Recipes and food adventures with Adam Roberts

  • The Amateur Gourmet Challenge: A Small Delay

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    Today I had planned to take Tara up on her challenge, making her elaborate Thai Chicken Barley Risotto. But, alas, it was Easter and Publix was closed.Was this part of Tara’s plan?Amateur Gourmet investigators have attempted to reach Tara for comment, but she refuses to take our calls. A few basic facts have developed:1. Today…

  • On Maintaining My Girlish Figure

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    Site reader Elise, in the comments for my first sorbet post, asks: “How do you maintain your girlish figure with all of this delcious food?”A lot of people ask me this. It’s the fourth most common question I’m asked, after “Why are you punching that muppet?”The simple answer is: although I don’t watch what I…

  • I Love The Smell of Sorbet In The Morning

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    Well, look, here’s the strategery:If I had waited to make the lemon thyme sorbet from last night, could I make burnt caramel ice cream later? Surely not. That bucket’s gotta freeze.So, crack o’dawn this morning (around 11:30 am) I removed my freezer bowl and poured in the lemon thyme syrup.Twenty minutes later, she was done:Check…

  • Quiet, Disciplined Study and the Night of 1000 Sorbets

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    If there is one question I get asked more than any other it would have to be: “Why are you naked in our nursing home?”But if there is another question I get asked more than any other, it is surely: “How do you manage your website and attend law school all at the same time?”Tonight…

  • Is It Dead, Pa?

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    This morning I decided to remove my starter from the fridge, where it has lain in a state of cyrogenic preservation like Dr. Evil.Here’s what I saw:Is it dead pa?Well, hmmm, it looks a little like death:But we stirred it up, poured out the two cups for the feeding and saw–to our vast delight–bubbles!That’s a…

  • The Upper Left Corner

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    You may have noticed that “Fun Fictional Food Facts” is no longer that; it is now “The Upper Left Corner.”What is “The Upper Left Corner”?I had been wondering the same thing. What could I do with this thing?Inspiration struck last night.”Aha!” said inspiration. “You can post an exciting food-related question everyday and make a link…

  • The Fountain of Youth: Ice Cream at Bruster’s

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    Conversation turned, last night, to the subject of ice cream.Michael K. is an ice cream afficianado. He has a mega-ton ice cream/gelato maker and his knowledge runs deeper than mine, thus far, on the matter. He was happy to hear about my serene out-of-body experience with the vanilla bean.”What’s your favorite ice cream in Atlanta?”…

  • Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Friday Night at Fritti

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    Context matters.That’s the major thrust of Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” (which I’ve reviewed on here) and I think it applies to going out to eat.Let me explain:I have these friends–let’s call them “Mosh” and “Paty”–who really love the pizza at Fritti. When I wrote a pizza post a couple of weeks back, Paty e-mailed…

  • How To Bribe Your Way Into New York Restaurants

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    This is a really great piece about bribing your way into New York’s finest restaurants. On the roster are: Balthazaar, Le Bernadin, Daniel, Union Square Cafe, and Alain Ducasse. The piece is slightly old (it’s from Gourmet’s October 2000 issue) but offers an uncanny lesson in how money talks.

  • Paradise Gained: Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

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    “Oh hear’st thou rather pure ethereal stream,Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voiceof God, as with a mantle didst investThe rising world of waters dark and deep,Won from the void and formless infinite.”- John Milton, “Paradise Lost” Tonight I tasted heaven. Honestly; I can’t even describe…