Chapter 3: Cooking Lessons
Disclaimer: I do not own When Calls the Heart
On the first day of Abigail's absence, Jack woke up, put on his clothes, and was about to head to the café for his "usual" when he realized that, firstly, the café wasn't open, and secondly, Elizabeth was making him breakfast. Although Elizabeth could manage to scramble eggs, there was little hope of having a warm, delicious biscuit this morning. It would likely be eggs and a slice of toast, which, although good, was not quite what Jack enjoyed every morning.
"Good morning darling!" Elizabeth said, coming out of the bedroom.
"Good morning!" Jack said, kissing her gently.
"I thought I'd make us eggs and toast for breakfast. And after school, Clara and I will come back here, and you can teach us how to bake the fish that I'm sure you will be catching today." Elizabeth said, batting her eyes at Jack.
"Of course. Sounds wonderful. I'm going to feed the horses while you make breakfast, and then I'll be back." Jack said, taking his leave.
Elizabeth smirked as she watched her husband rush out the door. She knew he was less than thrilled that she was cooking for nearly a week. This made her even more determined to learn to bake biscuits; perhaps not as perfect as Abigail's, but decent biscuits that Jack would enjoy. Elizabeth pondered when she could bake without having Jack around. This would be difficult since she still had to teach, and Jack often came home when he wasn't doing any exciting things in town. Then she realized that the café was completely available. She and Clara could experiment together while Jack was fishing in the afternoon.
Elizabeth began her scrambled eggs; after cracking five eggs into a large bowl, she managed to beat them successfully. Then, she poured them into a hot pan and waited. When she began to stir, they stuck to the bottom of her skillet! Elizabeth decided this would not make her breakfast any less good, and added lots of salt and pepper. By the time Jack came in, she had two plates of steaming toast and eggs waiting. They sat down, and Jack tasted the eggs. A strange look came over his face.
"Elizabeth, how much pepper did you put in these eggs?" He asked after taking a large sip of water.
"Ummm, I don't know. I just sprinkled some over the top!" Elizabeth said, bravely taking a large bite of the eggs. "Oh my goodness!" She gasped, gulping down some water.
"I think toast may be a better option this morning." Jack said, carefully examining his toast.
"I believe you're right." Elizabeth said, slowly crunching down on the slightly blackened toast.
After school that day, Elizabeth headed over to the café, where she was meeting Clara to cook. The two women found Abigail's biscuit recipe and began finding the ingredients. Clara mixed the dry ingredients together, then added the wet ingredients. After lots of stirring, the dough seemed to come together, and the ladies finally placed the biscuits into a pan. They stuck them in the oven, and then sat down, clearly exhausted.
"I don't know how Abigail manages to do this every day! It's so much work!" Elizabeth exclaimed, wiping a bit of flour off her face.
"I know! One batch of biscuits was quite enough for me! And she bakes those all day!" Clara exclaimed.
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the biscuits were finally done. The were the right color, much to Elizabeth and Clara's delight. They each bit into one, expecting the warm, buttery taste of Abigail's biscuits. Instead, they bit into a rather tough, floury biscuit.
"Well, they aren't terrible." Clara said.
"They might be good with jam. We can still eat them with our baked fish!" Elizabeth said.
Both of them knew the biscuits weren't that good, but they were proud that they had managed to cook them to the right color! They then set off with their biscuits in a basket, and headed towards the Thorton's home on the lake. Jack had built the home for them as soon as they were engaged. It was back in the woods and couldn't be seen from the church, but it was still the perfect spot to take moonlight walks by the lake. It was a pretty blue, two story home with lots of rooms and, much to Elizabeth's delight, closets. Jack had made her an especially large one, which she immediately filled with all her pretty dresses.
As the women walked into the house, they saw Jack about to prepare the fish. He had butter, salt, pepper, and vegetables laid out on the table.
"Jack! Were you going to start without us?" Elizabeth inquired.
"Of course not! I was just laying everything out." Jack said sheepishly.
He then instructed them on how to putter the fish and vegetables, salt and pepper them correctly (he didn't want a repeat of breakfast!), and cook the fish for the proper amount of time. Soon, Jack removed the dishes from the oven and set them on the table. The fish and vegetables were cooked perfectly. Elizabeth and Clara set their biscuits on a plate, and put a large jar of jam and stick of butter next to them. Jack raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. They all began to eat.
"Jack, I think you're the better cook in this household!" Elizabeth said, taking a bite of fish.
"Yes Jack, this is really wonderful!" Clara said, smiling.
"Well thank you ladies. But I must say, the biscuits have definitely improved! Especially with butter and jam!" Jack said, his eyes twinkling.
Clara and Elizabeth looked at each other, and burst into laughter as Jack took another bite of biscuit, coated with butter and jam. They would certainly survive till the Hogans returned, but they could not wait for Abigail to reopen the café!