Salada de Alface e Tomate

You know that little voice, isso não é pra mim, even when the task is lettuce and tomato? Good. Let's put it on the counter where we can see it. A sad salad is not proof that you can't cook. It's proof that someone handed you wet leaves, watery tomato, and no method, then called it simple. Very convenient for nonsense.

Cozinhar não é dom, é um aprendizado, and that includes the side dish everyone forgets to teach. You wash the lettuce so it tastes clean, then you dry it well because dressing slides off wet leaves and lands in a puddle. You salt the tomato first so its juice wakes up and becomes part of the dressing. You toss only at the end because acid and salt are bossy little things, and they make lettuce murchar fast.

This is the green corner of the pê-efe, the everyday plate: rice, beans, something from the pan, and something fresh to cut through it all. It isn't decoration. It balances the plate, cools the bite, and makes dinner feel finished without asking you for money, drama, or a packet pretending to be flavor.

Anota aí: real food doesn't have to be complicated. It has to be handled with a little respect. Tonight, that's lettuce dry enough to stay crisp, tomato seasoned enough to taste like tomato, and a bowl that reaches the table at the right minute.