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10/04/2024 01:45 PMI once had a job that was less than a perfect fit. I’ve written about this before, but it’s a tale worth re-telling. It was a good job, paid a good salary, and my boss was decent and fair. My co-workers were awesome, smart and fun. I enjoyed spending time with them.
I should have been content, but I was not. It wasn’t them. It was me.
This less-than-perfect job was in New Haven and when I was stuck in the doldrums, I’d often go to Claire’s Corner Copia, 1000 Chapel Street, New Haven for a bit of soup and their delicious little loaves of bread, which I’d slather with bread and honey.
One day I was having a bad day. I walked into Claire’s and after putting in my food order, trudged to my table. I looked up and saw Claire Criscuolo, the owner. And she smiled at me. As simple as that. Just a smile. It felt like a hug. I smiled back and that, along with the wonderful food, brightened up my day.
I thought of that as I read this week about one of Claire’s new initiatives: she is launching a fundraising campaign to benefit children in local schools, to underwrite two $50,000 research grants for the Yale Child Study Center to help start up a program in local schools to help kids practice empathy and kindness.
To help support the campaign, #BeKinderThanNecessary t-shirts will be sold at Campus Customs, 57 Broadway, New Haven, along with mugs and other merchandise. The merchandise also will be available online beginning this fall at clairescornercopia.com. “I think it could become a movement — to be kinder than necessary,” said Criscuolo. “People don’t realize that ripple effect; that little drop you put in the water that creates a ripple, which creates an ocean.”
To find out more about Claire’s, visit https://www.clairescornercopia.com/. Updates about the campaign and how to help will be posted there as the campaign develops. You can also follow news about Claire’s on her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ClairesNewHaven.
Claire is also publishing a cookbook next summer to celebrate her restaurants’s 50th anniversary. Proceeds will benefit this campaign and I have no doubt the recipes will be fabulous. In the meantime, here’s a recipe from one of Claire’s older cookbooks, for a grilled cheese sandwich.
Grilled Cheese Florentine
From Claire Criscuolo’s Welcome to Claire’s: 35 Years Of Recipes And Reflections From The Landmark Vegetarian Restaurant.
(This is a recipe for one, but can easily be double and quadrupled to serve your friends or family. Or make it a double, and eat the rest of the mixture the next day as a salad.—Pem)
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the spinach, onion, tomato and juices, garlic and mozzarella in a bowl. Toss to combine, using your hands or tongs. Drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again to combine. Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil spray or line it with parchment. Place one slice of bread on the prepared cookie sheet. Pile spinach mix on the bread, and don’t worry about it overflowing. Place the second slice of bread on a the pile of spinach.
Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the spinach is wilted and the bread is toasted. If desired, you can flip the bread over using a spatula, and bake the other side for 3-4 minutes until toasted, but we like the bottom slice soft so we serve it right from the oven with only one side toasted. Transfer to a plate and include all the filling ingredients that have fallen out. Serve with a fork and knife for eating.