May 6, 2013 | By Adam Roberts | 38 Comments

In good stories, a character changes. So, for example, if you’re watching a movie about a guy who’s afraid of heights but his girlfriend is being held hostage at the top of Mount Everest, we expect him to get over his fear in order to save her. If he decides to just leave her there and become a knitting teacher, it probably wouldn’t be a very good movie. (Though, on second thought, maybe it would?)
Thinking of me as your main character, then, consider my post last week about cottage cheese. I find the stuff repulsive. 157 of you disagreed with me in the comments. So yesterday I went to Gelson’s and saw Low-Fat Knudsen’s Cottage Cheese, the kind many of you eat, and decided to challenge myself to make dinner with it. If this were a good story, I’d learn to love it at the end.
Continue Reading »
April 29, 2013 | By Adam Roberts | 160 Comments

When I think “cottage cheese” I think of my grandmother who would greet me, growing up, with an offer of diet chocolate soda (she stocked that stuff like it came from the fountain of youth) and cottage cheese with sugar and cinnamon. The texture of cottage cheese was so foul to me that when choosing a picture for the top of this post, I couldn’t even stomach what came up on Google Images. Somehow, though, I’ve been thinking about cottage cheese lately. Is that just a grandma thing? Has yogurt displaced it? Are there any young people who eat cottage cheese? If so, are you one of them? Please tell me more in the comments.
June 20, 2012 | By Adam Roberts | 2 Comments

[Image via DeliverBliss]
Today someone told me the story of a bad restaurant experience that involved a steakhouse with $30 steaks, a totally oblivious staff, dishes gone missing, and steak knives never proffered. Our storyteller, let’s call him Mr. X, grew so frustrated that he finally jumped out of his seat, stormed past the waiters who were watching a hockey game on the bar TV, into the kitchen where tired-looking line cooks were flipping steaks on a grill, and into the manager’s office “where I really let him have it.”
The manager was immediately apologetic–when he emerged from the kitchen, the staff scattered–and he ultimately comped Mr. X’s meal. “When I got home,” said Mr. X, “I really thought about writing a bad review on Yelp, but decided against it.”
This got me thinking: when is it OK to write a bad Yelp review of a restaurant?
Continue Reading »
June 15, 2012 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
We’re on the road today (heading back from Palm Springs) so instead of leaving you dry with no food blog post, I thought I’d turn the tables and ask YOU to share your favorite recipe in the comments. Try to think of the recipe that you love the most then type it up down below; I have a feeling all of you reading this have some good recipes up your sleeves. Just don’t link to another recipe online: if you can type it up (and even better, put it into your own words) this comment section will have real value. As for me, my favorite recipe remains Cavatappi with Sun-Dried Tomatoes. I just can’t get enough of it. Have a great weekend, everyone!
March 11, 2011 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments

On this blog, only one hot, caffeinated beverage gets the love (see: coffee), but what about the other hot, caffeinated beverage? No, not boiled Coke, I’m talking about tea.
Funny story: the other day I Tweeted, “I think I’m ready to own a teapot.”
Continue Reading »
January 14, 2011 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments

It’s been seven years exactly since I wrote my very first post on this blog. Usually, when an anniversary comes along, I use the opportunity to share my favorite posts from the archives. But this time I’d like to turn the tables…I’d like to learn all about you nice people who read this blog everyday. So, in the comments, tell me: What’s your name? Where are you from? What did you have for breakfast? How long have you been reading The A.G.? Do you remember how you found it? What’s been your favorite post? What’s something you’d like me to blog about over the next seven years?
Thanks for being such loyal, dedicated readers. If it weren’t for your reading/commenting, I wouldn’t have made it this far. Here’s to another seven!
June 18, 2009 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
Hey Readers, every now and then I like to do a survey to find out who’s reading my site, what you’re liking and what new stuff you’d like to see. If you get a chance, please fill out this survey in the comments!
Amateur Gourmet Reader Survey
(June 18th, 2009)
Name:
Location:
Age:
Sex:
How Long You’ve Been Reading Amateur Gourmet:
How You Found The Site:
Favorite Post of All Time:
Favorite Recipe You Found on the Site:
What topic haven’t I covered that you’d like me to cover?
What restaurant/dining establishment haven’t I visited that you’d like me to visit?
If we had children together, what would we name them?
What are you having for lunch today?
Anything else you’d like to say?
Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your feedback.
October 20, 2008 | By Adam Roberts | 4 Comments
Look at all the happy people who took my advice and made Ina Garten’s chocolate cake this weekend:




Those of you who missed the deadline, worry not: the Amateur Gourmet photo pool is still open, so if you make the cake this week, upload your pictures there and I’ll see them. Actually, if you make anything you want to share with other Amateur Gourmet readers post it to the Flickr pool–we want to know what you’re cooking.