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Salt and Sour: My Recipe For Starting Over
When we think of a starting over, most of us dream up images of exciting new adventures and possibilities. For Yoda Olinyk, starting from scratch meant waking up alone and sorting through the losses that had vanished over the last 16 months: her home, her partner, her dog, her life savings, her restaurant, and her self-worth.
In this gutsy memoir, Yoda chronicles her turbulent relationship and the restaurant that caused her to lose so much, including herself. Instead of sugar-coating the process and promising everything will get tied up in a sparkly bow, Yoda details how complicated and unraveling starting over really feels.
For Yoda, it’s through a combination of facing the hard truths about her relationship, making amends with the people she had wronged, traveling Europe and indulging in Pedro’s orange cake, that she finds a way to start from scratch in life, love, words, and food.
Salt & Sour is a compilation of stories of resilience and the perils of attaching your self-worth to someone else, with tempting recipes sprinkled throughout.
In this gutsy memoir, Yoda chronicles her turbulent relationship and the restaurant that caused her to lose so much, including herself. Instead of sugar-coating the process and promising everything will get tied up in a sparkly bow, Yoda details how complicated and unraveling starting over really feels.
For Yoda, it’s through a combination of facing the hard truths about her relationship, making amends with the people she had wronged, traveling Europe and indulging in Pedro’s orange cake, that she finds a way to start from scratch in life, love, words, and food.
Salt & Sour is a compilation of stories of resilience and the perils of attaching your self-worth to someone else, with tempting recipes sprinkled throughout.
- GenresMemoir
307 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 17, 2020
5 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 2, 2021
I received this beautiful book for Christmas and had it read by New Year’s Day...could not put it down. It is beautifully written, feels like you’ve stumbled into an interesting person’s private journal that has been stunningly written. I may be a tad biased as I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with the lovely author Yoda at her cooking classes and ordering from her amazing catering business and always enjoy these experiences. Reading her true story gives me so much more respect and understanding for her incredible journey. I loved the format of this book as well. It was unique in that each chapter started with a bit of beautiful artwork that lead into the story and ends with a related recipe. It’s just beautiful...I can’t say enough ...just read the book! Thank you for sharing your story so completely Yoda, I can’t wait for your next book!
September 15, 2020
A great read for anyone needing a little encouragement in life. An inspiring story about the author starting over and the tough times she had to go through to be as successful and happy as she is today. It shows you never really are stuck and that anything is possible. A beautiful story of forgiveness and love of both self and others. Highly recommended. Comes with great recipes as a bonus!
February 7, 2021
This book was raw and real. Thank you for not handing me the reciepe, but instead leading me through the ingredients. Thank you for being strong. I have a couple more tools in my kit now.
October 14, 2020
I had planned to read this book slowly, but I ended up reading it in one day. I love the drips of cooking references, analogies and metaphors throughout and the way the author, Yoda, shares her story so openly and truthfully really is gutsy. I haven't tried the yummy recipes included in the book, but I'm looking forward to them when I do.
March 25, 2021
It is simply brilliant. It is not another food memoir but it is about food, on food and a memoir about losing one/self and finding your/self and healing. Wonderful, masterful food imagery and an almost poetic language to savour. It is raw and mellow at the same time; honest, life affirming, healing and above all, words with heart and soul. The compassion is opening up at every page like a beautiful lotus flower in this muddy place called the Earth. May you be happy, healthy and holy, Yoda... Shine on from your heart. Looking forward to reading your next book.
August 30, 2020
I couldn’t put this book down! It was a visceral read all the way through! So relatable, so uncomfortably honest, and so authentic. Please read it!
April 24, 2022
I was first drawn to this book because I followed the author on social media since her pre-restaurant days. In fact, I used to stock my freezer with the frozen meals she made when she had that as a side biz during her catering days. When she started the restaurant, I had full intentions of visiting. Then it suddenly closed and I remember wondering why, it seemed so abrupt. But it was none of my business so I carried on with life. When I stumbled across her on social media again, it was around the time that the book was launching, so I made sure to pick it up.
There was a tenderness in this book that I could relate to. The sense of losing oneself into a deep spiral of a misaligned situation under the misguided assumption of ‘making it work’. All attempts to climb out, results only in digging further until you can’t go any further and you can’t take any more of the beatings from the proverbial 2x4 that the Universe is sending. Then it’s like a slow swim upstream as healing ensues. This is a story I know too well, so when I was reading I had a deep amount of empathy especially adding in my limited familiarity with the author's story.
All that said, as I was reading, I had the most difficulty with the latter half of the book where the author embarked upon her healing journey. I found myself frustrated with the setbacks and circling around, cringing at every stumble and found myself thumbing the amount of pages that were left wondering how the happy ending was going to wrap up with so few pages left.
Then it hit me. Once I moved past my ‘pot calling the kettle black’ moment - I realized: Healing is the hardest part and also, unlike fairytale endings in the movies, doesn’t get completed by wrapping it up with a perfectly tied bow. This is not the movies, this is real life. This section of the book served as permission for me to soften into my own healing and have compassion toward the unfolding and renovation process; I appreciated the author's raw reflection of this stage of her own story. Dealing with the aftermath is the hardest part.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of the author and hung off every word. The subtle undertones and analogies to tie in her love of food were quite brilliant, as were the mindfully selected recipes that were dispersed throughout the book.
This is one that will have a permanent home on my bookshelf.
There was a tenderness in this book that I could relate to. The sense of losing oneself into a deep spiral of a misaligned situation under the misguided assumption of ‘making it work’. All attempts to climb out, results only in digging further until you can’t go any further and you can’t take any more of the beatings from the proverbial 2x4 that the Universe is sending. Then it’s like a slow swim upstream as healing ensues. This is a story I know too well, so when I was reading I had a deep amount of empathy especially adding in my limited familiarity with the author's story.
All that said, as I was reading, I had the most difficulty with the latter half of the book where the author embarked upon her healing journey. I found myself frustrated with the setbacks and circling around, cringing at every stumble and found myself thumbing the amount of pages that were left wondering how the happy ending was going to wrap up with so few pages left.
Then it hit me. Once I moved past my ‘pot calling the kettle black’ moment - I realized: Healing is the hardest part and also, unlike fairytale endings in the movies, doesn’t get completed by wrapping it up with a perfectly tied bow. This is not the movies, this is real life. This section of the book served as permission for me to soften into my own healing and have compassion toward the unfolding and renovation process; I appreciated the author's raw reflection of this stage of her own story. Dealing with the aftermath is the hardest part.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of the author and hung off every word. The subtle undertones and analogies to tie in her love of food were quite brilliant, as were the mindfully selected recipes that were dispersed throughout the book.
This is one that will have a permanent home on my bookshelf.
September 4, 2023
very strong 4.5/5⭐️!
I know Yoda through Tristan J. Richard's National Poetry Writing Month workshop "unfold". Yoda is kind, an excellent writer, and an honest person. I love reading Yoda's instagram captions about her personal life experiences so when I learned she self-published a memoir, I was excited to read it!
this book is unflinching in its tenderness. The book centers on Yoda's experience co-owning and operating a successful restaurant in Ontario with her bum ass boyfriend. I expected the story to be more about the ins & outs of business owning but actually, this is a survival story. Yoda details how her life crumbled like cake and was rebuilt, slowly and intentionally.
I recommend this to anyone looking for an honest account of heartbreak and self-abandonment. I recommend this to anyone who loves food (the book has recipes!) and to anyone who wants proof that you can come back. You can always find a Way Out.
I know Yoda through Tristan J. Richard's National Poetry Writing Month workshop "unfold". Yoda is kind, an excellent writer, and an honest person. I love reading Yoda's instagram captions about her personal life experiences so when I learned she self-published a memoir, I was excited to read it!
this book is unflinching in its tenderness. The book centers on Yoda's experience co-owning and operating a successful restaurant in Ontario with her bum ass boyfriend. I expected the story to be more about the ins & outs of business owning but actually, this is a survival story. Yoda details how her life crumbled like cake and was rebuilt, slowly and intentionally.
I recommend this to anyone looking for an honest account of heartbreak and self-abandonment. I recommend this to anyone who loves food (the book has recipes!) and to anyone who wants proof that you can come back. You can always find a Way Out.
April 23, 2021
I just could not get off this book. I was completely into the story. With all my thoughts, with all my emotions and my body - I would shiver, I would feel my stomach tangling in itself. I wished for my eyes to move faster from one page to the other, starved to know more, to know what will happen next with curiosity and anxiety.
So far this year I read mostly poetry, Y. Book is all prose, it’s a journey of love, relationship, friendship, family, career - everything that makes someone’f life - filled with vivid and hurtful descriptions and food. I would have loved being able to cook and eat everything is being listed while reading on, but truly I was paralysed on the sofa and on the same exact position for all the hours it took me to read it all and I would have not moved even if the food was there in front of me.
So far this year I read mostly poetry, Y. Book is all prose, it’s a journey of love, relationship, friendship, family, career - everything that makes someone’f life - filled with vivid and hurtful descriptions and food. I would have loved being able to cook and eat everything is being listed while reading on, but truly I was paralysed on the sofa and on the same exact position for all the hours it took me to read it all and I would have not moved even if the food was there in front of me.
January 29, 2021
I was very eager to read this book, knowing a bit about the Author because we lived in the same town. It was neat being able to recognize some of the landmarks she referred to and I could easily visualize many of the local spots she referred to. I do feel that there wasn't 100% transparency in what she was actually struggling with, as according to her public social media, there is more to this story. Nevertheless , it was well written and an easy read.
December 30, 2021
Chef Yoda’s first published work is a triumph of poetic imagery, absolute vulnerability, and the grit of self-work. She holds nothing back and shows herself as a true wordsmith and soul warrior. Every page and every story is a journey that hooks you in and stays with you, as you learn from her lessons and feel her emotions. It is evident she has worked hard on herself, and this memoir is a labour of love that I appreciate very much. May her next work of art come soon - we can’t wait.
September 21, 2023
Such a good read, kept me flipping through. Thank you for sharing
January 14, 2024
Fucking brilliant.
Honest, kind, hopeful.
Honest, kind, hopeful.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews