Salt and Sugar Quotes

“I saw the things that mattered to you. And suddenly I was terrified of losing you.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Do you know what it feels like to be in a kitchen that’s just stuck, frozen in time? I’ve prepared the same dishes so many times, always the same dishes, I don’t even know whether I like them or not anymore. That’s my curse. I know it bothers you that you didn’t grow up cooking, but I envy you. You get all this freedom to just grab a recipe and prepare it for the first time, or to reinvent it, make it your own. You can do whatever you want and not feel like you’re offending anyone.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Lari, I was wondering if—” he begins to say, but Pedro suddenly sticks his head between us like a giraffe. “What’s with the chitchatting in my kitchen? We got work to do!” Pedro scolds,”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Our cake represents the best our families' bakeries Salt and Sugar have to offer," Pedro says, addressing the audience. "Two layers. There's the savory, nourishing quality of Parmesan corn and the sweetness of a guava-drizzled cake that's a reinterpretation of bolo de rolo. Two flavors that are dominant by themselves, meeting to complement each other." He points at each layer. "Salt and Sugar. Just like our families' bakeries."
The judge smiles. "Thank you, kids. And what do you call your cake?"
I meet Pedro's eyes. Deciding on the name wasn't hard. But saying it out loud in front of our families could go either way.
"Romário and Julieta," we say in unison.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“The ruby guava melts into the cheesy corn cake looking like a flower sprouting in the sun-kissed earth. This is the best compromise between our families' bakeries. It's perfect.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“He clumsily picks up the trays of corn cake and bolo de rolo, now all mixed together. He shoves a piece of the mixture into his mouth like he's doing it just to avoid talking.
But then his eyes light up.
"Oh my God!" he says with his mouth full. He grabs another piece of corn cake stacked with bolo de rolo, holding it up to show it to me, like he's just made a great discovery.
"What?" I ask.
"You gotta try this," he says.
I'm so nervous that I don't think I can make myself eat, but I take the first bite---
Salt and sugar mix in my mouth, the two tastes meeting like a kiss.
"It's... it's..." I can't find the right words.
"Perfect," he finishes for me. He's so close, his eyes locked with mine and that silly smile on his face.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“I think about her serving this cake at Salt, the slice still warm, the aroma of corn filling the whole bakery like the branches of a tree stretching in all directions. It tasted buttery, and savory, and with just the right hint of sour, which I guess came from the cheese. It was perfectly salted and spicy, cinnamon's contribution to the cake.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“How can anyone so annoying smell so good?
The wind stirs Pedro's hair and balloons his shirt. I guess after years of preparing buttercream, melting chocolate with delicate precision, and kneading sweet rolls with his bare hands, the scents have remained on him like a second skin. He smells like Sugar's early mornings, when they fill their ovens with the first batches of bolo de rolo and coconut buns.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Sour starch, Parmesan cheese, water, vegetable oil, milk, eggs... And salt, of course," he reads aloud the ingredients we'll need today. "We're making pão de queijo and packaging fresh fruits this afternoon."
This cheese bread has always been a favorite at Salt, pairing well with hot, chocolatey coffee. Growing up, I used to linger in the kitchen watching Grandma roll the dough into small balls with her hands. Once in the oven, they'd filled the entire bakery with a strong cheesy aroma that attracted customers all the way from Alto da Sé.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Bell pepper and onion skewers dripping with garlic hot sauce and a little lime. Chicken and steak skewers wrapped in bacon. And a side of farofa so we could dip the skewers and feel the crunch of kasava flour soaking up juices from the meat.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“The familiar cooking warmth coming from the booths soothed my anxious thoughts, like entering a labyrinth of barbecued, breaded, deep-fried treats. Acarajé bursting with shrimp. Grilled fish covered in lime juice and raw onion rings. Coxinhas loaded with shredded chicken and potato. Pastéis heavy with extra minced meat and olives. Coconut and cheese tapioca. Crepe sticks, too, prepared on demand right before the customers' eyes, the batter cooked like a waffle and filled with chocolate and doce de leite.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“My confidence suddenly soars, and I start adding other fruit to the leftover contents in the blender, filling it to the brim with slices of mangoes and strawberries, like I've seen Grandma do when she was preparing "summer smoothies," a medley of different citrusy flavors that combined so well.
PC, Victor, and Cintia flank me, watching wide-eyed.
"She's like the smoothie whisperer," PC jokes.
I reach for more milk, following my instinct, and fill the blender to the brim to compensate for all the extra fruit I added. Who knew that blending fruit would be this exciting? I watch all the bright, colorful pieces of fruit stacking up in the blender, looking like a beautiful mosaic.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“She takes off as fast as Jessie and James getting kicked into the horizon at the end of every Pokémon episode.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Empadões sit behind the glass, the round, perfectly golden brown pot pies loaded with shredded chicken and green olives.
People usually know what they want when they walk into our bakery. Five loaves of bread. Shrimp empadinhas. Maybe some lunch quentinhas, the warm to-go box filled with couscous and carne de sol.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Sweet potato. Mashed yams covered in beef jerky. French bread. Butter. A warm bowl of couscous. It's like she's trying to feed an army.
"I'm not very hungry," I say.
"It's not like you to refuse breakfast," she says with a wink. And my heart stops, because Mom winks just like Grandma used to. "And you barely ate last night. You need sustenance."
I join her at the counter, trying not to think about how without a third stool at the center to balance our family out, the counter feels much wider than it is.
Our breakfast begins quietly, just the hum of the fridge in the background.
I add butter to my yams, and the spoonful melts in my mouth, warming me up from inside out. I scoop up the little cuts of beef jerky individually, leftover from last night, chewing on them with my eyes closed. I let the salty flavor spread over my taste buds to wake them up one by one.
I then pull my bowl of milk couscous closer, breathing in the cinnamon-fragrant steam.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“I've lived my whole life across the street from the Molinas, but this is the first time I set foot in Sugar.
The theme inside is very gaudy. Twinkling lights shaped like icicles hanging from the ceiling. Red walls, just like the facade, the shade of Santa Claus's clothes. Glass shelves and counters polished until they sparkle, not one sign of fingerprints or kids' fogged breaths.
There's a translucent wall in the back with display slots. Most are empty by now, but an assortment of bolos de rolo, Seu Romário's famous cakes, takes the main spot at the center. The special lighting shows off the traditionally super thin spiral layers--- twenty layers in this roll cake, he claims--- filled with guava and sprinkled with sugar granules that glisten like a dusting of crystals.
The shelves to the right and left are packed with jujubas, bright candies, condensed milk puddings, cookies, broas, and sweet buns, filling the air with a strong, sweet perfume, the type you can actually taste. It's like being inside a candy factory.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“Great-grandma Elisa Ramires was a promising cook at an inn. The job was her only opportunity to raise Grandma on her own, so she made herself famous with a buttery, delicately savory fubá cake recipe. Dona Elizabete Molina had been at the inn longer than Great-grandma, and she was also famous for her own recipe. Milk pudding. It was said to be so smooth it slid on your tongue.
The two were often at odds. They each wanted to prove to the neighborhood who was the best cook in town, and the opportunity came about with a cooking contest.
The night before the contest, Great-grandma and Dona Elizabete were busy preparing their entry dishes and tending to the many guests at the inn. It was a busy night, with many tourists in town for Carnival.
Nerves frazzled, shoulder to shoulder, and vying for space in the small kitchen, the story goes that the cooks accidentally tripped each other and sent their cake and pudding flying off the trays.
Miraculously, the layers stacked up. Dona Elizabete's milk pudding landed atop Great-grandma's fubá cake. Maybe Dona Elizabete held the tray at the right angle until the last second and the pudding had enough surface tension to just slide off the right way without breaking. Maybe Great-grandma's cake was firm enough to hold the delicate layer of pudding atop. Whatever the case, they tried this new, accidental two-layered cake and realized that their recipes complemented each other beautifully. When they passed samples around to the guests, their reaction was proof that they'd produced perfection.
No one remembers if they still entered the contest. Because from that moment on, the only thing everyone could talk about was their new recipe, the one they called "Salt and Sugar". One layer fubá cake, one layer pudding.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“What do we have left from this morning?"
"We have a Sousa Leão cake, a marble cake, and a passion fruit cake. They're all small, unfortunately."
Seu Romário frowns. "Any frosting left?"
"Some ganache, Chef."
"Use it as frosting on the marble cake. Add a few strawberries on top. Then take all the small cakes we have left to tonight's wedding. Grab an assortment of guava and doce de leite bolos de rolo, too, that we were going to put on display tomorrow.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“The Molinas' entourage of bakers stream through Sugar's doors with trays brimming with lavender-colored surpresas de uva, brigadeiros, and bem-casados under protective plastic films, which they load into the back of the van.
And then they bring out a full tray of empadinhas! Even from my spot across the street, I see the dough flaky and golden like Grandma's recipe.
The thing is, everyone knows that only Salt makes empadinhas on our street. That's the deal our families made generations ago, when our great-grandmothers drew the battle lines:
Ramires only prepare savory foods.
Molinas only prepare sweets.
Sugar crossed the line baking empadinhas, and they know it. Those shameless, dishonest, garbage snakes!”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“I picture the customers pressing their faces to the display window outside to look at quibes, pastéis, and codfish bolinhos. I listen for our old stereo alternating between static crackling and forró songs swelling with melancholy accordions. I search for the tangy scent of ground beef simmering in a clay pot ready to turn into coxhina filling.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar

“t's not like everything has been solved between all of us, like a lifted curse in a storybook. And I know we still have a lot of learn from each other and s lot to forgive. But standing side by side in the kitchen together seems like a new chapter in our families' shared story, one full of hope.”
― Rebecca Carvalho, Salt and Sugar