‘Pudding Hall?’
‘That’s the name of the house,’ said Peggy putting the bags on the bench.
Christa looked at the boys. ‘What a wonderful name for a house. But it’s called Pudding Hall and you don’t have a single Christmas decoration? That’s very sad.’
The boys shrugged as though they didn’t know the answer to her question.
‘Why are they in here?’ asked Peggy, looking at the boys suspiciously.
‘They’re my apprentices,’ Christa answered, trying to get a reading on Peggy, who seemed put out to have the children in the kitchen.
‘We’re commi cooks,’ said Ethan.
‘Commis,’ said Christa laughing. The boys were delightful and funny.
But Peggy didn’t seem to find them amusing. ‘Well don’t be messing about in here – Cook has a busy job.’
‘Chef,’ said Christa but Peggy ignored her and kept talking.
‘Mr Ferrier sent me out for more food, just in case you didn’t have what you needed.’
‘More?’ asked Christa thinking of the filled refrigerator.
She sighed. ‘I don’t know what else you would need. There will be nothing left in Waitrose if I head back there again.’
‘We have more than enough; don’t buy any more,’ said Christa. She watched Peggy unpack the bags of shopping.
More cheese, she noticed.
‘What do you do with the food that isn’t cooked?’ she asked Peggy.
Peggy shook her head. ‘It is thrown in the rubbish. I had to dispose of a lot of fruit and vegetables as they said they would be here earlier than they were and it went off.’ Her look spoke volumes to Christa. At least they agreed on something.
‘What sort of things does Mr Ferrier like for dinner?’ she asked Peggy who shrugged.
‘No idea – they’ve eaten in York for the past few nights.’
Christa looked to the twins who were fast becoming the fountain of knowledge for her induction at Pudding Hall.
‘What did your dad order for dinner?’
‘I don’t know. We weren’t invited,’ said the boys.
‘I made them shepherd’s pie and they didn’t eat it,’ said Peggy glaring at them. ‘In my day you ate what you were given and liked it.’
‘It was gluggy,’ said Ethan.
‘And smelled weird,’ added Seth.
Peggy gave a snort. ‘Rude little beggars,’ she said and left the kitchen.
Christa set about mincing the meat and then checked the cupboard for bread rolls for the burgers.
There weren’t any so she started on a dough to make her own rolls.
‘Shepherd’s pie isn’t for everyone,’ she said. ‘Feel like burgers then? Let’s make some rolls.’
‘We get rolls from the supermarket,’ said Seth.
