Many, many moons ago I lived in New Haven and used to eat at Claires (what seemed to be almost daily.) it was a friendly little place on the corner in the downtown area by Yale. On any given day you could walk in and Claire would be in there .... laughing and cooking with her staff. I loved eating her HOT soups with little loaves of bread ... zuchini boats AND let me not even begin talking about the carrot cake... many fond memories so I had to buy the book.