Disclaimer: I do not own VA and thank Richelle Mead for writing such an awesome series.
Thank you to all those who gave their suggestions on 'signature dishes'… these will be revealed in the next chapter..
This is a little 'filler' chapter – to give some background on our Mazur patriarch – Abe
Hope you like it…
_
Two rival restaurants and chefs – what happens when love joins the menu?
Restaurant Wars
CHAPTER 9
Abe POV
I'm a lover…not a fighter…
In fact, if you were to look at our 'past records', Janine had had more 'violent entanglements' than I have. What can I say…I, Abe Mazur, love fiery women…and you can't get any fierier than my Scottish firecracker, Janine Hathaway!
I met Janine when I took a year off after culinary school, which I attended in Turkey because my baba was adamant I learn the 'family trade' directly from the 'motherland'. I had spent the year travelling around the world (before I had to return to my family restaurant to be groomed to take over the business), and one of the places I visited was Scotland – Edinburgh to be specific.
I met and wooed many women during my travels, but Janine was different. For starters, she didn't fall for my debonair charm, and no, she wasn't playing hard to get – she just wasn't impressed. So, for the first time in my life, I had to actually put some serious effort to attract a member of the opposite sex and… it was fun. I didn't realise there was a certain thrill to the chase and 'courting' process. Suffice to say, I ended up spending more time in Edinburgh than I had originally planned.
After almost three months of basically harassing and stalking her, she finally consented to a date and it was no ordinary date.
Normally I had one-night stands, my modus operandi whilst I travelled, but on the rare occasion I took a girl out on a date, I went with my triple 'D' approach = Dinner, dancing and drinks. And this method was flawless, resulting in me always getting some 'action'!
But Janine, like I said, was not like any other woman I have ever been with. She was passionate, confident and most importantly, was her own woman. There was nothing pretentious and dishonest about her – she spoke her mind freely and had strong opinions about a lot of things. One such thing was what we would do on our first date.
After having finally agreed to go out with me, I outlined my triple 'D' plan = dinner at an award winning restaurant, followed by dancing at a salsa club and ending with drinks at a high-end bar. It was going to be the perfect night and after having pursued her for 3 months, I knew it would be worth it. I still laugh at my naivety back then – that I hadn't suspected something was amiss when she had agreed to the plan straight away without a single argument. And I definitely had not noticed the mischievous glint in her beautiful, blue eyes.
It was finally 'date night' and I was equal parts excited and anxious. I had spent the whole day primping myself and was wearing one of my best suits. Grabbing a bunch of lilies (her favourite), I went to pick Janine up. When she answered the door, I was rendered speechless. I knew Janine wasn't a 'girly' girl – in fact she had tastes similar to mine in most things. But I figured she would have dressed up for our date at least, if not a dress maybe a skirt. But no, the infuriating woman stood before me in jeans and thick wool sweater. I hadn't realised my mouth had fallen open in shock – Did she forget about our date? Was she still getting ready?
Before I had a chance to vocalise my confusion, she barked out a laugh, grabbed her coat and pushed me out the door. I stood frozen in my spot, not knowing what was going on.
When she realised I wasn't following her, she turned back around, grabbed my hand and with an indulgent look (like I was the one in the wrong) she pulled me to my rental. Seeing me in my catatonic state, she took my keys, helped me into the car and sped off – in the opposite direction to the restaurant.
This final act finally broke my spell and I questioned her behaviour. She replied with a sly smile, telling me she had changed the plans slightly and to trust her instead. Reluctantly (very reluctantly) I sat back, forgetting I still carried the lilies in my hand – something she hadn't missed and with a quick thanks asked me to place it in the backseat for her to grab when the date ended.
Knowing I had no choice but to let Janine dictate how the night would play out, I sat back and just enjoyed the view. Even in casual clothes she was breathtaking. Her soft, wavy red hair, curvaceous figure and short height made her appear feminine, petite and fragile. But looks can be deceiving because a closer look revealed the hard expression she always wore and those fierce eyes told anyone that she was not someone to mess with nor would she need anyone's help if she was in trouble.
When she pulled up to a non-descript warehouse on the outskirts of town, I got nervous. It was one those places where you could kill someone and easily dumb their body before anyone realised they were missing. And it didn't help when she got out of the car her face was lit up in a devious grin. The term 'dead man walking' kept playing on a loop in my head.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in an underground fight club – this was going to be our 'entertainment' for tonight (instead of dancing). She moved closer to me, all the while cheering the current fight with enthusiasm. I couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement and crazy atmosphere, and it wasn't until after the third fight had finished that we realised we were starving.
Taking that as our queue to leave, I again let Janine drive us to our next destination, completely forgoing my plans for her new one. We pulled up to an old pub that had a 24 hour bistro. It was close to the fishing port and catered mostly for fishermen who worked all hours of the day. Our meal (cullen skink, kedgree and Scottish gin & tonic mussels) was simple but delicious and to this day, every year, Janine made those same dishes on our wedding anniversary. We ended the night with a bottle of malt whiskey that we drank while we sat and talked at the pier, waiting for the sunrise.
At the end of that night I knew – she was the one.
Thirty years and 4 kids later, we were still together and very much in love. It seemed that night had helped make up Janine's mind about me as well because even though it took 3 months to get a date out of her, it took less than a month before we were married and on our way back to my home – Sydney, Australia. My parents, especially my anne, weren't too thrilled about me marrying a Scottish Catholic, but I wasn't the first to marry a non-Muslim and it didn't take long for them to except her into our family – especially when they found out she too came from a long line of cooks.
When I inherited the restaurant, I inherited the feud with the Belikovs. I remember when I was young, I wondered why we were so hostile with the family restaurant that were practically our neighbours. One day, while I was in my last year of high school, I pulled my baba aside and asked him to explain to me, once and for all, why the Mazur's despised the Belikovs.
He was honest with me, explaining that he too wasn't sure what had sparked the feud – his baba had told him it was due to some issues around zoning for a parking lot, where as his bϋyϋk baba had said it was over the love of a woman. His bϋyϋk anne, on the other hand, said it was over a special recipe for baklava, that each restaurant claimed ownership of.
So to this day, I wasn't 100% sure why we hated the Belikovs but just like everything else about the restaurant, this rivalry was passed down through the generations and I kept it as another way of honouring my family's legacy. We Mazurs were a proud family and would never bow down to our rivals. But I didn't want Rose, who I was grooming to be my successor, to get involved in this aspect of the family business. Which was why I really hoped we would win the competition this year.
Either way, I wanted to promote Rose to head chef and give her the deeds to her own restaurant. She had earned the honour through hard work and unrivalled dedication, and not because she was my favourite. If we won, she could remain in Sydney and open her restaurant in the proposed area they were awarding as part of the prize. If we didn't win, I was going to take it as a sign that we needed to expand out of state and have her move to Melbourne and open up the second restaurant there.
One way or another, we were expanding our business and have 2 successful restaurants by the end of the year!
"Trouble sleeping, mo ghraidh?"
I didn't realise I had been staring at the iPad for the last hour until I heard her sweet voice next to me.
"Sorry, canim. I didn't mean to wake you up…"
Without another word, Janine sat up and grabbed the iPad off me. Placing it on her side table, she turned back around and straddled me, all the while pushing me back down on the bed. Her black silk nightgown moved up her thighs, revealing soft, smooth skin and my mind was no longer on the past, restaurant or the competition.
"Now that I'm awake, let's see if I can help you relax…"
As always, I had no objections with her plan.
Google translate
Bϋyϋk baba = grandfather (Turkish)
Bϋyϋk anne = grandmother (Turkish)
Scottish website
Mo ghraidh = my love
Turkish class website
Canim = my life
Ok back to the competition next chapter…don't know if anyone picked up on my little pattern of Other character POV then Rose and Dimitri. Figured it would be nice to break up their POVs with other character's perspectives. And I don't want to rush the story :P