Hello! Welcome back to Nibbles, a semi-frequent posting ritual in which I cram together a bunch of minor posts into one big one so you, the reader, are entertained and I, the writer, feel like I’ve entertained you and informed you about all the things I’ve experienced recently related to food. So here we go:
– Hey so remember how I said this would be related to food? Not yet. Our first Nibble involves free tickets I received to the new Bob Dylan musical with choreography by Twyla Tharp; a musical called, appropriately, “The Times They Are A’Changin.” I’d been reading All That Chat, the popular theater chat board, because I’m a theater nerd and this was getting TONS of bad press. But Craig and I, who went in with the lowest of expectations, really enjoyed it. I thought it was visually stunning and the dancing was incredibly athletic. If you like Bob Dylan, musical theater, Cirque Du Soleil and intricate choreography this is the show for you.
– The show has a circus theme which reminded me afterwards of a funny story that I shared with Craig and the story is somewhat related to eating. When I was in 5th grade my parents sent me to performing arts camp, a camp called French Woods in upstate New York. While there I performed in Cats (I was a stray cat in a leotard) and Captain Louie, a musical by Stephen Schwartz that involved me sititng on someone’s shoulders pretending to fly around in an airplane. But one thing that made this camp special was that it had a circus. At the beginning of camp you could go and audition and they’d assign you a part in the circus that you’d study and at the end of the summer you’d perform in the big circus show. So I went to the audition and auditioned and as they called out names, they’d say which part of the circus you were assigned to. “Robert Avery,” they’d say, “You’re trapeze.” “Carl Winslow, you’re tightrope.” And then it came: “Adam Roberts, you’re fire eating.” Fire eating!? Were they nuts? Me eat fire?? So I told the guy in charge I was no longer interested. And thank God because if I’d pursued it I wouldn’t have the tastebuds to do what I’m doing now! And that’s my circus story.
– So big things are happening in my food writing career. I wish I could spill the beans right away but then I’d get in trouble. Suffice it to say I’ve written a few pieces for different publications that should be up soon. I’ll make sure to link to them when they’re up!
– Hey look at this site that linked to me. What language is this? What does this say? Is it nice? Is it mean? See if you click the hyperlink it goes to my site. BUT WHAT DOES IT SAY?! WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!
– I would just like to say that Eater’s NYT review oddsmakers are scary good. Do they have a perfect record? I think they do. How do they do it? Color me impressed.
– As a final thought I’d like to discuss honest food. What is honest food? The phrase came to me last night when Craig and I chose between dinner at the Westside Diner on 9th Avenue and dinner at Esca. Esca’s a fantastic restaurant (it’s featured prominently in my book) but it’s very expensive. The Westside Diner is fairly crappy but it’s cheap. The two places are close together and both are perfect for a meal after the theater, which is exactly the sort of meal Craig and I were having. So what’s more honest: the place that serves quality ingredients at high prices or the place that serves low quality ingredients prepared badly at cheap prices? Is it more honest to charge $8 for a filling gummy omelette or $28 for “hand harvested maine diver scallops with roasted brussel sprouts and pancetta.” This is an important question and I think it speaks to a big divide in our culture. Isn’t there a way to bridge these two extremes and have honest food that’s honest in both price and quality? Since that hadn’t happened yet, Craig and I decided to save our money and we ate at the diner. Our food was adequate and our wallets were happy.
And that my friends is Nibbles. Tune in next week with our special guest……Charo! We’ll be making churros. Cuchi cuchi!
