Jason shrugged, indifferent to her rudeness. ‘Never heard of it.’
‘Don’t suppose you’ve ever been surfing?’ asked Fliss with a curl of her lip, but her eyes were watchful.
‘Nope. Not much call in Bethnal Green.’
She studied him for a moment and then with a quick regal assent of her head said, ‘I’ll take you next Saturday.’
‘You’re on.’ Jason raised a hand for a high five. Fliss gave him a withering look and he lowered his hand with nonchalant grin.
The hands of the clock crept closer to nine o’clock and one by one they finished their breakfast and sauntered through to the kitchen. Izzy was already there pulling on her clean, neatly pressed apron.
‘Look, they’ve all been washed over the weekend. Isn’t that a nice touch?
‘I like to start the week clean, fresh, and ready to go,’ said Adrienne, appearing behind her like a silent cat and making Izzy jump. How on earth did she manage that in those jewelled flip-flops that she wore?
The kitchen had been set up in readiness with various bowls and implements and by the central counter were several tiered baskets of vegetables filled with carrots, onions, potatoes, broccoli, and a couple of leafy greens that Hannah wasn’t familiar with. Conor and Mairead appeared, carrying another two baskets of vegetables.
‘Morning all. I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend. The weather was certainly fine.’
Everyone chorused ‘Morning’ like primary school children in assembly.
‘This week we’re focusing on vegetables, although I’m going to start with making a stock. A really good stock is the foundation of lots of so many dishes and once you’ve got this learned, you’ll never use another stock cube again. Or I certainly hope you won’t.’
Hannah heard Jason snicker while Alan and Meredith both dutifully nodded. ‘Today we’re going to make a simple beef stock. Easy to keep in the freezer.’
They were dispatched to their stations and Hannah smiled to herself. Making stock didn’t sound too challenging. A nice easy start to Monday.
Following Adrienne’s instructions – which were given via a microphone clipped to the top of her shirt collar and a camera filming what she was doing in close-up relayed on the screen on the wall behind her – they chopped beef scraps using a terrifying-looking knife that was so sharp, Hannah was worried she might lose a finger. Unfortunately, that was the least of her worries; the whole day turned into a complete disaster and by the end of the day she was definitely wondering why on earth she was putting herself through the cookery course.
‘Hey, Hannah, how’s it going?’
Mina had answered on the first ring, her voice full of her usual enthusiasm.
‘I bet you’re having a brilliant time. What’s Adrienne Byrne like? Is she gorgeous? She always looked it.’
Hannah held in her forlorn sigh instead saying, ‘It’s… it’s good.’
‘Good?’ Mina’s voice held a query.
The sigh escaped. ‘Today was terrible.’
‘How could it be terrible? I’ve seen pictures of Killorgally.’
‘I burnt the stock. How was I supposed to know that a splash of olive oil is like a good old glug? So my bones didn’t caramelise with the veg. And how is a sprinkle of herbs actually a flipping great big handful?’
‘You’ll learn,’ sympathised Mina.
‘Huh! I’m not so sure. It seems I can’t chop vegetables – certainly nowhere near as quickly as everyone else – and my dauphinoise potatoes were raw because I hadn’t sliced the potatoes thinly enough. Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing. I feel like a complete dunce.’ And it didn’t sit well with her. ‘And I was so far behind everyone else at one point that Conor had to rescue me and chop up my vegetables for the coleslaw.’
‘Ooh, Conor Byrne. What’s he like?’
Hannah winced, hearing the hero worship in her voice.
‘Fine.’
‘Fine. He’s flipping gorgeous in the pictures I’ve seen. Honestly, Han, did you even look at him? What are you like? I bet you were too busy concentrating on the instructions, weren’t you? It doesn’t matter if you get things wrong, you know. Unless you use the wrong mushrooms, no one is going to die.’
‘I know,’ she said, grateful for Mina’s assumptions. She really didn’t want to think about that night in Dublin. Her sister truly would be amazed if Hannah told her she’d had a one-night stand with him.
