Bitter and Sweet Quotes

“He fed the meter, and we walked the short distance to Hannibal's Kitchen, which was famous for its soul food.
It was crowded, but we only had to wait fifteen minutes to be seated. Having Dante cook for us spoiled me, but I was always down to try another Gullah-Geechee soul food spot. I ordered the crab and shrimp fried rice and shark steak. Quinton had the rice with oxtails but then begged until I gave him some of my fish.
Once we left, we went down East Bay to King Street, stopped in a bookstore, and walked through the City Market. Quinton picked up a pound cake from Fergie's Favorites, and I picked out a beautiful bouquet of flowers fashioned from sweetgrass. Sweetgrass symbolized harmony, love, peace, strength, positivity, and purity. I needed any symbol of those things that I could get. I also thought they'd be a nice peace offering for Mariah. I'd give her a few.
We walked to Kaminsky's for dessert. I had their berry cobbler with ice cream. It was served in the ceramic dish it was baked in. I liked the coziness of eating out of a baking dish. The ice cream tasted homemade. The strawberry syrup exploded on my tongue. I didn't make pies, so whenever I had dessert out, I got pie. Quinton had his favorite milkshake and took key lime pie and bourbon pecan pie to go for his mother.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“You can wait for the paperwork. You know, how you gave me the paperwork."
"I'm willing to settle this divorce with irreconcilable differences. Don't make me bring up the ugly issues," Vince said.
"What, your heavy-handed-with-salt girlfriend?”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“Maybe the lawyer could get your divorce dealt with in another county."
"A change of venue for a divorce? You watch too much television."
"And you have way too little faith in God."
I rolled my eyes. "That's a leap. How did we get all the way to my faith?"
"I'm not wrong. It's been more than a week since you received that email with that pitiful offer. Call your attorney and stop acting like you don't have any power."
Hope didn't give me a second to say a thing.
"Losing everything to him will only give you something else to mope about. You already have a long list.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“I baked all those cakes, and I didn't want them to just sit."
"You could have told me," I said through gritted teeth.
"I'm sure I wasn't missed," Sabrina replied.
I looked back at Dante, who was ignoring the conversation in favor of chatting through his Bluetooth earpiece neck thingy.
"What do you sell?" I asked Tameka.
"I make jams and jellies. Chowchow."
"It's so delicious," Sabrina added.
I cocked an eyebrow at my sister.
"Sabrina had a great sales day. Most of her cakes sold out." Tameka turned to Sabrina. "How many jars did you sell?"
"Thirty-four," Sabrina said, cutting her eyes away from me.
Thirty-four. In one morning? At a farmers market? I couldn't believe it. A sting of resentment settled around my heart. I didn't know why that bothered me so much.
Tameka looked at my cake tray and said to Sabrina, "The little jars would fit nicely at events like this."
Once again, my uninventive and un-unique dessert display was dissed.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“He battered and fried catfish nuggets and made red rice with sausage. Finally, he started a she-crab chowder, and I knew he was showing off. Crab chowder was my favorite thing. I watched as he added the butter and flour for the roux and then expertly added the cream and milk and broth and other ingredients. The kitchen had been smelling good for hours, but once he added the crab roe and crab meat, it produced a heavenly fragrance.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“The steps, also brick, were lined on both sides with potted plants. Grandma grew lemongrass, citronella, and catnip in those pots to keep mosquitoes and other annoying bugs away. And it worked. Their porch had been a source of bite-free enjoyment for my whole childhood.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“I reached into the cabinet for one of the many empty plastic storage bowls I kept there and scooped out ham and potato corn chowder. The chowder was more of a winter soup, perfect for the leftover ham bones from Thanksgiving through Easter, but I continued to make it because children liked corn and potatoes and ham. I'd made this pot with Jordy in mind, so I scooped out most of it and pressed the lid closed. Next, I slathered butter on the yeast rolls I'd kept in the warmer and wrapped them in tin foil. I double plastic-bagged the bowl and put the bread on top before handing it to him. There was enough to last them two or three days.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet

“The smells of spices and coconut and sounds of searing meat and pots of seafood gumbo rolling to a boil always met me at the door--- that is, unless I arrived before the cooking began, and that was rare.”
― Rhonda McKnight, Bitter and Sweet