Page 44 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘Ragu or sprout-based?’ Jodie asked, warily.
‘Fingers crossed for ragu,’ was the reply.
Chapter Nine
Jodie woke up full of the fervour and good intentions that had carried her through the previous afternoon. And she had a system now. She just had to find Darcy and sit at her feet until she got into the swing of things. Who was to say she wasn’t an event planner? She was definitely planning an event.
She took her laptop back to the estate office after breakfast but it was empty. A Post-it note stuck to the monitor simply saidGone riding.
Right. Plan B. She made her way to the kitchen, where Bella was sitting at the island, head bent over a notebook. ‘I’ve been thinking about food for the gala,’ she announced almost before Jodie was through the door.
‘Great.’ Food and venue were the next things on Gemma’s plan. ‘So we’ll need a caterer?’
Bella’s face was instantly set like thunder.
Not a caterer then. ‘Sorry. I didn’t know if you’d want to…’
‘I’m not having someone else cook for our first big event, and food’s our, what do you call it, USP, isn’t it? That’s what you said in the interview.’
Jodie added USP to her mental list of Gemma words she needed to google.
‘I’m thinking canapés and then a buffet. We’ll need to hire in heat lamps, or find some second-hand maybe. But it’ll be less serving staff than a sit-down meal, and staff costs on New Year’s Eve are a biggie.’
That all made perfect sense and Jodie wouldn’t have thought of any of it. ‘You’re the food expert,’ she managed.
Bella grinned. ‘I thought we might have a practice run at some of the canapé ideas this morning? So we’re a well-oiled machine for the big night.’
‘You know I’m not much use in the kitchen.’
‘And I told you, you might have to help anyway.’ Bella’s tone was gentle. ‘You’ll be fine. I’ll talk you through it.’ She pushed her notebook towards Jodie. ‘These are my ideas.’
‘What are tattie scones?’
‘They’re sort of…’ She stopped. ‘They’re a Scottish thing. Actually I asked Flinty to come and talk us both through those.’
‘But what are they?’
‘Sort of potatoey scones.’ Bella raised her eyebrow. ‘You know what tatties are. You’ve got neeps and tatties on your plan for the night.’
That was true. Neeps and tatties were absolutely on the plan under food. Jodie just hadn’t got to googling those yet.
‘I guess I didn’t know you could make scones out of them.’
‘Apparently you can.’ Bella started towards the door. ‘Come on. Flinty said if we walked over to the shop, she’d drive us back.’ She paused, her face dropping slightly. ‘I need to say goodbye to Adam.’
Adam was heading to Edinburgh for the rest of the week to focus on his real business – landscape gardening for wealthy city clients – which was the main thing keeping the castle afloat until Jodie worked her highly anticipated magic and transformed Lowbridge into a sought-after events destination.
Bella reappeared a minute later, rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her jumper. ‘Ridiculous. He’s back on Saturday and it’s not like I even see him that often when he is here. I spent half of yesterday morning wandering the grounds looking for him.’ She took a deep breath in. ‘Stupid. Come on then.’
They walked across the Low Bridge and along the shoreline the length of the village.
‘You probably haven’t had much chance to explore over here?’
Jodie shook her head. ‘I drove through with Pavel when I arrived but I haven’t really left the estate since.’
Along one side of them was the village, but along the other was the sea, and beyond that an island.
‘So that’s Raasay?’ she asked. ‘And Loch Aber Cross?’ She’d got her phone out and pored over the map after her walk up to the top of the headland. Jodie loved maps. She loved the way the world translated down into lines and colours. It made sense of things that weren’t always sensible.
