Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho

Author:Rebecca Carvalho
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Published: 2022-09-07T11:11:21+00:00

28

MONDAY, MAY 23

As I’m heading down the stairs Monday morning, running late for school, I hear a loud popping sound like a firecracker. Mom screams.

I hurry into the kitchen, where Mom is on the verge of tears, staring at the huge mixer she uses for preparing big batches of batter.

“It’s dead,” she cries. “The mixer is dead. It was working fine a minute ago, and then suddenly it just gave up!”

I look from the mixer, filled to the brim with batter, to Mom’s flushed face. “Can’t we call someone to fix it?” I suggest.

“I got this thing fixed six months ago, and the lady said that I was better off getting a new one. Like I have money for that—” She stops midsentence, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about this. Go catch your bus or you’ll be late for school.”

Every inch of the kitchen is covered in trays of perfectly golden empadinhas, coxinhas, potato croquettes, chicken rissoles that Mom’s going to freeze in preparation for the event coming up in two weeks. This is definitely the biggest catering order Salt’s ever gotten, and Mom’s not even close to being done. She juggles her time between baking for Salt, baking for the catering client, and party planning. Not to mention long meetings with Dona Eulalia at the venue, who likes to micromanage everything.

And the client isn’t helping either. Every other day, Mom gets word that Dona Fernanda’s daughter wants something different, so Mom has to make everything over again. Pedro told me she’s the same way with Sugar, asking them to make things like petit gâteau and crème brûlée, despite the contract specifying Sugar only offers traditional recipes. At least we have plenty of extra food to donate to Vozes.

But what are we going to do about the mixer? While the one-month deadline seemed doable at first, it’s now looking nearly impossible. Mom tries not to show it, but I see her struggling. She’s not used to this routine. Mom and Grandma used to prepare for events—way smaller ones—in forty-eight hours of baking. But this birthday party is massive. And Mom and Grandma never had a client who changed her order frequently and wanted party planning on top of catering.

“Let me help you,” I offer. “Tell me what to do, I’ll follow your instructions exactly.”

“Larissa, go to school,” Mom says instead, kicking me out of the kitchen.

My heart sinks. How is Mom going to pull this off without a working mixer? And what happens if we don’t get another big catering gig after this one? How will we fend off Deals Deals then?

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