Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 131

Melissa Clark's Chocolate Chip Pecan Loaf Cake

[A note on the above photo: that was taken by my friend & neighbor Rob Meyer who came over for cake and let me tinker with his SLR because I'm thinking of getting one. Has the time come? What kind should I get?]

The idea of a snack cake really appeals to me because, for most of my childhood, I'd come home from school and snack on cake. Only the cakes I'd snack on were the kind of cakes you find at a rest stop on the highway: Yoo-Hoos, Twinkies, Ring-Dings (my brother's favorite) and...

The Avocado Sandwich at Prune

It doesn't happen often, but sometimes you're at a restaurant, waiting for your food, and you see a dish appear on the pass. You think to yourself: "Ooooh, that looks so good, maybe I should've ordered that?" You stare it for a few more beats and begin chastising yourself for ordering the thing you ordered instead of that other dish. "What was I thinking? That looks so much better! Mine's going to suck."

That's exactly what happened to me the other day when I had lunch at Prune, only...

Emily Wallendjack's Pistachio Pudding (at Cookshop)

Meet my friend Cara (screen-left, pink top). On October 9th, she's getting married.

A few weeks ago, at her wedding shower, we were chatting and I was asking her about her wedding cake.

"We're not having a wedding cake," she said. "I'd rather have a dessert I really like," she explained. But when it came to choosing that dessert she said, "The one dessert I most want is this pistachio pudding with chocolate cookies and salted whipped cream I once had at Cookshop. But I don't think...

The Taste Test: Honey

Ok, folks, time for another Taste Test. I know some of you are wary of the unscientific nature of this project, but science was never the intention. Think of it more like hanging out with me in my kitchen as I taste stuff. And this week we're tasting honey: clover honeys from Brazil, New Jersey and the Union Square farmer's market. Which will I like the best? Click "play" and find out.

Previous Taste Tests: Water, Eggs, Chocolate, Chardonnay, Peanut Butter.

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Lunch at McDonald's

Writing about McDonald's is a dangerous thing for a food writer. There are two possible outcomes: you turn up your nose and write a snobby screed, offending those who eat there and like it. Or you write something in its defense, and you piss off 99% of the people who read food blogs, who love "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and who think the entryway to Hell isn't marked, as Dante suggested, with the phrase "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" but, instead, by golden arches.

Perhaps, if I tread ...

My Friends Do Talented Things

This post is to inform you that my friends do talented things. For example, my friend Travis Sentell (who once wrote this guest post) has a book out called "In The Shadow of Freedom." You should read it. My friend Ricky Marson produced a CD for our friend Merideth Clark who writes and sings her own songs. The CD is called "Young Stellar Object." You should listen to it. My friend Rob Meyer (whose house we just stayed in on Cape Cod) wrote and directed a short film called "Aquarium" which rece...

Cooking For A Group, Part II

You may recall a post, back from September 15th, 2008 called "How To Cook For A Group."

In that post, I whined about how I wasn't good at cooking for a group: "The truth is that to impress a large group of people, you've got to cook large. Some folks are better at cooking large than others; I've come to discover that I am far superior at cooking small. I'd much prefer to cook for four than to cook for fourteen: I'd rather roast a chicken than a whole pig, I'd rather man a single skillet t...

The Taste Test: Water

Remember the movie "Twister"? Well I'm about to follow a bunch of storm chasers (a.k.a. Craig's film school friends) to Cape Cod for Labor Day weekend and we're going to get very, very wet. (In case you haven't heard, there's a hurricane blowing that way.)

In the spirit, then, of wetness here's my latest "Taste Test" for Food2.com. In it, I do a blind taste test and compare tap water, filtered water and bottled water. What kind of water do you drink the most at home? We're filtered water p...

Strange and Exotic Candies from Around The World

It all started with the heart-shaped glass bowl.

My friend Lisa's getting married at the end of the month and, earlier this year, when she registered at Crate and Barrel they gave her that heart-shaped glass bowl you see above. On my birthday, in February, she re-gifted it to me. "Adam, I want you to have this," she said, handing me the box. I unwrapped it eagerly and then stared at it. "What am I supposed to do with this?" I snapped, ungratefully.

"I dunno, fill it with candy!"

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Back to School Banner

I don't know about you, but I think this month's "Back To School" banner is one of Lindy's all-time greats. Can you imagine such a cafeteria? Way better than the ones I remember from my childhood (especially the one where, in 4th grade, I threw out my retainer in a brown paper lunch bag). Thanks to Lindy Groening, once again, for her stellar work and to Justin Dickinson for pushing all the right technical buttons.