CHAPTER FOURTEEN
In the café, Ellie was making coffees at the machine when I walked in, and Fen was bringing over a choice of cakes on two plates; lemon and poppyseed, and my current favourite, melt-in-the-mouth red velvet cupcakes, topped with a heavenly cream cheese frosting.
Everyone had gathered around a table in the window, listening to Maddy – back from her trip to Austria – talking about how marvellous the Christmas markets were.
‘Katja! Your usual?’ called Ellie, smiling over at me.
‘Yes, please.’
‘One latte coming up.’
‘Thanks.’ I pulled up a chair and joined Maddy, Jaz, Fen and Kenzie.
‘How’s the romance going, Katja?’ asked Kenzie with a wink.
‘Oh, fine.’ I smiled broadly, keen to head off any further questions. Thankfully, Ellie came over with a tray of coffees at that moment and the subject of my romance – flourishing or otherwise – was dropped as we each claimed our order.
I’d bumped into Kenzie on Sunnybrook High Street back in June, when Caleb and I had been in the first flush of romance, and Kenzie and I had laughed about how lucky we were to have such gorgeous men in our lives.
Kenzie had worked at the café for a while before she’d developed her talent for making fabulous pottery into a successful business.
She and her boyfriend, Aidan, had been happily in love as well back then when I’d run into her, and they presumably still were, judging by Kenzie’s smile.
They were now living together, having recently rented a flat in Sunnybrook just two streets away from mine.
Apparently, Kenzie was going to be selling her gorgeous festive pottery at Ellie’s Christmas market. And we talked about other craftspeople and made a list so we could get in touch with them and ask if they’d like to take part.
‘That’s great,’ said Ellie at last, waving the written list in the air. ‘But now I need you all to do a taste test, if you wouldn’t mind?’
‘Do you mean these?’ I indicated the almost empty cupcake plates Fen had brought over. ‘Because they were delicious.’
Ellie shook her head. ‘It’s something I made with the Christmas market in mind,’ she said with a mysterious smile, as she headed back to the kitchen.
‘As long as it’s some form of cake, I’m in!’ called Maddy.
‘Actually, it’s not cake.’ There was a clanking sound and Ellie reappeared carrying a tray containing a jam jar, a stack of tea plates, plus cracker biscuits and some slices of cheese.
‘Gooseberry jam?’ guessed Kenzie, as we all peered at the contents of the jar.
‘It’s not jam.’ Ellie smiled as she placed the tray proudly on the table. ‘It’s my Christmas apple chutney.’
I nodded approvingly. ‘Chutney’s great at Christmas time with all the cold meats left over after the big day.’
‘Well, we had an absolute glut of apples in the garden this year. Not sure why. The summer weather, maybe,’ said Ellie. She smiled. ‘Thankfully, Annalise was able to use a lot of them in those delicious caramel apple pies she made for the wedding.’
There were some general murmurs of approval at this. Our friend Annalise had offered to make the fruit pies for Sylvia and Mick’s wedding dessert, much to Sylvia’s delight, and it was fair to say they’d been enjoyed thoroughly.
‘I still had loads of apples left over, so that’s when I came up with the idea of making chutney,’ explained Ellie.
‘I was thinking of donating the jars to the WI Christmas sale in the village hall. But then Maddy was talking about the Christmas markets and I just thought, why not have a chutney stall at my own Christmas market?’
‘So this chutney was the inspiration for it?’ grinned Jaz.
‘I suppose it was. I thought you might like a taste of it before it goes on sale. It should go nicely with the cheese and biscuits, although I’ve never made anything like this before, so I hope it’s okay. You all know what a rubbish baker I am!’
‘Baking is a quite different process to cooking,’ I reminded her. ‘Cakes need precise measurements but with cooking, you’re allowed to be creative. It looks delicious.’
‘I hope you think so. Zak doesn’t like chutney so he’s no use as a tester.’ Ellie looked more than a little nervous as she unscrewed the jar and popped in a teaspoon. Then she handed out plates and we passed the jar around.
‘Ooh, lovely.’ Fen smiled appreciatively as she helped herself to a large dollop of chutney. ‘Actually, I’m going to try it on its own.’ She scooped some up on a spoon, frowning as she concentrated on tasting it. ‘Mm, gorgeous.’
‘Really?’ Ellie looked pleased.
Fen gave an enthusiastic nod. ‘Absolutely delicious.’
‘I’m so glad you like it.’ A smile of relief spread over Ellie’s face. ‘You’re all so good in the kitchen and I’m still rubbish at cooking and baking, which is really ironic considering I actually run a café!’
We all tucked in eagerly, buttering crackers, taking some cheese and dabbing on some of the chutney.
Then the rest of us did the taste test together, munching away in thoughtful silence.
‘Lovely,’ said Jaz at last.
‘Very zingy,’ agreed Kenzie.
I nodded. ‘Just the way a good chutney should be.’
‘Oh, thank goodness for that!’ gasped Ellie. ‘Honestly, I was dreading you telling me it was awful.’ A mobile began ringing. ‘That’s mine. I must have left it in the kitchen.’ She got up and hurried away to answer it. ‘Back in a mo.’
My eyes swivelled to Maddy and she made a face at me. Then she turned towards the kitchen, from where we could hear Ellie chatting away to someone, safely out of earshot.
‘Oh, my God,’ she hissed. ‘Is that chutney not the most vile thing you’ve ever tasted in your entire existence?’
There was a tense silence as we looked at each other.
Then we all collapsed into muffled giggles . . .