Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 26

Go See The Skeleton Twins!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen: the time is now! If you live in New York, L.A., D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, I need you to do me a favor right now: open a new window in your browser, go to one of those movie ticket sites–Fandango, for example–and load up The Skeleton Twins and then get your tickets to see it this weekend. Yes, it has to be this weekend. Opening weekend is so important for an independent film like this and it’s not like I’m forcing you to do something unpleasant: the movie is getting rave reviews. The L.A. Times calls it “one of the better movies to come along this year”; it’s a New York Times critics pick and Stephen Holden calls it, “a well-written and acted movie about contemporary life that doesn’t strain for melodrama and is largely devoid of weepy soap opera theatrics.” So what are you waiting for? Plus, you guys know the director personally: he’s on my blog all the time. He went with me to El Bulli, he ate that disgusting curry I once made, and oh yeah we got engaged last year. So be part of our lives this weekend–Craig’s been working on this movie since I met him over eight years ago–and it’d mean so much to us if you went. In fact, if you do go, feel free to come back here and leave questions for Craig; I’ll be sure to get the answers from him. How’s that for an offer? And everyone else: if the movie’s not playing in your city this weekend, be sure to find out when it’s playing next week and get your tickets ASAP. Thank you all so much…we’re so excited for you to see it!

Leftover Panzanella Cake with a Fried Egg

Resourcefulness is a quality that emerges gradually as you get more comfortable in the kitchen. At first, you might make a panzanella salad–with big chunks of toasted bread, heirloom tomatoes, garlic, a little anchovy, some basil, olive oil, and red wine vinegar–eat most of it and then throw the rest away because panzanella doesn’t really keep. That’s level one of being a cook. But to graduate to the next level, you should put the leftover panzanella in the fridge and figure out something to do with it the next day. Option 1? Blend it into a soup (why not? It has all the makings of a gazpacho and a tomato bread soup combined). I went for Option 2: frying it into a cake.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Sponsored Post: The Lime Truck’s Lamb Flat Bread Sandwich with Tzatziki

Not long ago, I made a trip to the Orange County Fair–about an hour from where I live in Atwater Village–to partake of the food trucks that gather there right near the farmer’s market. My first stop was the Lime Truck, a well-known L.A. enterprise (they won Season 2 of the Great Food Truck Race on Food Network), where Alex–one of the truck’s long-time employees–walked me through one of their most popular items, the lamb sandwich. My mission: to recreate it at home.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Craig on Charlie Rose

The big day is here: THE SKELETON TWINS premieres tonight at the ArcLight Hollywood and our families are all in town for the big event. I have to say, this all feels super surreal and exciting and wonderful, but also–as far as Craig is concerned–well-deserved. He’s been working on this movie since I laid eyes on him over eight years ago at Joe, my favorite coffee shop on Waverly Street in New York. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures from the premiere tonight, but in the meantime, check out the video above of Craig on Charlie Rose with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig talking all about the movie. Oh, and wouldn’t this be a good time to buy your tickets for the weekend? Opens in New York and L.A. this Friday then expands to 50 more cities next week!

Penne with Bacon and Flageolet Beans

What’s with me and pasta? No, seriously, I’m really asking: how can I eat so much of it and never get tired of it? Sometimes I think it’s my own personal Rosebud, because my earliest food-related memories involve sitting at a little yellow plastic table on a gray carpet in front of the big TV, eating fusilli with Prego on top. Am I trying to recreate the innocence of childhood? Perhaps. Or maybe it’s just that pasta is so versatile and, more importantly, once you know the rules of how to make it–undercooking your pasta in well-salted water, then finishing it in the sauce, taking off the heat when almost all the liquid’s absorbed, and finishing with raw olive oil and grated cheese–it’s just one of the most impressive, delightful things you can make at home.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Finding out someone’s favorite color doesn’t do much for me. “Oh teal? How interesting,” I say as I fall asleep standing up, collapsing into a heap and waiting for someone to kick me awake. But finding out someone’s favorite flavors is a different story. For my friend Michael’s birthday dinner, this past weekend, I texted his husband John to find out what kind of desserts he likes and John texted back: “He loves banana cream pie and pretty much anything peanut butter.” Banana and peanut butter: what a fascinating window into Michael’s soul! As I contemplated my own favorite dessert flavors (definitely anything almond; mostly because I grew up eating rainbow cookies which are made with almond paste), I started flipping through Karen DeMasco’s Craft of Baking–which was partially responsible for the crisp I just posted–and I stumbled upon the perfect Michael dessert recipe: Banana Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Vanilla Bean Brown Butter Nectarine Blackberry Crisp

Wow, that’s a mouthful, but you have to admit it sounds good. I got the idea from the New York Times Cooking newsletter; Kim Severson was guest writing it for the day and she mentioned a trick she learned from our mutual friend Bill Addison who learned it from Nancy Silverton (how’s that for a game of telephone?). The trick is this: when making a cobbler or a crisp, brown some butter, scrape in the seeds from a vanilla bean and then stir the whole mixture in with the fruit. As far as ideas go, this is right up there with E = mc2. (How do you get the 2 up there? Where’s Einstein when you need him?)

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

How To Eat Crow (Or: Kristin Puts Me In My Place About Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts and Pizza at Home)

When someone has a target on your head, it can be a scary thing. But ever since I wrote that article “Ten Things You Should Never Serve At A Dinner Party,” Craig’s sister Kristin has been out to get me. She first made herself known in the comments: “Dear Amateur Gourmet,

Allow me to introduce you to two of my close friends I call Chicken Piccata and Chicken Marsala. They are delicious when made properly, and if you think they’ll always be dry, leathery, and inedible then you apparently have not spent enough time eating in Steve Johnson’s kitchen.” (Note: Steve Johnson is Craig and Kristin’s dad.) “I don’t get this vendetta against b-less, sk-less chicken breasts, I think it’s entirely too stringent. They’re the blank canvas of the meat world! (I stole that phrase from another blogger.)”

And so it came to pass that on a recent trip to Bellingham, Washington, Kristin totally and absolutely put me in my place.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »

Skeleton Twins In The Press

We’re one week away from the world premiere of Craig’s movie THE SKELETON TWINS and things are getting super exciting. For example, Kristen Wiig’s going to be talking about it on tonight’s David Letterman so be sure to watch. Also, coming up: Bill Hader on Seth Meyers (9/15), The Daily Show (9/16), Luke Wilson on Live with Kelly (9/16) and Seth Meyers (9/16), Ty Burrell on Jimmy Kimmel (9/17) and Conan (9/18), and Bill Hader on Craig Ferguson (9/22). Plus: here’s an early look at a Bill and Kristen interview from this weekend’s New York Times Fall Movie Preview. If you haven’t been following along, you can track our history with the movie (from Sundance to the trailer) by clicking here. Start making plans to see it when it hits your city in the next few weeks!

Jasper White’s Corn Chowder

Recipes, sometimes, are like dreams. You experience them but then, quite often, you forget that you’ve experienced them. And then you’re standing somewhere, and the memory floods back to you: “I was being chased by a gorilla through Filene’s Basement!” Or, in this case, “I once made a corn chowder so good that I wrote a post called CORNGASM and didn’t even share the recipe.” That was back in 2007, after I’d interviewed Chef Jasper White for Salon.com. All these years later, the memory of that chowder came back to me as I started planning the menu for our V.I.P. dinner guests. And after making it again, I can assure you: it really is the corn chowder of your dreams.

Click here to read the rest of this Amateur Gourmet post »