Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 148

Gina DePalma's Zucchini Olive Oil Cake

You say "chocolate cake," and the masses come; you say "olive oil zucchini cake" and there's a bit of a silence. "Ummm," a timid voice emerges a few seconds later. "What kind of cake did you say?"

It's olive oil zucchini cake, timid-voiced person! Or, rather, zucchini olive oil cake. It comes from Babbo pastry chef Gina DePalma's book "Dolce Italiano" and one bite will make a convert out of you. It's moist, it's got terrific fall spices (cinnamon? check. ginger? you got it. nutmeg? who's y...

Momofuku's Ginger Scallion Noodles

Bow down before me, mortals, it's time to face facts. David Chang is one of the most celebrated, important chefs in New York, right? Right. His cooking is hardcore and bad-ass isn't it? It is. So what does it mean that a mere amateur like me, a tiny speck on the giant tapestry of New York gastronomy, not only created one of Chang's signature dishes at home--his Ginger Scalllion Noodles--but that I did it so accurately? So triumphantly? So magnificently? It means, I surmise, that I am the...

The First Meal

The first meal that you cook in a new apartment is very, very important. We all remember what happened last time, don't we? I attempted to inaugurate our Park Slope apartment three years ago with Edna Lewis's fried chicken (fried in butter and lard) and didn't get the fat hot enough. The result? Gooey, gloppy, undercooked chicken and a cursed apartment that gave us bad heat over three harsh winters. (OK, I exaggerate: I liked that apartment. But the heat did suck).

For the...

Where To Eat in Park Slope

As we close the chapter on my Park Slope existence, it's time to reflect on all the food that I'd eat there, day in, day out. The food in Park Slope is very good, sometimes great, sometimes not-so-great, but almost always consistent. It's best divided into two categories: the food you should eat if you live there and the food you should eat if you visit.

If you're visiting Park Slope, there are two essential destinations and a few semi-essential destination.

The first...

Outstanding in the Field

[When my friend Jimmy Hilburn told me that he was attending an event called "Outstanding in the Field," I asked him if he'd take pictures and do a guest post. As you can see below, Jimmy went above and beyond the call of duty. Here's Jimmy with the story of an unforgettable dinner.:]

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Is it still considered "eating locally" if you have to travel over 1000 miles by car, plane, subway and jitney just to get to your "local" destination? I'm going to go out on a limb and say probably not...

Gorilla Coffee

The big question, when we finally decided not to renew our lease here in Park Slope, was not: "How will we afford to move?" "How are we going to find an apartment as nice as this one in Manhattan?" "Will we get our security deposit back now that the apartment is caked in cat hair?"

No, those were certainly questions we asked, but the big question--the major hurdle to jump--was this: "How will we live without Gorilla Coffee?"

It happened rather gradually, at least for me.

A...

A Response To C. Kimball

[Last week, Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated wrote a rather nasty Op-Ed in the NYT, linking the closing of Gourmet Magazine to the proliferation of food blogs. Obviously, this hit a nerve with me, so I penned my own Op-Ed in response. I share it with you below, but recommend you read his first (click here), so you get the context.]

A few years ago, as my relatively new food blog began to gain in popularity, I turned to a mentor, John Kessler of The Atlanta Journal Constitution

How To Paint Your Kitchen

This is the story of how two dunderheads, one who'd never painted a room before, the other who'd only painted a wall, spent a full Saturday (from 11 am to 1 am) painting a bedroom and a kitchen. For the purposes of this post, we will focus on the kitchen; a task that might seem daunting at first, but one that, as will be evidenced by the pictures, is well worth the effort.

The dunderheads in question are me, your Amateur Gourmet, and my friend Rob Meyer who's not a dunderhead a...

Kitchen Colors

We move to our new apartment a week from today (ahhh!!!), and this weekend my friend and new neighbor Rob and I are going to paint the new kitchen. The question: what color should we paint it!? Craig and I are leaning towards orange--check out this gallery of orange kitchens on Apartment Therapy--but I'm very curious to hear what you think. So what say you, readers: what color would you have your Amateur Gourmet paint his kitchen? The more specific, the better.

[Note: click the title of thi...

Roasted Chickpeas

Let me say right off the bat: this is not a great recipe.

It has the potential to be a great recipe--I really wanted it to be a great recipe--but as it stands right now, it's in need of some serious tweaking. And that tweaking may just be the simple addition of a Tablespoon of olive oil, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Last week, I hosted what will probably prove to be our last Park Slope dinner party. It was just a few close friends, nothing super fancy (I made an endive...