds of flours last week (that led to a spelt olive oil cake with bittersweet chocolate), I'm going to keep blogging my experiences cooking from her book. The good news is that this particular recipe–a recipe for whole wheat chocolate chip cookies–has already had quite a life on the web. Molly blogged about it, as did Heidi (who made hers in a skillet!). And there's a reason this recipe is so popular; Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies may sound wholesome, but the results are anything but.
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