Her Christmas Kisses by Susanne Bellamy

Author:Susanne Bellamy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Escape Publishing
Published: 2019-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Flick turned the Egyptian torte around on the turntable as she spread the top layer of hazelnut. Light and crunchy, and one of the simpler recipes in her repertoire, the alternating layers of biscuit, custard filling and crunchy hazelnut topping made it the perfect dessert as temperatures increased day by day.

She wiped her forehead on her sleeve and stepped back to assess the overall appearance of her torte. All around her, familiar sounds rose from a kitchen preparing for another busy Saturday. Most staff were on duty and a long day stretched ahead of all of them. She thought longingly of cooling breezes and the slap of waves against a double hull. If only she could have been out on the catamaran trip with Xander and Jenny.

As Christophe took a turn around the various workstations, she stopped him, her spatula raised above the torte. ‘Christophe, do you want the pavlovas cooked as individual serves, or as a single large dessert?’

‘We usually make them as a single big one, but—what’s your reasoning for small ones? They don’t look as impressive.’

‘True, but they hold their shape through to the last serving, whereas you only need one clumsy cut to mess up the entire large plate. I know how busy the restaurant is going to be tonight. Can I make them small this time?’

Christophe pursed his lips and frowned slightly, a look she had come to recognise meant he was giving the idea serious consideration. Finally, he nodded. ‘Let’s do mini pavlovas surrounding a large, lightly-flamed meringue. Make the large meringue the centrepiece with mounded topping, peaked like a mountain, and the small ones like those who have come to adore.’

‘Yes, chef. I’m on it.’ She visualised a snowy Mt Blanc shape with clusters of free-form meringues topped with locally sourced kiwifruit, and indigenous red berries. They would be enhanced by a subtle lavender colour if Christophe agreed. Before she could second-guess herself, she called after him. ‘Do you mind if I try out a lavender-flavoured cream to complement them? I’ve done the research and I arranged for a small quantity of lavender to be delivered from one of the local farms.’

‘Let me taste the cream first. If it’s as good as the idea sounds, and if there are enough flowers, you could create a lavender field at the base of the meringue mountain.’ He smiled before turning on his heel and striding into his office.

A field of lavender on a snowy meringue mountain …

Christophe’s ideas for presentation were often quirky, but always visually appealing. Almost every day Flick found yet one more reason to be grateful her car accident had happened here at Rainbow Cove. Without it, she wouldn’t have had the great experience of working with the Frenchman—fate had well and truly landed her on her feet.

And I wouldn’t be sneaking out to meet Xander and wanting more than moonlit kisses.

She sighed as she separated eggs, sourced locally like almost everything Christophe used in his restaurant, and tipped the whites into a shiny silver mixing bowl, giving thanks for this particular detour in her life.

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