Whisks, Winks & Wonders!

I’m Cara, and I learned to cook standing on a wobbly kitchen stool, reaching for the wooden spoon my mom kept in this old ceramic crock by the stove. It had a crack running down the side that she’d glued back together at least twice.

My family’s Italian (well, my dad’s side), so there was always something bubbling away. The smell of garlic hitting hot olive oil is maybe my first real memory. That and my nonna yelling at me for stirring the sauce too much. “Leave it alone, Cara. You’re making it nervous.”

I started Cook Cara because I wanted a place to keep the recipes I actually make. Not the fancy stuff I pin and never touch. The real food. The Tuesday night pastas and the throw-it-in-a-pan chicken dinners. The kind of cooking where you taste as you go and sometimes add way too much red pepper flakes (guilty).

I burn garlic more than I’d like to admit. My kitchen is never Instagram-ready. But the food? The food’s good. And that’s what matters.