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...

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...

 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...

 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...

 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...

 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...