• “The Sweet Life” Winners Chosen

    Click here to see the winners of our contest to give away three copies of David Lebovitz’s “The Sweet Life.” Thanks to all who participated!

  • Food Book Giveaway: David Lebovitz’s “The Sweet Life”

    My friend David Lebovitz wrote a wonderful book about living in Paris called “The Sweet Life” (read my write-up about it here) and now that it’s out in paperback, his publisher has generously agreed to donate THREE copies to readers of The Amateur Gourmet. If you’d like to win a copy, make up a French…

  • A Shaving Dilemma

    This month’s banner finds me stuck in the bathroom at the (imaginary?) Hotel El Bulli with a shaving dilemma. Thanks to the brilliant Lindy Groening for bringing this idea to life and to Raphael Brion for hanging it on the wall. To see Lindy’s previous banners, click here.

  • French Toad-in-the-Hole

    What if you wake up tomorrow morning, tomorrow being Saturday, and you find yourself craving something savory, but you have all the ingredients for making French Toast? Do you kowtow to your lazy, uninspired side and start heating the maple syrup, or do you allow inspiration to strike? Choose the latter path, the one less…

  • Fusilli with Tomatoes, Bacon & Blue Cheese

    Fusilli with Tomatoes, Bacon & Blue Cheese

    There it was, in the pan, ready to eat. A big panful of fusilli, coated in a sauce I’d improvised with bacon, red chile flakes, tomato paste and a can of tomatoes. I’d let the sauce cook down until it was nice and thick and then boiled the fusilli until just al dente, lifting it…

  • The Negroni

    The Negroni

    At the bar of Michael Symons’s Lola in Cleveland, Ohio, I first encountered the Negroni. Michael Ruhlman, who was there to participate in a segment we were shooting for Food Network online, ordered the drink and I asked him about it. “It has Campari,” he told me, “gin and sweet vermouth.” I ordered one too…

  • Dinner with Two Atlanta Food Critics at Peter Chang’s

    Dinner with Two Atlanta Food Critics at Peter Chang’s

    In 2004, Atlanta Journal-Constitution food critic John Kessler wrote an article about me and my blog called “Welcome to Adam’s.” (You can read it here.) At the time, food blogging was very, very new and Kessler was baffled and amused by my antics: “Why does this recent Emory law school grad record every meal he…

  • An Oscar & A Milkshake

    An Oscar & A Milkshake

    It’s not every day that your friend wins an Oscar. But on Sunday night, our friend Luke (who went to film school with Craig) won an Oscar for his short film, “God of Love.” (You can watch it on iTunes here.) For anyone who watched the Oscars, you’ll remember his speech (New York Magazine called…

  • Collecting Vintage Menus to Hang in My Kitchen

    Collecting Vintage Menus to Hang in My Kitchen

    I’m not sure how the idea came to me. How did it come to me? Ok, I was in San Francisco, staying with my friends Kristen & Felix, and I had a bit of a cold (another illness! Proof that I’m dying?) While coughing and sneezing in their guest bedroom, I was noodling around on…

  • Egg Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Anchovies

    Egg Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Anchovies

    Cooking, sometimes, is like a game. The game changes from dish to dish, but often, for me, the game is: How Can I Make This Better Without Leaving My Apartment? This is a fun game to play, especially when you’re making something as pedestrian as an egg salad sandwich. You boil the eggs, you peel…