I'm mesmerized with horror at the length of time since I last blogged. The good news is that it's because I was doing lots of other festive things--amongst them, an enchanting Low Country holiday on a boat with lovely friends, eating myself silly up-and-down the Inland Waterway from Jekyll Island, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina and all points in between. Let's just say I have an even more intimate relationship with pork and pimento cheese than I would have thought possible.
Read moreCorned Beef Redux
Last Saturday being St. Patrick's Day, I was inspired to make some corned beef. No not on actual Saturday (which would have been too predictable) when we went out to a very good Italian restaurant with friends, and no, not the home-corned variety that Pooh used to make that was exquisite. This was just good ole' grocery store common or garden corned beef. To make it is as easy as can be, as you know. Basically, I hurled the beef into a gargantuan Dutch oven of boiling water with the contents of its sinister spice packet, and some additional bay leaves, two peeled onions (each one chopped in half with a whole clove poked into each half), and a huge bunch of thyme. I put the cover on the pot, tossed it in a 325 degree oven and didn't think about it for four hours.
Read moreFaux Barbecue
I'm way too barbecue savvy to bring down the wrath of my true-believer bbq loved ones to proclaim this as anything other than good old-fashioned faux barbecue. I've spent entirely too many 4th of Julys watching Bryan, in amazement, as he brings his Memphis birthright to bear in producing the real thing in all of its smoky splendor. No, this is just an easy, family pleasing way of dealing with roast pork leftovers that remains a tried and true hit. Just please don't be misled into thinking that this in any way, except maybe for taste, resembles the real deal.
Read moreThe Homies
It's just come to my attention that one of you lovely readers has nominated this blog for best recipe blog of the year on www.thekitchn.com. Voting for "The Homies" concludes at midnight tonight. While it would be a long shot to win at the eleventh hour, it would be so lovely to have something of a good showing, even in the closing hours of the competition. If you have a moment before midnight, please go to http://www.thekitchn.com/best-recipe-blog-nominations-the-homies-2012-166621 and cast your vote for ClareFare.com. After all, everyone likes saving the world, even if it's just one cookie at a time. Thank you and have a lovely weekend.