I do not own anything by Gaston Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber or Susan Kay. Everything else is my own work.
Frog in the Bog.Darius had gotten back to the lake house first after wishing his master and the new lady of the house all the best for their honeymoon. As he entered the dining room, he noticed first that the top was off the jar of torshi seer and secondly Saya and Ami were on the table playing with a small off-white lump.
After shooing the cats off the table Darius replaced the jar lid packed it away to take with him, and then examined the cats play lump and realised it was a clove of garlic, two tiny nibbles had been taken from it. Darius threw the abused clove in the wastepaper bin and started clearing up the savoury buffet leaving only the sherbets and sweets out for guests to finish consuming.
ooo
Just as Darius was in the kitchen, placing the leftover food in Erik and Christine's icebox before taking his well-deserved evening off; he heard a chorus of giggles from the wedding party, minus the bride and groom…and the Vicomte de Chagny as they came back into the sitting room. Thankfully, it seemed that Madam Christine had found a sense of humour regarding the Vicomte's current situation.
"Seriously Erik!" Christine giggled "Stuck on the back of the carriage all the way through Paris?" she added whist everyone got comfortable.
"Well, he wanted to show off his fashionable clothing!" Erik replied.
"Well, he will certainly do that!" Meredith replied with a snigger, "I just hope that he will finally learn to stop being an aristocrat and go back to being the charming young Frenchman I fell in love with, she sighed.
Erik looked at the now forlorn Meredith and thought for a moment. "How exactly did you two meet?" Erik enquired, as Christine asked Darius to make tea for everyone.
"Well!" Meredith started, it started like this…"
The front door opened just as Meredith was about to continue and a soaked Raoul squelched in.
"They let me off just outside the bastille, it is pouring with rain, I had no money with me, had to walk back here and I am now sopping wet!" Raoul declared, as the rest of the friends looked on shocked at first then giving away to laughter.
"Did everyone get to see your fashionable clothes?" Erik enquired between laughs.
Raoul pouted, even his own wife was laughing. "Oh, they saw alright, they all saw the Vicomte de Chagny looking a right idiot and… Ok I get it, stop being my title and try being me!" He stated as Erik handed him a towel.
"That is all we ask!" Meredith added as Erik directed Raoul to the bathroom, a hot shower, and dry clothes.
ooo
Once everyone was warm dry and comfortably seated with a cup of tea, Meredith started telling the story of how she and Raoul met.
ooo
"That was beautiful!" Meg said as Meredith ended her story, "Two lonely souls became one heart!" she finished taking a sip of the now tepid cup of tea she held.
"So, you only became a lady after the original Lord Synjohn-Smyth died without an heir and bequeathed the title to your father?" Erik asked intrigued.
"Yes!" Meredith replied, "Before that we were plain old Jones, Senior Butler, Housekeeper and their tomboy daughter to his Lordship."
"How come then your mother is a bigger snob than your husband?" Meg had to ask.
"Hey!" Raoul yelled, "I am trying my best to be normal!"
"Yes, and we appreciate it!" Meredith replied, soothing ruffled Aristocratic feathers, before she answered.
"My mother always had ideas above her station so when Father became Lord Synjohn-Smyth, she devoured every book she could locate on English etiquette for the aristocratical classes and well became the person she thought she already was." Meredith answered simply.
"You never told me this before!" Raoul pointed out.
"You never asked." Meredith replied, "Did you never wonder what my life was like before I met you?" she enquired as Raoul squirmed nervously.
"Uh, no I was just happy a beautiful lady with a title was interested in me, and I was too enamoured with her to care." Raoul answered.
"Aww!" Christine Madame Giry and Meg said in unison, as Meredith kissed her husband.
"As lovely as this saccharine story is..." Erik interrupted, "We will need to consider dinner for everyone." He pointed out just as Raoul's stomach grumbled loudly.
"We have that already taken care of!" Raoul declared proudly, "My charming English Rose has requested our chef to prepare one of her favourite English dishes, 'Un crapaud dans un trou!'" he announced, as immediately Madame Giry and Meg screwed their face up in disgust and Jean looked at the floor.
Erik pulled a face even with his mask it was also clearly of disgust. "A toad in a hole, that sounds rather unappetising." He grumbled.
Meredith sighed, "He means Toad in the hole!" she clarified.
Erik immediately brightened up, "Oh, toad in the hole! Delicious!" he declared.
Christine looked at her husband with concern, "Whether it is a toad in a hole or toad in the hole, I really do not fancy eating toads!" she declared as Meg pulled a face, Jean looked nauseous, and Erik laughed.
"Angel, it is an English name for a batter pudding containing sausages!" Erik informed his now cringing wife.
"Like a savoury clafoutis?" Christine asked, looking a little less repulsed by the idea.
"That sounds lovely!" Meg responded.
"Yes quite!" Meredith confirmed with a laugh, "Invented in Northumberland in England after the chef of the Golf Club heard about a plague of toads hiding in the golf holes making playing very difficult, he created Toad in the hole to commemorate the event."
"Mm mm!" Erik sighed, "It has been many years since I enjoyed 'Toad in the hole' I am looking so forward to this."
"That settles it!" Raoul declared happily clapping his hands together, Everyone back to the town house for Toad in the hole!"
ooo
By the time the friends were leaving the Lake house via the rue scribe gate, Louis and the Vicomte's carriage had arrived, and the friends packed in tightly and headed off to what promised to be a pleasant night with lovely food.
ooo
Squashed in a corner of the carriage, Raoul whispered in Meredith's ear, "They are going to cook it properly this time, right?"
Meredith discreetly looked around the carriage, before replying, "Well, Madame Proloux did say the chef had practised it several times ready for tonight." She replied softly, "Why are you worried Erik will kill our chef if it is raw again?" she added almost without sound.
"No!" Raoul whispered back, I just do not want to be the cause of everyone having stomach upsets like the one I had last time I tried to eat a raw batter pudding containing part raw and part burnt sausages, Erik will never let me live it down, since he has eaten the real thing in England!" he finished.
ooo
Erik was looking forward to his reintroduction to 'toad in the hole' right up until the afore mentioned dish was brought with great ceremony into the dining room at the de Chagny town house.
As it was presented first to the master of the house, Raoul took one look and groaned, as the servant cut a portion and placed it upon his plate with a greasy splat sound, then as Raoul cut into the slab on his plate trying to look enthusiastic, the dish was removed to the buffet where it was portioned up and served to everyone else… but not before Erik got a look at the dish's contents.
"So, the Chef practised this ready for tonight?" Erik stated emotionlessly as he looked at the just about cooked anaemic flat batter pudding and the overcooked sausages that were sitting on top, noting it looked even less appetising when plated up.
"At least the sausages are cooked this time!" Raoul answered flatly.
"Is that batter not supposed to be fluffy and full of air?" Erik asked a now genuinely concerned Meredith who was staring at the disaster that had been placed on the fine porcelain plate in front of her.
"Oh dear." Meredith sighed turning to Erik, it seems chef still has not gotten the hang of it… Sorry, yes, it is supposed to be light airy and fluffy, with golden sausages."
At the other end of the table however Jean was enchanted and was tucking in with gusto. As Meg picked at one of the sausages to be polite and Madame Giry looked around discreetly before tipping half of her portion into her bag, to be disposed of later in the opera house rubbish bins, before placing her knife and fork down to signify she had finished eating.
Christine was in a pickle, her bag was too small, she could not copy Madame Giry, the overcooked sausages and nearly raw batter pudding made her feel ill and she did not want to eat anything that could make her sick as that could damage her voice. She had to think of something and soon to avoid eating the dish in front of her.
Meredith looked around the dining table at her friends most of whom were trying to be polite about the culinary chaos before them, and she was so upset she started to cry right at the table in front of Raoul and Erik.
"Oh, I am so embarrassed." She cried softly. Erik and Raoul looked at each other as panic set in.
Both men could only come up with one way to save the day, they both hurriedly tucked into the unappetising meal, as Meredith looked on shocked.
"It is clearly cooked this way for gentlemen!" Erik stated, after finishing his portion and fighting a rising wave of nausea as he reached for his glass of wine and promptly downed it in one go.
"Absolutely!" Raoul added putting his cutlery down on his plate and following suite with his own glass of wine.
"It is really delightful to try foreign dishes!" Christine declared "but to much fat is bad for my chords so sorry I could only eat a small amount." She added; a tiny portion filling her handbag following Madame Giry's example.
"The sausages had a nice piquant flavour but too much batter is bad for ballerinas!" Meg stated with a soft smile.
"It is always lovely to try new recipes," Madame Giry commented making a mental note to grab some cheese and bread from her pantry when she headed home and to throw her bag away.
"That was superb, would it be rude to ask for a second helping?" Jean enquired, as everyone including Meredith looked on dumb struck.
"Erm," Meredith replied a little taken aback, "Not at all!" she declared as Raoul waved the servants to present another portion to Jean.
ooo
The dinner was over, and everyone was silently relieved except for Jean who had discreetly asked Meredith if he could take the left-over toad in the hole home for eating later.
ooo
During the carriage ride back to the opera house the friends ruminated on the interesting dinner.
"I have to ask…" Erik started "Why did you want the remains of that meal?"
Madame Giry listened in as did Christine with interest.
Meg looked embarrassed and Jean smiled ruefully, "Well since we have the office closed due to Nadir's honeymoon, I will need the toad so I can eat well." He answered.
"Eat well?" Christine interjected.
"I cannot cook!" Meg replied, "I cannot even boil an egg!" Madame Giry had to sigh and nod in agreement.
"My darling can dance to beat the Devil but cook no; and neither can I!" Jean clarified.
"So, how have you two been eating then?" Erik asked cautiously.
"I get my meals as part of the Corps de Ballet at the Opera house or eat with maman after rehearsals." Meg answered.
Jean looked uncomfortable, "I eat with the clients, as it would be rude not to." He added.
"What do you eat in the evenings for dinner?" Christine enquired.
"Bread and cheese." Jean replied as Meg nodded.
Erik sighed, as he looked at Christine, "It appears that I am going to have to start cooking lessons!" he grumbled as Jean and Meg looked hopefully. "Since I cannot have my Aide to Clients starving over the month we are closed."
"A whole month!" Jean cried in shock, "I really will starve!".
"Yes," Erik pointed out with a pout, "Blame the Daroga for that idea. Since it is a honeymoon, Nadir insisted that we have the whole month off as he is away and the builders have more than enough to do already, I am up to date with all the designs. He would not shut up until I agreed." Erik moaned.
"What about your apprentice and office clerk?" Christine asked, concerned about both young men.
"Thomas is finishing his tenure with the stone masons and Gilen will be running the office, taking appointments for clients for after we open again and making sure the builders are paid, so they will both still be paid and have gainful employment." Erik answered.
"So, you have a month out of the office?" Madame Giry questioned, knowing a bored and not busy Erik was a troublesome pest.
"I am not returning to my old tricks." Erik grumbled, "My dearest Angel already has plans for me to complete the wiring for putting in Electric lighting in our house, and I also now have cooking lessons to give." He added, "I have no idea when I shall have time to do any composing!" he moaned.
"My poor maestro!" Christine retorted sarcastically.
"Erik, you are definitely rubbing off on Christine!" Madame Giry responded at a snigger.
"Tell me!" Meg interrupted, "Will you teach us how to cook that!" she pointed to the ceramic dish clutched in Jean's hands.
"Good Grief no!" Erik yelped, as Jean looked crestfallen.
"You will not teach me how to cook toad in the hole?" he asked his bottom lip wobbling.
"That…That! is not Toad in the hole!" Erik stated with distain, pointing to Jean's dish, "That is a slimy, sicky and shockingly poor copy and has given me horrific indigestion!" Erik answered before trying to stifle a belch. "Pardon me!"
"If it is not Toad in the hole, what would you call it?" Jean asked, as Erik put his hand to his mouth and waited for a new wave of nausea to settle before replying.
"Humm, slimy, sticky and a poor copy, I would call that… Frog in the Bog!" Erik stated as Meg Christine and Madame Giry giggled.
"But you will teach my daughter and Jean to cook Toad in the hole?" Madame Giry asked.
"Of course, Properly!" Erik replied sounding Serious but with a grin on his face.
"Hurray!" Cheered Meg "Here's to no more Frog in the Bog!"
