Page 34 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘They’re from the parlour?’ Eden asked.
‘Yes.’
‘You can’t…Let me pay you for those?—’
‘Absolutely not,’ Julia said. She slammed the door on the freezer shut. ‘It’s our donation, and I don’t want to hear another thing about it.’
‘Thank you.’ Eden smiled and resolved to somehow surreptitiously get the money to them at some point, whether they liked it or not.
Half an hour later, the children had completed their task and the tables were dressed in cloths, also scavenged from various places, and the vases set on top, and there was a certain homely charm to the chaos.
‘It looks lovely,’ Julia said as Eden went through to look.
‘It does,’ Eden agreed. She smiled down at Nancy, who seemed to be waiting for her approval, while Levi had gone back to the kitchen saying he wanted a drink. ‘Thank you for helping.’
‘What else shall I do?’ Nancy asked.
‘How about washing the vegetables?’ Julia glanced at Eden as she said it. Perhaps she didn’t want to give the impression she was taking over, though Eden wouldn’t mind her taking over a bit. She was far better at this sort of thing.
Eden had to reflect that almost everyone here was better at this sort of thing than her. If only she’d taken more notice when her mum had been baking for charity or cooking at the old folks’ home at Christmas or any of the other good deeds she’d done over the years. All the times she’d asked for Eden’s help and Eden had refused. Only now did it dawn on her how much it would have enriched her life to get involved, and how much it would have meant to her mum, who’d been desperate forany opportunity for them to spend time together as mother and daughter.
‘Washing the vegetables sounds like a good plan,’ Eden said. ‘There are a lot. Think you and Levi can handle it, Nancy? It’s a big responsibility – they have to be super clean. Don’t want to serve any allotment bugs up with our dinners, do we?’
‘We’ll be careful,’ Nancy said, racing off to the kitchen to brief Levi on their new job.
‘Thank you,’ Julia said.
Eden frowned slightly. ‘For what?’
‘For letting them be involved. They love this sort of thing, and I think it’s good for them.’
‘I ought to be thanking you all for being here. I love that they want to be involved.’
When they went back through, Nancy and Levi were already sitting cross-legged on the floor, elbow deep in bowls of water, scrubbing so meticulously at a pile of carrots that it was all Eden could do not to stop and watch them with a daft smile on her face, because it was about the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.
Julia was on head chef duty because everyone agreed she was the best cook. Although it made sense for Livia to assist because she knew how Julia operated, at an impromptu supper-cum-planning meeting the day before, they’d decided that Eden ought to help. Eventually she’d have to take on a lot of the cooking, particularly on days when help was scarce. She’d freely admitted that her talents in the kitchen were lacking, and she relished the idea of learning from Julia, who was a great cook. Every meal Eden had shared with them at Sea Glass Parade had been as good as anything she’d been served in a restaurant.
‘Right then…’ Julia pulled out a notebook. ‘I’ve written down these recipes as best I can. Most of them I do from memory – it’s one of those things where you can do it with your eyes shut when you’re not thinking about it, but as soon as someone asks you what the steps are, you can’t for the life of you remember. But I think they’ll do the job for you.’
‘This is all brilliant,’ Eden said as Julia handed her the book. ‘Perfect. I’m sure they’ll be fine, though I can’t promise my skill in the kitchen will do them justice.’
‘They’re foolproof, honestly,’ Julia said. ‘Things I make all the time and mostly because they’re so hard to get wrong. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy them.’ Julia peered over her shoulder. ‘The most important thing with a lot of these dishes is just getting the timings right. If I were you, I’d make myself a little timescale on a bit of paper somewhere so you know when things have to be added or put into the oven so it all comes out at the same time – if you see what I mean. Then all you have to do is keep an eye on the clock.’
‘Good idea.’ Eden turned the page to the next recipe. ‘See, that’s why it’s so good to have you here. I need practical suggestions like that. I’d have been all over the place if I’d been doing this on my own.’
‘You’d never have been doing it on your own,’ Livia said as she pulled Nancy’s sleeves further up to stop them getting wet. ‘We’re excited to help.’
Eden took a moment to recall how keen her own mum had been for Eden to take an interest like this. It was just another one of those moments of torment, because she hadn’t been interested, even though her mum was a great cook and loved to create new things. She’d have given anything to have just one of those occasions back, where she could have stood at the stove in their kitchen with her and helped, if only to make Mum smile. But there was no going back, and it didn’t matter how big herregrets were – that wouldn’t change. All she could do now was move forward and try to imagine how proud her mum would be if only she could see it.
‘Without your help,’ Eden replied, ‘I don’t know what I would have done.’
‘Seems to me you’re the sort of person who would have found a way,’ Julia said. ‘Shall we make a start?’ She looked at her watch. ‘If we don’t get the stew in soon, we’re going to be running behind. Livia…would you rinse the lentils for the vegan chilli while I get started on the stew?’
Like a well-rehearsed military operation, Livia and Julia went to their tasks. They were so in tune with each other, so efficient, it was obvious they’d cooked together many times. For the briefest moment, Eden felt like a spare part and wondered if she ought to just slope off and leave them to it. She couldn’t help feeling she’d be more hinderance than help; even the children were doing a better job than she was.
As Julia turned on the stove, she called her over. ‘Could you brown the beef for me while I cut the onions?’
Glad to be off the starting blocks and feeling better already, Eden went to get the meat from the fridge where she’d stored it on her arrival. ‘Totally. What about the chicken?’
