Chef Charming

by Ellerbe, Lyn

  Chef Charming

  Lyn Ellerbe

  Copyright © 2013 Lyn Ellerbe Books

  ISBN 978-0-9892464-0-8

  Lyn Ellerbe Books

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  To my wonderful husband who inspires me with his humor, patience, and love.

  Thanks to my lovely daughters for being the first to read the story and urge me to share it. To my good friend Kathy and her daughter, thank you for your overwhelming encouragement. Writing this book brought back great memories the gourmet cooking class that my roommate Terry, and our good friend Randy, took on a whim. It is my prayer that this story encourages Christian men and women as they work out their faith, stay true to their values, and enjoy the love that God so often shows us through our relationships.

  Table of Contents

  Sleeping Beauty and Chef Charming

  Spice and Rice

  Stewed and Steamed

  Perfect Portraits

  Perplexing Pasta

  A Slice of Quiche

  Bread of Strife

  My Kingdom for a Croissant

  Soufflé Can You See?

  Sweet Desserts, Don’t Desert Me

  To Europe or Not to Europe?

  The Breakfast Calamity

  Let the Show Begin

  Commencement – The Beginning or the End?

  Kiss the Cook

  A Rival Prince

  A Nervous Princess

  Doubt and Dilemma

  Happily Ever After

  Epilogue

  Sleeping Beauty and Chef Charming

  “Oh it smells delicious in here!” Rori teased her roommate. “You’d better hurry. I’m pretty sure it’s bacon!”

  “I’m almost there.” Even over the phone, Rori could tell Jessica was breaking into a run. The roommates had been looking forward to this beginner’s gourmet cooking class for weeks. Both young ladies were set to graduate a week from Sunday, and had signed up for this community education class on a whim. Jessica was graduating with a degree in Culinary Arts so she was a little nervous about how Chef Marcus MacRae would react to one of the top students in the culinary program showing up for a novice class.

  Rori had spent the last two years envious of Jess’s prowess in the kitchen. If she could learn even a little bit of the magic, she would be thrilled. Even though this was a community class, the university allowed its students to take the class as an elective credit. They could take it for a letter grade, or just as an audited class.

  Of course, this was not the best timing for Rori, but she was hoping the class would be a distraction to the pressure of her Graduate Art Show next Friday night. She spent most of her time in this building since the art studio was just downstairs. When she wasn’t frantically finishing her paintings, she could usually be found on the third floor where she taught art in the afterschool program that the college offered for the children of faculty and staff.

  Leaning against the wall of the food lab, relishing the aromas, Rori caught her breath. She had been in the studio and had barely had time to change clothes. Her painting overalls would not have made a good first impression. Maybe Chef would give them real chef’s jackets; she laughed trying to picture herself looking so professional. She quickly wound her long curly hair into a somewhat organized bun and clipped it with a bright lime green barrette. Anyone that knew her very well would agree that the color suited her quirky cheerful personality. Plus it perfectly matched the patchwork peasant skirt and green trimmed baby blue tank top she had paired with it.

  This unassuming free spirited artist had no idea how attractive she was. In her view, Rori thought she was too tall and complained that her long blonde hair had a mind of its own. Although her curves were seemingly incongruent with her lankiness, they kept her from being termed too skinny. She always wondered too why God had given her a strange light blue set of eyes that would have been more striking set in a dark haired, olive-skinned face instead of the honey-touched one she was blessed with. Although Jessica envied what she called an adorable sprinkling of freckles across her nose, Rori knew she could never compete with her classically beautiful brunette, petite best friend. They secretly called themselves Mutt and Jeff.

  “Hurry, hurry,” Rori gestured frantically to Jessica who came sliding around the corner in her haste. Class had just started. The pair stopped at the doorway to try to control their giggling making their way, hopefully unobserved, into the classroom.

  While they caught their breath, Rori glanced through the top glass-paned section of the door. The tall, auburn-haired chef was making his way around the room, introducing himself to each pair of would-be culinary masters. She heard deep, rich laughter.

  When they had signed up for the class, she had asked Jessica what Chef Marcus MacRae was like.

  “I only had him as a substitute for a couple of classes,” her roommate explained that the chef had just joined the staff officially a couple weeks after Spring Break. “He seems nice, and has a bit of a dry sense of humor from what I remember. I think he knew Chef Jake in college,” Jessica continued. Rori knew Jake Hampton, his wife Carla, and their daughter Zoe, from church.

  “What does he look like?” Rori had pressed for more information. “Stunningly good looking like one of those network chefs, or more like Chef Boy Ar Dee?”

  “Quite good-looking,” Jessica had said, laughing at Rori’s outlandish question. “If you like the Scottish Lord of the Castle kind of look.” Remembering that conversation now, Rori agreed with the description, at least from the back. Chef had continued around the room and moved to a place where she could now see his face. As he shook the hand of a young lady, a smile broke across his face. Rori caught her breath.

  The dark reddish-brown hair was longer than the current close-cropped trends, and the neat, trim goatee gave Chef MacRae an air of royalty. “He looks like he could have been a real Scottish Laird, defending his clan from invaders,” she whispered to Jessica. Jessica’s description had been woefully inadequate. She had failed to mention that he was gorgeous. Thanks, Jess, Rori thought.

  “Smitten are we, roomie?” Her roommate laughed, observing Rori’s wide eyes.

  “Let’s get in there, I’m starving.” Jessica tried to quietly open the door and sneak in. Unfortunately, the door was situated directly in Chef’s line of sight as they stepped through.

  “Nice of you to join us, ladies.” Chef MacRae seemed startled as he glanced at the two young ladies. He nodded curtly. “Miss Johnston, I was surprised to see you signed up for the class, but welcome. And this is…?” He waited for Rori to introduce herself.

  “Rori,” she said, feeling her face turn red. “I mean, Aurora Sinclair. I’m Jessica, I mean Miss Johnston’s, roommate.” She couldn’t believe how flustered she was. Normally she was cheerful and carefree, but this man intimidated her as no one else ever had. It was a surreal feeling.

  Glancing to Jessica for support, she saw her friend was just as surprised at the chef’s cold welcome as she was. They had observed his laughing and jovial manner as he made his way around the room, but now he had turned icy and brusque.

  “Aurora? As in Sleeping Beauty?” Chef MacRae had now turned his full attention on her. She squirmed under his gaze. I will never be late for another class in my life, she thought to herself. So much for first impressions.

 
“Yes,” Rori tried to regain her composure. Hating having to defend her unusual name, she was a tad irritated. “My mom is an elementary teacher and that particular story is her favorite. Although I would never have taken you for a fairy tale connoisseur.”

  “Do you have a sister named Rapunzel, or Snow, or Cinderella?” Marcus seemed unable to walk away from this enchantress. He had not quite picked up on her tone of irritation.

  “Actually, no.” Rori’s rare temper flared. She smiled a falsely sweet smile at the disagreeable professor. “Her name is Gwen.”

  “As in...?” Marcus continued, unaware that their conversation had drawn the attention of the class.

  “Guinevere,” Rori answered. “My father is a Professor of History. Mom got to name me; he got to name my sister.”

  Struggling to regain his composure, Chef Marcus reverted to curtness.

  “Well, Princess Aurora,” he said, and watched her blush at his sarcasm. “So glad you woke up in time to make it to class. I’d appreciate it if you would find time in your busy schedule, Your Highness, to make it on time tomorrow night.”

  “Yes, Chef,” Rori ducked her head and nodded. She was stunned at his rudeness, not that it was unjustified. She and Jessica had disrupted class with their lateness.

  Rori was such a positive, upbeat person, to a fault some of her friends said, that encountering someone so much her opposite left her speechless. Her family and close friends would laugh at the idea of her speechlessness, even under extreme circumstances.

  “I’m so sorry,” Jess whispered as they made their way to their station. “I’ve only had him as a substitute in my pastry class, and I thought he was really nice and funny then. Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”

  “Or a bad life,” muttered Aurora. She fought back uncharacteristic tears and prayed. ‘Lord, help me endure this trial. I know it may seem trivial, but I think that I’m in the class for a reason since it was such a fluke for me to be able to sign up for it. Please show me what that reason is so I can put up with the verbal abuse I appear to be in for.’

  “You will see on the screen behind me a list of safety issues,” Chef MacRae immediately began, the incident apparently not of enough importance to cause him any hesitation. “Each of you has two copies of this at your station. On both copies, please initial beside each item and sign at the bottom. I will come around and collect one of the signed forms as I take attendance. The other form should be placed in your binder.”

  Rori pulled her binder from her superhero backpack, not realizing what an eccentric combination her hippie-like attire, bright neon hair clip, and her masked avenger backpack made. She tried to be as quiet as possible, hoping not to attract any more attention. Unfortunately, in her nervousness, she dropped her pencil case as she pulled out the notebook. Of course, since she was an artist, it was not an ordinary zippered, canvas pencil case. It was bright, shiny, and metallic. Perfect for making a lovely and loud clanging noise.

  Chef turned towards her table at the clamor. “Problems, Princess?”

  “No.” Rori groaned and Jessica for some reason found the situation quite funny. Rori knew Jessica well enough to know that her sudden interest in the bowls lined up on their station meant Jess was trying to hold in her laughter.

  “Good.” Chef dismissed her with a look of impatience. Turning to the rest of the class, he gave further instructions, “You can also begin reading your recipe and instructions so we will be ready to begin as soon as possible.”

  “Yum,” Rori whispered to Jessica who had finally composed herself. “It’s crepes.”

  “Or crepps,” Jess giggled pronouncing the word in her best over exaggerated French accent. The surreal tension of the first half hour of class caused Rori to be slightly giddy. She giggled at Jess’s antics. Of course, the chef chose that very moment to step to their station so he could collect their paperwork.

  “Something funny, ladies?” Chef MacRae asked.

  Jessica jumped almost to attention, her military upbringing, and culinary experience coming into play. Aurora on the other hand had found her voice and her innate tenacity again.

  “Yes,” Rori replied as she met the chef’s serious striking green eyes with her dancing ones. She was not going to let this man intimidate her. Plus, maybe he just needed to laugh more. “We were wondering, is it pronounced crapes or crepps?”

  “Whichever you prefer,” the chef clipped out. “Now if I may check your names off so you can get to work. I know not everyone takes cooking as seriously as I would like but please try to maintain some discipline in my kitchen. Miss Johnston, I expected more decorum from you.”

  Immediately regretting having gotten her best friend in trouble, Rori tried to make amends.

  “I’m sorry, Chef,” she interjected quickly. “That was all my doing. Please do not hold my immaturity against Jessica. She really does take cooking seriously and she is very good at it. She is graduating in the top two percent of the culinary arts program and has a promising future. She cooks for us all the time and even volunteers at the homeless shelter once a week, cooking them gourmet meals with the pantry items. She….”

  “Enough,” Marcus cut in. “You have made your point. Now please concentrate on getting your ingredients ready.”

  Jess had buried her head in her hands about halfway through Rori’s ramble. Those that knew her roommate well found Rori’s endless chatter endearing. Rori only got out of control when she was nervous. Obviously, that was the case tonight.

  “Sorry,” Rori mumbled, and signed her name to the class roster, adding her email address and phone number. I seem to being saying that a lot tonight, she thought to herself.

  “I hope he’s in a better mood tomorrow, otherwise this class is going to be miserable,” Jessica said. As they began to measure and prepare their ingredients, she added, “At least for you, Rori.” She chuckled at her friend.

  “Funny.” Rori rolled her eyes. “We can only hope.”

  Chef Marcus returned to his teaching station and reclaimed the class’s attention.

  “You should be done with your preparation, which we call mise en place,” he said.

  Rori grinned excitedly at her partner. Jess always took time to explain the terms and skills they saw on their favorite food shows. Despite being quite a novice in the culinary realm, Rori was addicted to cooking shows. That was fine with her roommate, too. One of the main things Rori was looking forward to in this class was practicing all the skills she had watched so often. The few times Jessica had let her ‘help’ with a practice dish had ended in near disaster so she was hoping to improve. Not that it would take much, she thought. Her skills had nowhere to go but up.

  Chef MacRae spent the next half hour discussing and demonstrating basic techniques, making sure the entire class had simple measurement and mixing skills. He had gathered the students around his central station in the middle of the food lab. The college had recently won a grant and had invested a significant amount of the money on the latest in high tech equipment.

  Marcus chose random students to attempt each skill. Jessica demonstrated fine chopping skills, the most advanced of the introductory techniques. Of course, she did wonderfully and winked at Aurora as she returned to her side. Chef demonstrated mincing, julienne, coarse chopping, and dicing, and then asked volunteers to try. Rori was not about to raise her hand. At the end of this instructional time, chef sent the novice cooks back to their stations to practice their skills on the ingredients they would be using in their crepes.

  “I will come around and check your progress,” Marcus said. “I may also ask you to demonstrate one of the techniques to make sure you are progressing in your learning. We’ll spend ten minutes on these skills and then I will demonstrate the actual crepe making.” As he was speaking, he cleared up his station. He was meticulously clean about his work area and had made the point earlier in the class.

  “He’s such a neat freak. I hope he never comes to my studio,” Aurora said to Jessica. “I�
�m not the messiest one down there, but just the general chaos of all the supplies would probably render him apoplectic.” At the thought of annoying the handsome, distinguished chef, Rori added, “Hmm, then again, maybe I ought to invite him down!”

  “Be nice,” Jess laughed.

  Chef MacRae made his way around the lab, stopping at each of the eight stations.

  “Are you ladies ready?” He stood before them. “Actually, Miss Johnston, you are excused from this requirement, but Miss,” he hesitated as he checked the roll for Rori’s last name, “Sinclair, show me a julienne chop of this carrot, please.”

  Aurora had never been so terrified in her life. The normally cheerful, vibrant young woman gulped. This class was a terrible idea, she thought to herself.

  Her hands trembled noticeably as she attempted to duplicate the chef’s perfect cuts. She did not do well at all and could see the frustration in his face.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You seem to be saying that a lot this evening,” Chef Marcus muttered.

  “You make me nervous,” Rori blushed as she accidently spoke her thoughts aloud.

  Marcus hesitated noticeably. Her statement seemed to confuse and surprise him.

  “Well, I guess you will have to learn to deal with my ominous presence, now won’t you?” His tone was mildly sarcastic. “Watch me one more time.”

  He moved around the table to her side and demonstrated the cut once more, gesturing for her to try at the same time. Still not satisfied with her nervous attempts, he reached across her, placing his hands over hers.

  “This is the correct way; calm, up and down consistent rhythm.” He moved her hands as he spoke. “Now you try. He remained beside her, watching over her shoulder. “Better,” he said, and then abruptly moved to the last two students.

  Jess’s eyes were round with surprise and Aurora stood in stunned silence.

  “I’ve never been so scared in my life,” Rori whispered. “Why oh why did I ever sign up for this class?” Her words did not reveal what she was actually feeling. She was not ready to admit to herself, much less to her roommate, that his touch on her hands had sent a course of electricity through her. She had felt a strange feeling of loss when he moved away. This is silly, she thought. I cannot possibly be attracted to this man. He can barely tolerate me.