Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 124

Sriracha Citrus Mayo

The first time that I heard the word Sriracha, it was on an episode of "Top Chef" where the chefs tried to make Sriracha ice cream. Even though I'd been eating Thai food since college (at Doc Chey's Noodle House in Atlanta) and I'd seen the red bottle on the table with the rooster logo, I didn't know the name of the sauce that it contained.

But Sriracha, a spicy emulsion of chilis, garlic, and vinegar, is prized by chefs all over. You can find it in most speciality stores (Whole Foods has it in the international aisle) and if you squeeze a bit on to your take-out Chinese food or Thai noodles, you'll punch everything up into the stratosphere. Your mouth will cry: "Oh baby."

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Archie McPhee

Growing up, Craig was a big collector. He collected matchbox cars, stamps, shells, stickers, Star Wars action figures. "You name it, I collected it," he tells me now.

By the time he entered fifth grade, he started collecting what he and his friend Joe referred to as "Creepers." He recalls: "These were basically rubber skeletons and animals--frogs, lizards, snakes, bats, bugs--and we treated them like action figures and played creeper games and created a whole universe like Dungeons and Dragons."

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See Cole Live

You know my friend and occasional cat-sitter Cole Escola? We once cooked live together? He has a one man show coming up at Joe's Pub at the end of the month. You'd be crazy not to see him live--the Washington Post called him "charming, weird and LOL"--so, New Yorkers, get your tickets here.

What We Ate in Portland, Oregon

I am doing something now called convalescing which, in dictionary terms, means I'm recovering from an illness: specifically, the flu, which hit me like a ton of bricks Monday morning and kept me in bed, motionless, for 48 some-odd hours. Now I'm starting to get the twinkle back in my eye and I'm glad that's the case because I had so much I wanted to blog about this week! Specifically, this year's trip to the Pacific Northwest.

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Weary Traveler's Spaghetti

Last night, before I fell asleep, I tried to remember all the phases of my 21 hours of travel from the previous day.

I took a bus from the Bellingham airport to the Seattle airport where I rode a mini-train to my gate, waited three hours (during which I bought a Snickers bar which I saved for the plane) and as I finally boarded, I was told that my overstuffed suitcase was too overstuffed to fit in the overhead. During the flight, I had a middle seat but it was in an exit row, which is kind of a mixed blessing. I read a George Saunders story in last week's New Yorker, which I highly recommend. When I landed in Washington, D.C. (the only place I could fly to make it home to New York before January 3rd), I rode another mini-train to the baggage claim where I was told that I was at Dulles airport which is 25 miles from D.C. proper.

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The Best of 2010 (My Favorite Recipes, Restaurant Dishes & Food Books of The Year + Other Cool Things That Happened)

My flight home from Seattle was cancelled this morning and because I booked my tickets on Orbitz, and the flight was a Continental flight, I've been zooming back and forth from the Orbitz website to the Continental website trying to figure out my next steps. Turns out, there's not much I can do: apparently, Continental will re-book me eventually and though I'd like to speak to a human on the phone to confirm that, so many people have been stranded by the great blizzard of 2010, there's no way I'm going to speak to a human at either Continental or Orbitz for a very, very long time.

Which is why this is a perfect moment to do what so many other food bloggers, magazine editors and newspaper writers do at this time of year: I'm going to write my Best of 2010!

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Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

It's pretty comical to come to Bellingham, Washington for Christmas. Comical because, for this Boca Ratonian Jew, it's like stepping out of a noisy deli into a Christmas card. I'm writing this right now in a coffee shop with a Yule log burning on the fire and several people sitting around me who look like Santa Claus. Last night, when Craig and I stepped out of the car after driving up here from Seattle, a crowd of people stood around a bonfire singing Christmas carols. He's not even dead but I'm pretty sure the rabbi who oversaw my Bar Mitzvah is rolling around in his grave.

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Leftover Brisket Ragu

Last we spoke, we made an eight-pound brisket.

Here's the thing about making an eight-pound brisket. If you make it? You're going to have leftovers. And then you have to ask yourself: "What should I do with those leftovers?" That's why I'm offering you this follow-up post, a quick recipe for leftover brisket ragu.

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Don't Risk It, Make a Brisket (A Recipe)

No matter what holiday you celebrate this holiday season, there's going to be a dinner and since you're reading a food blog right now, there's a good chance people are going to expect YOU to make it. Your options will be fairly limited--people have certain expectations when it comes to holiday dinners--and in the canon of culinary techniques available to you, you'll most likely choose roasting since that particular verb yields so many classic holiday dishes: roast beef, roast turkey, roast reindeer (see my banner.)

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The Ratatouille Sandwich at Prune

In September, I shared with you a picture of the Avocado Sandwich I ate at Prune for lunch (link here.) The response was enthusiastic: "Ohmgosh that looks so beautiful," wrote Shannon. "Oh, PRETTY!" wrote Hannah. "That sandwich is a work of art!" wrote Kathryn. Again, it was a very enthusiastic response.

Last week I took Molly Orangette to Prune for lunch (I felt it was a very Orangette-like selection) and the avocado sandwich had been replaced with a ratatouille sandwich. When it arrived I snapped the picture you see above; and when I took a bite, I knew I had to do a post about it.

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