Karen Clare

Here in west central Florida, summer has announced itself with blistering heat. No frequent afternoon thunderstorms yet, though I'm sure they are coming eventually.  Sharing another favorite recipe that I've already made a couple of times and plan on making more; I call it Mediterranean chickpea salad. Amounts aren't given, as they depend on taste and the number of people you're feeding. I find that one can of chickpeas plus other ingredients makes about 4-5 servings.  Ingredients: Canned chickpeas, drained Diced red onion Diced cucumber Halved cherry or grape tomatoes Crumbled feta cheese Chopped flat-leaf parsley Salt  Black pepper Garlic powder Oil Vinegar or lemon juice Directions: Mix all ingredients in large serving bowl and chill until ready to serve. Keeps for 4-5 days, and the flavor intensifies with time.  Refreshing and quite filling, able to be a light lunch on its own. 

Summer is here, and I'm trying to enjoy it. It's not my favorite time of year, but making the most of it and trying to have a good attitude as I pray that El Niño means a quiet hurricane season. I got a cheap, very basic outdoor lounge chair from Amazon and have been spending, or trying to spend, every Saturday and Sunday afternoon laying out for twenty minutes (ten for the front, ten for the back). I was looking a bit pasty so wanted to get a little color without ending up resembling Magda from There's Something About Mary . Exposure to the sun in moderation is good for you, and sunscreen actually isn't.  I'm also enjoying the extra light and the lighter traffic on my work commute from school being out. But I digress.  So far this summer, I've made a couple of recipes that I just love and plan on making a lot throughout the season.  The first is something I just kind of made up and call shrimp, potato, and corn boil. It's actually steamed, but I think it st...

As someone who enjoys cooking and cooks frequently in a rather small kitchen, I keep my spices in a kitchen drawer -- the drawer is large and fairly deep -- about 14 inches wide x 19 inches deep x 4 inches high.  The jars I had been using were cylindrical and just short enough that they could fit in the drawer standing up. But the drawer because rather disorganized and messy. Sometimes the drawer would jam if a jar went askew. So I found some new spice jars on Amazon with pretty Acadia wood lids. I like the jars because they're square instead of round, and thus won't roll. I also got some  coordinating Acadia wood "tiers" for the spices to go on ( also on Amazon ). Before I ordered, I measured to make sure that the dimensions would fit my drawer.  The jars and tiered "shelves", for lack of a better word, arrived today. So I spent the late afternoon and early evening tackling the project of cleaning and reorganizing my spice drawer.  First, I removed everyth...

 I know I've been on a cleaning kick on this blog, but it's a goal of mine this month to declutter, organize, and simplify my home a bit. I don't think perfection should ever be the goal, because life isn't perfect, but there's always room for improvement.  I love to watch "clean with me" videos on YouTube (some channels more than others), and doing so, I notice that a lot of these content creators' homes are super messy at the beginning. Yes, I know that some of them probably stage the mess or purposely don't clean for a couple of weeks so they have something to film.  But, still, how do these homes get to be such a disaster? I don't remember, growing up, my parents' home (or anyone else's) ever looking like a cyclone hit it. The I realized that the answer is in the question: homes in the past actually could not get that messy. Why not? 1. Houses were smaller. The size of the average suburban home has more than doubled since 1950s, fro...

Mother's Day is coming up, and Thursday I had invited my best friend "D" over for Mother's Day weekend. We always get together on Saturdays, not Sundays, and we spend the whole day because we live an hour's drive away from each other. Well, imagine my surprise when I hear a "ping!" from my phone this past Saturday around 11 a.m. while I'm sitting on the couch watching TV with my dog. It was a text from "D": "On my way!" I called her immediately and told her that we were supposed to get together next weekend and she said she was already packed up and ready to leave. I said no worries, I didn't have plans anyway. And then I regretted calling her instead of just going with it.  Thankfully, the house was already pretty clean and presentable. I was dressed, and I had about an hour till her arrival.  But what if my place hadn't been ready? How do you prepare for last-minute visitors? This is how I do a typical "company cle...

Today is officially Easter -- Christ is risen! But my best friend came over yesterday, so we celebrated a day early. I love holidays, even if it means -- or perhaps  because  it means -- cleaning, cooking, and preparing for something special. I think there is something in us humans that needs celebrations and observances.  On Good Friday my workplace was closed, but I worked much harder at home than I would have at the office. I cooked -- the Easter menu this year was make-ahead for everything except for the ham -- did laundry, and cleaned. Didn't go to bed till after 10 p.m. and I had started around 10 a.m.  I set nibbles out on the credenza that used to be my coffee bar but now serves as a kitchen work table in a sort of charcuterie board set up; I used a cutting board, but would now like to get a proper charcuterie board. There was cold smoked kielbasa with horseradish beet relish, deviled eggs, mixed nuts, and ridged chips with French onion dip.  Dinner (I d...

 I thought I would do a few posts on cleaning -- what I use, schedule, tools, etc. This one will focus on products that I use. I'm not huge on my cleaning products being "natural" -- I hate vinegar and baking soda, for example. Vinegar stinks and the residue baking soda leaves seems impossible to get rid of. It's also terrible for your vacuum motor. I like to limit the number of products that I use. So my first go-to is my homemade all-purpose cleaner ("APC" for short), which is a mixture of 1/3 isopropyl alcohol, a few drops of dish soap, and the rest water -- shake it up and you're ready to go. I got this "recipe" from Mack of the Midwest Magic Cleaning YouTube channel . As the name implies, his channel is about cleaning,  usually hoarder houses but sometimes his own, and he gives great tips and advice. He's hilarious and his channel is worth subscribing to, in my opinion, if you're interested in that sort of thing. Anyway, I love thi...

 As long as I've been into decorating (since the late 1990s). I've realized that sometimes the little things can make the biggest difference. I mostly finished decorating my place for spring last week, which included packing away the firewood I had for decoration in front of my electric fireplace/space heater. I was trying to think of something to do with the fireplace so that the front didn't look boring with just the dark glass front. So I got the idea to cover the glass with peel and stick plastic that looks like stained/decorative glass. I've been living with it for almost a week now, and absolutely love it! It's not dramatic at all, but it really elevated it the fireplace. It now looks a little less like an electric fireplace I ordered from Wayfair (which is what it is) and more like an historic feature of the house.  The decorative sheets arrived on Sunday, and I only needed one. I did the middle of the glass, leaving the ends clear, because number one, the sh...

 Every so often, I love to pull out the tea set that I got at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina back in 2004 during a road trip with my best friend, Dori. The Biltmore Estate was the Vanderbilts' summer home, and after touring the huge estate, we went into the gift shop. It was during September, my birth month, and I ended up getting myself this tea set, which is a replica of a set that was owned by the Vanderbilts.  Afternoon tea has three courses. the first course is sandwiches, so I made cucumber sandwiches: white bread, spreadable cream cheese on both sides of the bread, very thinly-sliced cucumbers (I used a mandoline), salt, and crushed celery seed. I cut the crusts off carefully, and then I cut the sandwiches, some into rectangles and some into triangles.  The second course is scones with jam and often clotted cream. The scones I got were store-bought from Publix, and I had some lingonberry jam -- which, if you've never tried it, tastes like cranberry...

 Today was the first day I turned off my heater because the weather finally warmed up -- pleasant and sunny.  I have decorated a bit for Valentine's Day. I don't do much for it, but the decorations that I have I keep up all February. I did break down and get a few inexpensive things from Amazon, which only totaled around $30. The other things I already had from last year and the year before: My electric fireplace mantle. All three of the things I have hanging from it were from last year: The pink heart wreath on the viewer's left came from World Market last year, and the middle wreath came from an Etsy shop called Blessings And Boxwood last year. The tin and wood heart on the right I believe came from Hobby Lobby two or three years ago.  The bottom picture is of the kitchen hutch that I got back in October that now serves as my coffee bar. I've been really enjoying decorating it. And here is where the new stuff is: the sign at the top, and the concrete hearts that I mad...

 Well, the last month of winter began with a freeze, This morning I woke up to a temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit. We were supposed to possibly get some snow flurries, but no flurries were spotted where I live. Today was still very cold to us Floridians. This past week was rather... crappy. Nothing major, just stressful at work and then on top of that, I woke up on Friday morning with suspicious bites on my side. Three in a line, and I was thinking, "Please, do not let this be what I think it is. Please do not let it be bed bugs." I convinced myself that it must be something else, but no. This morning I woke up with a few more bites, and I stripped my bed completely and washed everything, right down to the mattress -- dust ruffle, mattress protector, sheets, coverlet, duvet, shams, and pillow protectors. I put everything through the dryer (high heat for a full cycle will kill the bed bugs and eggs). Sure enough, I found some dead ones in the lint filter, and also some mo...

 After Christmas I do "winter" decorating -- basically, remove anything red, glittery, or chiefly Christmas and leave out greenery, candles, and blankets. So I was inspired to replace the vintage Saturday Evening Post magazines and magazine covers on the coffee table with a tray of candles and greenery.  As you might know if you read last week's post, I've resolved to stop buying unnecessary things and pay off my credit card debt. To that end, I used a tray that I already had ($12 at Shein, I think), greenery and battery-powered candles that were already in my office closet.   You don't have to buy new stuff to redecorate or refresh a room, contrary to what many social media "influencers" try to tell us. You can look around your own home, change things around, or even move furniture around. So if you want to cut back on spending, I'd suggest getting creative with items you already own.  I'm going to keep "winter" up till March, when I c...

 I can’t believe that it’s the middle of January already… feels like Christmas was just last week! Much as I adore the holidays, and as sad as I am to take down the Christmas decor, there is something so satisfying about it. After a month or so of having your home having so much extra color and decoration, it’s something of a relief to have the visual calm and space back. For post-Christmas winter, I pack away anything specifically Christmas — anything red, glittery, or that has Christmas sayings on it, but keep out plain greenery, pinecones, white candles, and blankets. Still cozy, but neutral and simpler, inviting us to rest and relax.  Maybe that’s why winter is my favorite season; it’s a season where we can slow down and enjoy being cozy. Here in Florida, the weather is really mild, and unless we’re having a cold snap, we can be outside in comfort.  Well, this weekend, we’re having a nice cold snap, so it’s a perfect time to make chili and cornbread. Super easy, delic...

After almost two years, I'm bringing this blog back under another name: Karen Clare. The focus will be on homemaking, decor, and some cooking. I've come to hate social media and the way it presents an unrealistic look at other people's lives and makes us depressed. I'm also concerned that we're becoming a society of illiterates who are drawn more and more to visual media instead of written.  I had a blog back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and it was so much fun. I miss it. I think that, unfortunately. social media have destroyed personal blogs. So I'm doing my part to change that. 2025 was a decent year, rather uneventful. I like my job and right now everything is pretty good, thankfully.  I don't usually do New Year's resolutions. Not because I don't believe in resolutions, but because I don't think you should wait till some random date to make them. But this year my goals are financial in nature, and related: to eliminate all of my credit ...

 If you've been reading my blog, you'll know that I've started having tea on Sundays -- not at the traditional 4 pm hour, but about noon, because on weekends and any other non-work days, I like to eat dinner early.  I was inspired to address the question of how this traditional began in the first place. Having tea in pretty china had been popular with the aristocratic and high-society English since Georgian times; it was a way to show off your expensive porcelain (which became known as "china", since that's often where it was made).  The woman who is credited with starting the 4 pm afternoon tea ritual was Anna Maria Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria, around 1840. To explain why, we have to look at the history of mealtimes in Britain and their evolution to what we're familiar with now. Today, most people in the developed world are used to three meals a day: breakfast, eaten in the morning; lunch, eaten around noon, an...

 This past week, I have been really tired. Not sure why. No extra stress at work, but I did tackle my office closet after work Wednesday through Friday. Emptied, decluttered, and reorganized the bins containing my seasonal and holiday decor. It was difficult, especially since having the chaos (to my mind) of stuff everywhere was giving me anxiety. I'm about 85% through, but still not completely done. I still have to go through the bin of my autumn decor and organize a few other things. But I'm taking a bit of a break on that. While I was dealing with the bins in my closet, I was also putting away my post-Christmas winter decor (I pack away anything specifically Christmas right after the 25th, but leave out wintery greenery and pinecones and white candles till March) and putting out spring. I really don't do that much for spring. Pine is replaced by (mostly blue) flowers), and I change out my sofa pillow cases. I also decorate my coffee bar and put little touches in the kitc...

For many people who live in places where they get an actual winter, with freezing temperatures, snow, and all that comes with it, the approaching spring is something to look forward to. I get it -- my parents were lifelong New Englanders till they were in their 40s, when we moved to California for my dad's job, and then moved again a few years later to Florida, where I've been ever since. I appreciate that to see foliage and flowers blooming again, to be able to open your windows again, must be lovely after months of dark dreariness and cold.  But here in the south, it's the opposite. It's too hot for most of the year to be outside much, unless you have a pool or a beach to take a dip in to cool off. It's during winter that we Floridians can actually be outside in comfort (most days) and get a break on our electric bill. We hole up in the air conditioning from April to October.  Typically, it's right about now that I pack away my winter decor and bust out stuff ...

 Yesterday was dreary, chilly, and a little rainy... it's been an El Niño winter for sure. But I got myself out of the house in the morning to take a trip to Whole Foods to return an extra power cord I'd ordered from Amazon (they own Whole Foods) for my laptop that was the wrong kind.  I had never been to Whole Foods before, and I have to admit, it's a pretty nice place. I don't typically enjoy grocery shopping, but this place has enough interesting and fun products that it doesn't really feel much like a chore.  They have ready-made pastries that you can just pop into the oven to cook, great meats that aren't much more expensive that Publix lately and look better, and a whole section of custom soaps that I enjoyed spending some time in.  I ended up getting some soaps, chicken wings, two pints of heavy cream, eggs, and toasted sesame oil. When I got home I preheated my oven to 190 F and poured both pints of heavy cream into my white casserole dish. It was about ...

 This was my first time planning a tea, and I won't lie: it was a lot more work that I had thought it would be. But it was also so much fun, more fun than I've had in a long time, and I don't know what took me so long to do it. The tea took place yesterday, Saturday, and more perfect weather for the day could not have been ordered; low 70s and sunny. I woke up early Saturday, because Friday night after work I honestly had no energy to get the head start I'd been intending. I started by getting the simple white tablecloth I wanted to use out of my closet and realizing that it badly needed an iron, something I haven't taken out in about three years, and gave it a good steaming before putting out on the patio table that I'd recently cleaned.  Then I made the deviled eggs and cucumber sandwiches (recipes at the end). Scones and cookies were store-bought, because, working full-time, I simply hadn't had the time or energy to make homemade ones in addition to the e...

 The past six months or so have felt incredibly fast. Feels like it was May, and then I was decorating for fall, then Christmas was here, and now it's almost spring again.  I am a winter girl -- I come alive in autumn, and love the "ber" months with the festive vibes and holidays. And then I love January and February, with their reprieve from the holiday hustle and slow winter coziness -- curling up on the couch with a chenille blanket with my dog with my electric fireplace going. Living in Florida as I do, however, I dread the coming heat and humidity and look forward to spring about as much as a root canal. When Christmas is over, I pack up the things that are chiefly Christmas -- the tree, ornaments, and anything red or with Christmas sayings. But I leave out plain garlands and greenery and pine cones, and replace red candles with white ones so that the house doesn't feel bare. For Valentine's Day this year, I've been inspired to host my first-ever afternoo...