Welcome! !Bienvenidos!
I’m Barbara, the writer behind Sweet and Sabroso. My sister, Suzy (pictured below), and I created Sweet and Sabroso and launched it on June 18, 2017, Father’s Day, a day which holds special meaning for us.
Meet my sister, Suzy! We collaborate on recipes and content for Sweet and Sabroso, particularly recipes for all things deliciously sweet and baked, which are her specialty. We take culinary and wine classes together. We travel together. We brainstorm together. We inspire each other.
Our Story
Chapter 1: In the Beginning
Sweet and Sabroso began as a true labor of love for us, born of our passion for food and wine and deep connection to our Spanish-Cuban heritage. Our mother, Mami, and father, Papi, were of Spanish ancestry born in Cuba. Mami — who didn’t learn to cook until she was in her late thirties and already married to my father — was an incredible cook (and yes, we know that nearly everyone says this about their mother, but by all standards, she was truly incredible!). Her culinary mentor and teacher was her older sister, our aunt, Elsa (or our “Tía Lola” as we endearingly called her). They cooked both Cuban and Spanish dishes, all of which were amazing. Here they are entertaining at a party in Havana, Cuba, with Tía Lola on the left and Mami on the right.
Our mother passed away unexpectedly when we were young, and as result, we didn’t have many opportunities to learn from her, at least directly, how to cook in her fabulous way. Interestingly, she also never kept any detailed recipes (hmmm . . . perhaps by design?). In fact, as friends, family, and just about everyone raved about her cooking, they would make certain to ask (and sometimes beg and plead, especially when a certain chocolate cake was involved!) for the recipe. But my mother, who had a great sense of humor and was known for finding it in nearly every situation, would each and every time, and without fail, teasingly respond: “No, porque cuando me muera quiero que te recuerdas de mi por algo” (No, because when I die, I want you to remember me for something)! To this day, friends and family still fondly reminisce about her and her wonderful food just as she teased them that they would. Mami’s passing, while we didn’t realize it at the time, would be the beginning of a lifelong journey to honor the memory of our parents and our heritage through its cuisine.
Chapter 2: Trial, Error and The Royal Taste-Tester
Following many years of trying Spanish and Cuban dishes at restaurants and elsewhere in hopes of finding dishes similar to those of our mother’s and being woefully disappointed, my sister and I embarked on our greatest and most challenging cooking endeavor: to recreate our mother’s dishes. A tall order, indeed, but rest-assured, we had Papi, who we appointed the “Royal Taste-Tester”, to taste and critique each recipe until we had it right. A job he loved! And so it began, and many years later, after a lot of practice, trial and error and countless cooking courses, we have accumulated a nice collection of recipes inspired by the memory of our mother’s dishes and sanctioned by the Royal Taste-Tester.
Chapter 3: The Great Blog Idea
Have you ever wondered how someone, such as an attorney (me) or a nurse practitioner (my sister) would decide to embark upon something so wildly different as a food and wine blog? Well, you know when life keeps leaving a trail of bread crumbs for you to follow and you finally see them? That’s precisely what happened. Over the years, our family, especially Papi, and close friends, who we regularly entertained at parties and loved our food, repeatedly encouraged us to do something more – one day – with our foodie dreams. Sparked by this encouragement, one evening as my sister and I were having dinner in my kitchen reminiscing about our father and imagining the cookbook that we would publish on that elusive one day, we had our Aha! moment: life is short and we resolved, right then and there, to turn that one day into now. And just like that, on October 12, 2015, I purchased the domain for Sweet and Sabroso and our blog was born.
Chapter 4: Food and Wine, The Perfect Pair
As ardent enthusiasts of wine, we believe that no meal – especially a Spanish meal – is truly complete without a little vino. So, naturally, there was no question in our minds that Sweet and Sabroso, from its inception, would prominently showcase wine. Influenced by our father’s fondness of Spanish wines – which he believed to be the best in the world – we have a strong affinity for them, including the wines from the regions of Rioja and Ribera del Duero, which we visited recently. Of course, Sweet and Sabroso will feature Spanish wines, among wines of other regions that pair well with our recipes or that we otherwise find fantastic in quality or value or both. A few years ago, my sister and I decided to take our wine knowledge to the next level. I have a WSET Level 3 Award in Wine and Spirits and my sister has a WSET Level 2 Award in Wine and Spirits (and is currently working on Level 3). We believe that enjoying wine doesn’t have to be overly complicated or pretentious. It should be approachable, and above all, fun!
Chapter 5 to The End: TBD
The rest of our story remains to be told and we’re very excited to be sharing it with you! Thank you so much for visiting Sweet and Sabroso!
Dedication
Sweet and Sabroso is dedicated to our father, who passed away a year before we started this project. He was our biggest fan, and without his love and support, we could not have done this.
