Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 109

Food Shopping For The First Time In California

Do you remember that game show where couples would race through a grocery store trying to buy as much as they could in 60 seconds? "Supermarket Sweep": that's the name of it! I remember watching that when I'd fake sick and stay home from school to watch "The Price Is Right" (the major perk of being home sick) and then the lesser game shows that came on after ("Press Your Luck," "The New Hollywood Squares"). Anyway: I spent the weekend setting up our new kitchen and yesterday I was ready to fill it up with stuff. So I gave myself permission to do my very own version of a Supermarket Sweep.

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Saved By Ramen at Robota Jinya

Maybe because of all the stress of moving (and don't kid yourself: moving is stressful), last week–having survived the ordeal of flying with a cat (I gave her a test sedative the week before which worked almost instantly; the morning of the flight, I gave her the pill at 7, went to a diner, and when I came back at 7:30 she was totally unaffected leading me to believe she'd done like Rosemary in Rosemary's baby and secreted the pill somewhere. So I gave her a 2nd sedative, which she promptly threw up. Freaking out and already late for my flight, I gave her half a pill, put her in her carrier, and sure enough her eyes glazed over in the cab and she was fine on the flight. Phew!) and the endless ordeal of leasing a car (a Toyota Camry) and getting car insurance (Geico) and the thankless task of dealing with movers ("we're coming Tuesday" "now we're coming Wednesday" "now it's Friday")–I got sick. This happens to me; when I'm stressed out, I get sick. So I had a nasty cold and I felt crappy and depressed and unsettled. And having been as enthusiastic about Yuko's guest post as you all were, I decided that I wanted ramen.

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Peppadewed Pork Chops with Cauliflower

One of the best things that I made before I packed up my New York kitchen and moved to California is the dish you see above. I'm calling it Peppadewed Pork Chops with Cauliflower, but the truth is I didn't use Peppadews; I used pickled red jalapenos I'd been testing for my cookbook. However, the next time I make this–and there will be a next time it was so good (more on that in a bit)–I plan to use Peppadews, which are those sweet, spicy, red, pickled peppers you can buy in a jar. You work them into the dish twice: you chop them up and add them to a pan of caramelized cauliflower; then you use the Peppadew liquid to deglaze the pork chop pan to make a sauce with butter.

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The Farewell New York Meals

Anthony Bourdain has said that, for his last meal, he'd want the roasted bone marrow with parsley salad that Fergus Henderson serves at his London restaurant, St. John.

It's fitting then that, for my last meal as a New Yorker, there was that very same dish. Only it wasn't prepped by Fergus Henderson; it was made by Gabrielle Hamilton at what's come to be my favorite New York City restaurant, Prune.

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Zankou Chicken

In 2003, a funny thing happened. My parents were visiting Atlanta, where I was attending law school, and they were staying at a nice hotel in Buckhead. They asked me to meet them there for a drink and, as often happened when I'd sit with my parents in a hotel lobby sipping a gin and tonic, they pointed out a piano and asked me to play it. The lobby was pretty quiet so I shrugged and sat down and knocked out a few tunes. After all, I used to play the piano professionally (I was the pianist at the Boca Raton Hotel & Resort Sunday brunch buffet).

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Goodbye New York, I Will Miss You / Hey L.A., I'm Coming Your Way

All right, folks, this is it. About to turn my modem back in to Time Warner Cable and then I ship my air mattress, pack my suitcase, and await the moment, tomorrow morning, when I drug my cat, make my way to the airport and hop on a plane to become the newest resident of Los Angeles, California. I won't wax too sentimental in this post; New York, you know I'm going to miss you. And L.A., I'm excited to see what you're all about. Thanks, everyone, for enduring this rough period of blogging; it's been tough with no cooking equipment and so much to do. But get ready for the next chapter in this blog's grand adventure…the page is turning as we speak.

My Hummus Place Habit

The West Village is not an easy place to grab a cheap lunch. Don't get me wrong: it's a wonderful place to grab lunch. There's Market Table, 'ino, Pearl Oyster Bar, The Spotted Pig, Barbuto, etc, etc, and so on. But the operative word in my first sentence was "cheap" and while all of those places have wonderful food, if I ate at one of them every day, I'd be broke. Which is why, upon moving here two years ago, I was in search of a place I could visit on a weekly basis, where I could eat quickly and cheaply and relatively healthfully, a place that was convenient to my apartment and convenient to the coffee shop where I do most of my work (Joe). The place I settled upon was Hummus Place.

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True Adolescents Out on DVD Today

At long last, Craig's movie TRUE ADOLESCENTS–which was a New York Times Critic's Pick last month (careful, that review has a major spoiler!)–is available on DVD and on iTunes. Buy it here on Amazon or watch it right now in HD on the iTunes Music Store. Make sure to rate it when you're done watching it and if you have any questions about the movie, leave them here in the comments and I'll ask Craig your movie-related questions in a future "Someone's In The Kitchen With." Enjoy the film!

What I Ate During Hurricane Irene

This weekend on the East Coast, many of us prepared for and then endured a hurricane. How badly we endured it depended on a variety of factors; for those of us in the West Village, things weren't too bad: some downed branches, a few giant puddles here and there. But before it happened and while it was happening, we didn't really know what to expect. And during that time I did what many others in my position did too: I ate.

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Is "The Best Chocolate Cake In The World" The Best Chocolate Cake In The World?

About a year ago, a place opened up in SoHo/Nolita called "The Best Chocolate Cake in The World." A tongue-in-cheek act of hubris, sort of like the novel "Winner of the National Book Award," foodies were skeptical. Many who went there dismissed it as overrated. Me? I forgot about it. But last week, after having lunch with my friends Leland Scruby (of the French Culinary Institute) and Bao Ong (whose name you may recognize from the the New York Times Diner's Journal blog) I asked if they wanted to check it out because it was right around the corner from where we were eating (Falai). They gladly assented.

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