The Endless Beach
Page 30
When he was asleep, Fintan felt like he was teetering on the edge of a very high cliff, and it was taking an island to help him hold on.
There was a sizable crowd tonight, and Joel paused in a quieter section of the beach. Flora looked at him curiously.
“You have to understand,” he said in his quiet, understated way, “I have never said these words. To anyone. Ever. Out loud. Okay. You have to realize that it might not mean very much to you, but it is very difficult for me.”
Flora looked at him curiously but knew better than to say anything. Joel swallowed nervously. He opened his mouth. Started. Failed. Tried again.
“Ach,” he said.
Bramble came bouncing up, holding a ridiculously long stick. Joel looked at it, then took it off him (as a very benign creature, Bramble didn’t mind at all).
“Okay,” he said. “Give me a minute.”
And he took the stick, and gently traced
in the sand.
“Will that do?” he said, glancing up at Flora.
She looked back at him, heart bursting, grinning from ear to ear, and she saw that small, shy smile—the one only she ever saw, and even then not very often.
“Absolutely not,” said Flora. “That ‘o’ looks like an ‘a’ to start with. And everyone knows it doesn’t count if you don’t say it. And . . .”
She realized he didn’t know she was teasing. So she did the best thing she knew how, and kissed him.
“I love you,” she said.
He covered his face with his hands and looked embarrassed.
“Say it!” said Flora.
“Don’t make me!”
“Okay, well, just start with . . . just say the ‘I.’”
“‘I,’ I can say.”
“Okay, and now try the ‘you’ part.”
“‘You.’”
“See, you’re already 66.666 percent there . . .”
And they made their way together down the Endless Beach hand in hand.
“How about you say, ‘I love strawberries’ then just put ‘you’ in at the end instead?” tried Flora.
“I’m not . . . I mean, I don’t really care much about strawberries either way . . .”
“Okay, well pick something you really love.”
“Avocados. I love avocados.”
“You can say, ‘I love avocados’ and you can’t say you love me? What’s wrong with you, man?”
“Also, why can’t you get avocados on this island? This is a real problem with this island . . .”
“I’m glad our lack of avocados is the worst thing about living here.”
“It truly is,” said Joel. “How about I write it every day?”
“Every day?”
“Every day. Tide comes in, washes it away, tide goes out, I write it.”
“That’s twice a day, you div.”
“Twice a day then.”
“I like that,” said Flora. “Sounds committed. Low tide gets pretty late in the winter . . .”
“Well, I’m a very committed person now, apparently.”
“Apparently you are,” said Flora, biting her lip and smiling.
And they wandered on, hand in hand, Bramble’s huge tail wagging lazily behind them, up toward the rest of their family at the top of the Endless Beach.
Recipes
Here are some true Scottish recipes I have collected together for you. I realize some of them have appeared in other books, but this is a proper local edition. ☺
CHEESE SCONES
You will find these in every café in Scotland, for very good reason. Scottish cheese is among the best in the world (and I lived in France), and a good sharp, hard cheese works wonderfully with soft, warm scones. And salty butter, I insist. This should make you a dozen.
250 g self-rising flour
A pinch of salt
Dried chilies to taste (i.e., absolutely none is also fine)
50 g butter (make sure this is cold and cubed)
60 g cheese (a mature cheddar is good)
A splash of tonic water
80 ml milk (or to consistency—add slowly)
Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit—cold butter, hot oven is always my mantra when it comes to scones.
Mix everything together, dry first, then rub in the butter and cheese and add the liquids until you have a nice sticky ball. You can roll it out if you’re neat and cut out little scone shapes or just stick it into smaller random balls if you’re in a hurry—trust me, they’re going to get eaten really fast.
Brush the tops with a little extra milk and stick in the oven—ten to fifteen minutes should do it; they should be a lovely golden color.
Some maniacs split them and put more cheese inside, but honestly, all you really need is some lovely salty butter to ooze out of them. Oh goodness, I can’t even type this recipe without wanting to run off a quick batch.
TABLET
I know, I know: Scotland has a reputation for being a country that eats a lot of sugar. And this recipe does nothing to counter that. Hey, if you like sweet things, tablet is DELISH DELISH DELISH, and that is all I have to say about that. Except once, when we were living in France, I sent it in with my son for “tastes of the world” day, and when I went to pick him up, one of his little classmates came up to me and tugged unhappily on my sleeve, saying, “Madame! Madame! C’est trop sucré!”
With that in mind, the recipe does start with:
1 kg granulated sugar
A drop of fresh milk to dampen the sugar
1 large can of condensed milk
125 g butter
Turn the stove on to six or medium high. Butter and line a baking tray.
This is a stirring game. Put the sugar in a pot, dampen with milk, and add the condensed milk and the butter and get going. After ten minutes, it should be coming to a boil—once it is boiling, turn down the heat but keep stirring! The calories you expend doing this totally balance out the tablet, I promise.
When it’s ready, it should be a beautiful dark gold color, and a ball of it (use a teaspoon) will solidify in cold water. Then take the pan off the heat and—stir faster! When it’s thickened, pour into the tray and leave to cool—cut it into slices before it sets completely though. It is also nice chopped up into squares in little tartan bags as gifts.
SHORTBREAD
You can’t make Scottish recipes without making shortbread, and this one is nice for kids to join in with as it’s so simple. If you can’t get your hands on Fintan’s unsalted butter, buy the highest quality you can afford.
60 g granulated sugar
150 g very good butter
200 g plain flour
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking tray.
Cream the sugar and butter well, then add the flour until you get a paste. Roll it out to about one centimeter in thickness, then cut it however you like—be creative (or lazy, like me, and just use the top of a glass ☺)!
Sprinkle some extra sugar on top, then chill the dough in the fridge for at least half an hour; otherwise they won’t bake nicely.
Put it in the oven for twenty minutes, or until golden brown and delicious.
HAGGIS PAKORA
This has become so popular and widespread over the last few years that it’s rapidly passing into “classic” status. It’s also ideal for kids if you’re having a Burns Night supper and are a little tentative about going the whole hog (although haggis is lovely, it’s just spicy sausage, just try one bite, etc., etc.).
1 haggis
150 g chickpea flour (plain flour is okay if you can’t find chickpea)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 chopped-up spring onion
250 ml buttermilk (again, you can use plain yogurt if you can’t find buttermilk)
2 tbsp chopped coriander
Oil for deep-frying
Cook (microwaving is fine) and cool your haggis and cut it into chunks, then mix with the othe
r ingredients.
Deep-fry—carefully!—and place on paper towels to soak up the oil.
Serve with chili sauce or mango chutney.
CRANACHAN
This is so easy for dessert, but delicious and really almost healthy (for Scotland).
150 g oatmeal
150 g raspberries
Drambuie to taste
150 g heavy cream
Toast the oatmeal lightly (otherwise it will catch fire). Line the bottom of dessert glasses with the raspberries mixed in with Drambuie. Then whip up the cream and mix it and the oatmeal together with, yes, more Drambuie, and pour over the top.
Leave to set in the fridge for an hour or so before serving if you can. And I like sprinkling mini meringues on top of mine but apparently that makes me a heathen, so I shan’t mention it.
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Acknowledgments
Grateful thanks to: Maddie West, David Shelley, Charlie King, Manpreet Grewal, Amanda Keats, Joanna Kramer, Jen Wilson and the sales team, Emma Williams, Steph Melrose, Felice Howden, and all at Little Brown. At JULA, huge thanks to Jo Unwin and Milly Reilly. Thanks also to Laraine Harper-King and the Board.
About the Author
JENNY COLGAN is the author of numerous bestselling novels, including The Little Shop of Happy Ever After and Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery. Meet Me at the Cupcake Café won the 2012 Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance and was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller, as was Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams, which won the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2013. Jenny was born in Scotland and has lived in London, the Netherlands, the U.S., and France. She eventually settled on the wettest of all of these places, and currently lives just north of Edinburgh with her husband, Andrew; her dog, Nevil Shute; and her three children: Wallace, who is twelve and likes pretending to be nineteen and not knowing what this embarrassing “family” thing is that keeps following him about; Michael-Francis, who is ten and likes making new friends on airplanes; and Delphine, who is eight and is mostly raccoon as much as we can tell so far.
Things Jenny likes include: cakes; far too much Doctor Who; wearing Converse sneakers every day so her feet are now just gigantic big flat pans; baths only slightly cooler than the surface of the sun; and very, very long books, the longer the better. For more about Jenny, visit her website and her Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter @jennycolgan.
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Praise for Jenny Colgan
“A good-hearted and humorous slice of Cornish life.”
—Sunday Mirror
“This funny, sweet story is Jenny Colgan at her absolute best.”
—Heat
“A delicious comedy.”
—Red
“Fast-paced, funny, poignant and well observed.”
—Daily Mail
“Sweeter than a bag of jelly beans . . . . Had us eating up every page.”
—Cosmopolitan
“Will make you feel warm inside—it makes a fab Mother’s Day gift.”
—Closer
“Chick-lit with an ethical kick.”
—Mirror
“A quirky tale of love, work and the meaning of life.”
—Company
“A smart, witty love story.”
—Observer
“Full of laugh-out-loud observations . . . . Utterly unputdownable.”
—Woman
“A chick-lit writer with a difference . . . . Never scared to try something different, Colgan always pulls it off.”
—Image
“A Colgan novel is like listening to your best pal, souped up on vino, spilling the latest gossip—entertaining, dramatic and frequently hilarious.”
—Daily Record
“An entertaining read.”
—Sunday Express
“Part chick lit, part food porn . . . . This is full-on fun for foodies.”
—Bella
Also by Jenny Colgan
Amanda’s Wedding
Talking to Addison
Looking for Andrew McCarthy
Working Wonders
Do You Remember the First Time?
Where Have All the Boys Gone?
West End Girls
Operation Sunshine
Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend
The Good, the Bad and the Dumped
Meet Me at the Cupcake Café
Christmas at the Cupcake Café
Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop of Dreams
Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop
The Christmas Surprise
The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris
Little Beach Street Bakery
Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery
The Little Shop of Happy Ever After
Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery
The Café by the Sea
A Very Distant Shore
By Jenny T. Colgan
Resistance Is Futile
Spandex and the City
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.
THE ENDLESS BEACH. Copyright © 2018 by Jenny Colgan. Map copyright © 2017 by The Flying Fish Studios. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
This book was previously published in the UK by Little, Brown Book Group in 2018.
FIRST EDITION
Cover design by Lex Maudlin
Cover photographs © Angus McComiskey/Alamy Stock Photo (main image); © Pla2na/Shutterstock (sky); © Charcomplx/Shutterstock (sky); © Victoria Sergeeva/Shutterstock (design element)
Digital Edition MAY 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-285000-3
Version 04192018
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-284999-1
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