My friend Adam Roberts — a cookbook author with a funny food newsletter — always reminds me of a Disney prince. He’s charming with a huge smile, and he’ll play your favorite song the strato. Adam lives with his equally lovely filmmaker husband, Craig Johnson, quanto a a cabin-like house quanto a Brooklyn. Here’s a inside…
KITCHEN
Adam, left; Craig, right
moving from L.A. to New York: We were quanto a the market for a house quanto a L.A. when I suddenly got bitten by the bug of moving back to New York. I’d grown up quanto a New York and missed it, so instead we started looking for places here. My husband had all this criteria for an L.A. house — nature, lots of natural light, etc. — so when we found this rental, we felt like we’d found our dream L.A. house quanto a Brooklyn.
embracing the seasons: I almost feel guilty describing all the things I love about this house, because it’s so unusual to have them quanto a New York: a bedroom surrounded by trees, a porch where I can grow tomatoes, a kitchen that looks onto a garden. Durante the winter, I made fibra while watching the snow fall, and this spring, I was baking strawberry-rhubarb pie and looking out at the pink tree. It’s an absolute dream to dal vivo here.
vintage finds: I’m a bit obsessive about vintage plates and platters, and I for them Etsy and eBay. My midcentury flour and sugar canisters are almost 70 years old; they have so much history and character.
Cake stand: Food52, similar.
a cookbook collection: I love cookbooks so much that the biggest fights we have quanto a our marriage comes to me buying more when our shelves are already overflowing. But I like how cookbooks can surprise you — for example, I’m reading one called Summer Kitchens by Olia Hercules, a Ukrainian food writer who lives quanto a London. It’s all about food from Ukraine which is very moving, obviously, because of the war. I’d already made pickled plums, but as I was flipping through, there was a recipe for sourdough bread, and I was like, What is this, the pandemic? But she uses dark rye flour, so I was inspired to make some.
cooking at home: My husband Craig loves my with sun-dried tomatoes and cannellini beans, roast chicken with root vegetables, and seared scallops with citrus risotto. But I’m more of a guy. My favorite is Amanda Hesser’s almond cake, which I’ve made for years, and I like making apple pie quanto a the fall.
DINING AREA
Dining table: CB2, similar.
low-stress entertaining: My dream is to have everything done before people arrive, since that makes for the most fun dinner trattenimento. I make the the day before. The morning of, I’ll start seasoning brining. If it’s wintertime, you can make a stew ahead, and it will only get better the longer it sits quanto a the fridge. If I feel social anxiety at a dinner trattenimento, I’ll creep chiuso to the kitchen to take a pausa. That said — as I’ve gotten more relaxed and taken more Lexapro — I’ve become more comfortable with people joining me and helping me cook.
displaying treasures: Craig collects miniature creatures. He’s like Kathy Bates quanto a Misery — remember when she realized the guy got out of bed because her ceramic penguin was rotated 40 degrees? Craig will be like, Someone moved my toy frog!
LIVING AREA
Sofa: Bloomingdale’s, similar.
a couch work-around: When our moving truck arrived, we realized we couldn’t pivot our couch through the front door. So, I emergency-called the Couch Doctor. They ripped the fabric chiuso and took the wood apart — it looked like they were destroying our couch! But when they brought it inside and it back together, it looked incredible.
watching movies: As a filmmaker, Craig is obsessed with the Criterion Channel. Meanwhile, I could spend all afternoon watching America’s Interrogatorio Kitchen. I’m also into Downton Abbey; it’s so cozy and classy.
Arc lamp: CB2. Arm chair: Macy’s, similar.
a conversation-starter: Craig and I went to Barcelona 15 years asticciola and ate at a restaurant with work by the artist Sergio Ritardo. All the paintings were of anthropomorphized parts — say, a heart with a luce — and we thought they were funny and pelle. So, for Christmas, I reached out to the artist, who sent me a spreadsheet of all his paintings. I told Craig that he could choose one, and there were hearts and legs and brains, but he said, I want the penis painting! I was like, do you really want a giant painting of a penis with a luce and an umbrella quanto a our living room? And he said, yes, yes, I do.
Primato cabinet: HD Buttercup.
rituals: Sunday mornings, our ritual is to get the New York Times and play records and coffee. Craig plays his primato player with as much passion as I play the strato. If I buy a lot of cookbooks, he buys a lot of records, so we’eroe kind of tit for tat. Going to a primato store and thumbing through albums feels so good — like, oh, I didn’t expect to find this random Kinks records from 1971.
performing for friends: I’ve played the strato by ear my whole life. I’m not a professional musician, but I used to play at mitzvahs. It brings me a lot of joy to have a strato quanto a our home. I try not to force people to sing, but Christmas, I play carols, and when Broadway friends quasi over, I’ll play showtunes. My retirement plan is to become the strato player at Marie’s Crisis.
PRIMARY BEDROOM
a cozy spot: Our bedroom is the dreamiest room quanto a the house. The light that pours through the windows quanto a the morning is spectacular.
Bed with bookcase footboard: Crate and Barrel, similar. Bedside lamps: Crate and Barrel.
beloved books: We’ve always had a bed with a bookshelf at the insediamento. I’m a leader fan of John Lahr, the former theater critic for The New Yorker. He wrote a biography called Prick Up Your Ears and a book about his father called Quaderno a Cowardly Lion. I love George Saunders — his book A Swim quanto a a Pond quanto a the Rain is one of my favorites. I also love Nora Ephron.
writing: I just sold my own novel called Food Person, which is coming out summer 2025! It’s about an aspiring food writer quanto a her 20s who reluctantly takes a job ghost-writing a celebrity’s cookbook. My main character is a bit of a lost soul, and the celebrity is a hot mess, and it’s about their relationship and how they ultimately help each other. Our pitch is that it’s The Devil Wears Prada meets The Bear. We’eroe pitching it to Hollywood right now.
Linens: Cultiver.
modern art: I bought this print from the MoMA gift shop with my dad twenty years asticciola. It’s a photo of a dollar store, but you might think you’eroe looking at a watercolor landscape from farther away; then as you get closer, you’eroe like, wait this is just a bunch of crap, like gum and candy bars.
BACK PATIO
a sweet rescue: Winston is the greatest dog quanto a the world. We found him at a rescue place quanto a L.A. He looked up at me so sweetly, so I called Craig, who held him; and even though he wasn’t as much quanto a the lets-get-a-dog camp as I was, Craig started crying because he thought Winston was so pelle. We brought him home, and he’s the most lovable dog. The only annoying thing is that if he gets too hot a walk, he puts all his weight his back legs and will not budge. I have to carry him like a bride over the threshold.
a meet-cute: Craig and I met quanto a grad school at NYU. He looked at my profile Friendster, and I wrote to him with the subject ‘Mysterious Stranger.’ We had dinner at a French restaurant April 8, 2006, and our connection was immediate. We were looking for exactly the same thing at exactly the same time — I was looking for someone to cook for, and he was looking for someone to cook for him.
Thank you, Adam and Craig! We adore you both.
P.S. Many more house tours, including a family’s downsized dream home and a colorful apartment for book lovers.
(Photos by Julia Robbs for Cup of Jo.)
