Page 36 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘It’s lack of time really.’
Bella raised an eyebrow.
‘And my mum still cooks for me.’
Jodie suppressed a giggle at the six-foot hunk of man’s slight sheepishness about his mother still popping round with a shepherd’s pie.
‘And what about you, Gemma?’
Jodie realised all eyes were on her.
‘I’m here to help out,’ she offered.
Bella grinned. ‘Sure, but you’re going to do the lesson while you’re here, aren’t you?’
‘Yes.’ Bella already knew she wasn’t much of a cook but Jodie also knew that the real Gemma was and had mentioned that in her phone interview. She needed to keep this pitched at the level where her interview talk could be viewed as harmless exaggeration rather than wholescale deception. ‘I used to cook with my family when I was little, but I’ve got out of the habit, I guess.’
‘Great. Well, apparently nobody’s vegetarian, and I know you three love your chips, so we’re going to start with a classic today. Steak sandwich and chips. And then either pavlova or Eton mess for dessert depending how neatly things turn out. How’s that sound?’
‘Ambitious,’ Youngest Strachan joked.
‘I mean, a nice piece of steak isn’t a cheap thing so it’ll be a shame if we ruin them, but also it’s one of the most basic bits of cooking there is. Simply applying oil, heat and a bit of seasoning to a good ingredient and letting the magic happen. If you can master that it’ll stand you in good stead. And it’s a crowd-pleaser, isn’t it? And great for a date night if you want to invite someone over. Dessert first though. Meringues take a while to cook and then they’ll need to cool.’
Bella started off trying to divide the group into pairs so Jodie could float a little bit, but the three Strachans so clearly came as a set and, as they pointed out, wanted to learn together so they could cook for the whole family. ‘How many Strachans are there?’ Jodie whispered to Bella.
‘Honestly not sure anyone knows.’
That meant that after the two latecomers had paired up, Jodie was left with Pavel. She sidled over to his station at the side of the kitchen. ‘Hi again.’
‘Hi.’ He looked sideways at her and Jodie looked away. She felt shy around him. That wasn’t like Jodie. Normally when she liked someone she was a bull in a china shop. She charged in, no thought to the consequences. That’s how she’d been with Gemma – it had been lucky Gemma was open-minded enough to see past Jodie’s chaos. For a while at least. The thought played itself through Jodie’s head again.Normally when she liked someone…She liked Pavel Stone. Not just fancied or desired or lusted after. Liked.
Pavel broke the silence. ‘I should probably tell you that last time I did one of these sessions I ended up keeled over on the floor.’
‘What?’
‘My… er… friend I was with cut herself.’ He shrugged. ‘Not great with blood, it turns out.’
‘OK. Well, I’ll try not to bleed then.’
‘That’s kind of a goal for everyone,’ Bella called. ‘Right. Let’s get started.’
Meringues, it turned out, were mostly an exercise in whisking. Egg whites were whipped up into what Bella referred to as stiff peaks. She lifted her beaters out of the mix and tilted the bowl to show how the egg white held its shape. She set the group separating eggs and beating the whites. The other groups got electric beaters, but Bella approached Pavel and Jodie apologetically.
‘I’m really sorry but my other electric whisk conked out when I was checking the equipment this morning.’ She smiled hopefully at Pavel. ‘And I thought Pavel’s strong. You can totally count it as arm day.’
Pavel rolled his eyes, but set about their egg whites with an impressive gusto. Jodie satisfied herself with watching the display, as the muscles tensed slightly under his warm, tanned skin. ‘I’ve always had a thing about forearms.’
‘Sorry?’
Jodie bit her lip. She’d said that out loud, which was, unfortunately, the sort of thing she did. Her unfiltered mouth had got her into a lot of trouble over the years. It was definitely not the sort of thing Gemma would do. ‘Nothing. You’re doing really well.’
‘Aren’t you going to have a turn?’ He held the whisk and bowl towards her.
‘Fine.’ Jodie started to mix as quickly as she could, spinning her wrist until her muscles seized up.
Bella appeared at her elbow. ‘If you alternate turning from the wrist for a bit and then from the elbow you’ll fatigue a lot slower.’
Jodie tried the change of technique and quickly concluded that Bella was a big fat liar. She handed the egg whites back to Pavel, barely any more beaten than when she’d started. ‘Can I film you?’
