Chapter 146: Friends with Food Benefits
*It’s a good thing that you like to cook, because we like to eat. – Lightening*
Nessie was right.
The women wanted table cloths.
She did away with the old black coffee cups. The men did not want dainty coffee mugs. With her evil streak, she ordered small pink cups with frilly flowers.
Toad bellowed at her to quit laughing and get the real mugs. Nessie was still giggling as she handed out the 24 ounce black mugs with the patch embossed on it. A few days later, matching travel mugs were added.
Cookie made a few changes for her. He added two service windows between the dining hall and the kitchen. One was to return dirty dishes and the other was for special orders to be picked up.
He also made the serving lines permanent. Added two sets of French doors leading outside. Made a more permanent drink station and a separate coffee bar.
Nessie planned to turn the front check in desk into a fully functional coffee shop. When the time came, she’d talk to Toad about it.
Two days before Founder’s Night, the health inspector had been out. The following day, she received her health certificate and certificate of occupancy. With those in hand, Mia used her connections from her restaurant to get vendors for Nessie’s Kitchen.
Nessie made a calendar for the menu. It started off only being for a few days. As she worked out the kinks in kitchen and learned what was preferred, she started making it for a week out. By the summer, she would be making tentative calendars for each month.
Of course, she had to make adjustments and change things from time to time. A dish might not be as popular as she had expected. Ingredients for the entrée might not be available.
Or, occasionally, what had been expected with the weather, was completely different from what they got.
That was the case on this particular day. It was still winter. Technically. But the days had been warm and the nights crisp.
Overnight the temperature dropped and the snow began to pile up.
This was not lemon basil chicken and rice weather. Ten pounds of chicken breasts were baking in the large oven. The large mixer was working on dough for bread bowls.
Knuckles knew that Nessie was having a bad day when he walked into the dining hall. Lately it had been where several of the club girls would hang out. It was empty.
Usually something fun and upbeat played on the speakers. Today, a rock singer screamed about… Knuckles really didn’t know. He couldn’t understand it. He wasn’t even sure if it was being screamed in English.
Grabbing one of the large travel mugs, he poured himself some coffee. Since he emptied the pot, he started a new pot. Nessie was brilliant when she insisted on new commercial multi-pot brewers.
Previously, they would burn through a regular pot in about a month or two. It was on constantly. In the mornings, it would brew pot after pot after pot for several hours.
Now, they had two three burner commercial brewers. Both were hardlined into the water line and automatically filled. All anyone had to do was put in a fresh premeasured coffee filter pack and press the brew button.
After starting the new pot, he grabbed his mug, with the lid to save himself from a lecture, and headed for the kitchen. As he passed the cooler he grabbed a bottle of water.
“It smells really good in here.” Knuckles said cheerily as he held out the bottle.
“Thank yeh.” She took a drink before placing the lid on it and setting it aside.
He sat down at the table where she had just placed his omelet. There were a few that she would make breakfast for in the afternoon. Most did not think to ask her. But he had.
Mainly because he enjoyed her company.
The timer buzzed and Knuckles watched as she went and turned off the mixer. He was always amazed at the strength that women had. It was no different as he watched her place the large steel mixing bowl on rollers and pushed it into the proofer.
“What’s for dinner?”
“Creamy chicken and rice soup in bread bowls.” She answered starting the timer and then moving over to the large pot on the stove.
“That sounds really good.”
“It better be. It’s not what I wanted. But it’s a wee bit colder than I thought it would be.”
“Yeah. Winter’s hanging on this year. Can’t remember if the ground hog saw its shadow or not.”
Nessie laughed at him. “Yeh steal our holiday and use a rodent to predict the weather. I’ll tell yeh an easier way to know.”
“What holiday?” Knuckles asked quite confused. “The holy day of Puxatawny?”
Nessie laughed as she returned to the work table with a large box of carrots. “Imbolc. The goddess Cailleach goes out and gathers firewood for her dying fire. If she wants to stay out longer to gather more wood, then she makes the sky clear and bright.”
“And the rodent would see his shadow.” He surmised with a grin. “I always wondered where the ground hog came from.”
“Germany. They use a badger.”
She told him a little more about Imbolc, Candlemas and St. Brigits day; which were all on the same day. The whole time, she never stopped preparing the next meal. Peeling and cutting carrots. Kneading dough. Washing and dicing potatoes.
When he left the kitchen, he stopped in at Toad’s office.
“I know.” Toad said before Knuckles could say anything. “She needs help. I’m working on it.”
