By Five years ago this week I walked into the Sunshine Daycare and Learning Center for the first time and asked if they were hiring. I was eighteen years old and I had been out of foster care for three weeks and I had a bus route to get there and a borrowed pair of shoes that were almost but not quite my size. I was hired on the spot for the infant room and I cried in the parking lot after, not from joy exactly but from something closer to relief so profound it came out as tears.
This week Mrs. Holloway pulled me into her office and said she wanted to mark the anniversary formally. She gave me a card that every parent in my room had signed. She said the parents had coordinated it themselves; she had just provided the card. One parent, a woman whose daughter has been with me since she was fourteen months old, wrote: my daughter asks for Miss Savannah on weekends. I read that in the car before driving home and sat with it for a long time.
The card went in my nightstand drawer, which is where I keep the things I want to be able to find when I need them.
Sunday I made pimento cheese for the first time, real pimento cheese, the kind that is nearly a religious experience in the South: sharp cheddar, cream cheese, Duke's, pimentos, a pinch of cayenne, black pepper. Nothing elegant about it but it is exactly what it should be. I served it on crackers and on celery and ate too much of it at Gloria's table while James watched football and Gloria asked me to describe the anniversary card again. I described it again. She said that little girl is lucky. I said I think I am the lucky one.
That Sunday at Gloria’s table reminded me that the best food is the kind you make without much fuss and set out for people you love — and pimento cheese taught me I’m not afraid of a spread anymore. For days I can’t quite find the words, I let something simple and shareable do some of the talking. This Easy Tapenade has become another one of those recipes I reach for when I want something real on the table: briny, bold, and honest in the same way that afternoon was.
Easy Tapenade
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 10 min | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
- 1/2 cup black olives, pitted
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Crackers, sliced baguette, or celery sticks, for serving
Instructions
- Combine. Add the Kalamata olives, black olives, capers, and garlic to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 5–6 times until roughly chopped.
- Add liquid and seasoning. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, thyme, and black pepper. Pulse another 4–5 times until the mixture is coarsely blended but still has some texture — you want a paste, not a puree.
- Taste and adjust. Taste for seasoning. The olives and capers bring their own salt, so additional salt is rarely needed. Add a small squeeze more lemon if you’d like a brighter flavor.
- Rest (optional but worth it). For the best flavor, transfer to a bowl, cover, and let sit at room temperature for 15–20 minutes before serving to let the flavors come together.
- Serve. Spoon into a small bowl and serve alongside crackers, celery sticks, or sliced bread.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 85 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 2g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg