Chef Charming

Table of Contents

Sleeping Beauty and Chef Charming

Spice and
Rice

Stewed and
Steamed

Perfect
Portraits

Perplexing
Pasta

A Slice of
Quiche

Bread of
Strife

My Kingdom
for a Croissant

Soufflé Can
You
See?

Sweet
Desserts, Don’t Desert Me

To Europe or Not to Europe?

The
Breakfast Calamity

Let the Show
Begin

Commencement – The Beginning or the End?

Kiss the Cook

A Rival
Prince

A Nervous
Princess

Doubt and
Dilemma

Happily Ever
After

Epilogue

“Oh it
smells delicious in here!” Rori teased her roommate.
“You’d better hurry. I’m pretty sure it’s bacon!”

“I’m almost there.
” Even over the phone, Rori could tell Jessica was
breaking into a run. The roommates had been looking forward to this beginner’s
gourmet cooking class for weeks. Both young ladies were set to graduate a week
from Sunday, and had signed up for this community education class on a whim.
Jessica was graduating with a degree in Culinary Arts so she was a little
nervous about how Chef Marcus MacRae would react to one of the top students in
the culinary program showing up for a novice class.

Rori had spent the last two
years envious of Jess’s prowess in the kitchen
. If she could learn even a little bit of the magic, she would be
thrilled. Even though this was a community class, the university allowed its
students to take the class as an elective credit. They could take it for a
letter grade, or just as an audited class.

Of course, this was
not
the
best
timing for Rori, but she was hoping the class would be a distraction to the
pressure of her Graduate Art Show next Friday night. She spent most of her time
in this building since the art studio was just downstairs. When she wasn’t
frantically finishing her paintings, she
could usually be
found
on the third floor where she taught art in the afterschool program
that the college offered for the children of faculty and staff.

Leaning against the wall of
the food lab, relishing the aromas, Rori caught her breath
. She had been in the studio and had barely had time
to change clothes. Her painting overalls would not have made a good first
impression. Maybe Chef would give them real chef’s jackets; she laughed trying
to picture herself looking so professional. She quickly wound her long curly
hair into a somewhat organized bun and clipped it with a bright lime green
barrette. Anyone that knew her very well would agree that the color suited her
quirky cheerful personality. Plus it perfectly matched the patchwork peasant
skirt and green trimmed baby blue tank top she had paired with it.

This unassuming free
spirited artist had no idea how attractive she was.
In her view, Rori thought she was too tall and
complained that her long blonde hair had a mind of its own. Although her curves
were seemingly incongruent with her lankiness, they kept her from being termed
too skinny. She always wondered too why God had given her a strange light blue
set of eyes that would have been more striking set in a dark haired, olive-skinned
face instead of the honey-touched one she was blessed with. Although Jessica
envied what she called an adorable sprinkling of freckles across her nose, Rori
knew she could never compete with her classically beautiful brunette, petite
best friend. They secretly called themselves Mutt and Jeff.

“Hurry, hurry,” Rori
gestured frantically to Jessica
who came
sliding around the corner in her haste. Class had just started. The pair
stopped at the doorway to try to control their giggling making their way, hopefully
unobserved, into the classroom.

While they caught their
breath, Rori glanced through the top glass-paned section of the door
. The tall, auburn-haired chef was making his way
around the room, introducing himself to each pair of would-be culinary masters.
She heard deep, rich laughter.

When they had signed up for
the class, she had asked Jessica what Chef Marcus
MacRae was like.

“I only had him as a
substitute for a couple of classes,” her roommate explained that the chef had
just joined the staff officially a couple weeks after Spring Break
. “He seems nice, and has a bit of a dry sense of
humor from what I remember. I think he knew Chef Jake in college,” Jessica
continued. Rori knew Jake Hampton, his wife Carla, and their daughter Zoe, from
church.

“What does he look like?”
Rori
had pressed for more information.
“Stunningly good looking like one of those network chefs, or more
like Chef Boy
Ar
Dee?”

“Quite good-looking,”
Jessica had said, laughing at Rori’s outlandish question.
“If you like the Scottish Lord of
the Castle kind of look.”
Remembering that conversation now, Rori agreed
with the description, at least from the back. Chef had continued around the
room and moved to a place where she could now see his face. As he shook the
hand of a young lady, a smile broke across his face. Rori caught her breath.

The dark reddish-brown hair
was longer than the current close-cropped trends, and
the neat, trim goatee gave Chef MacRae an air of royalty. “He looks like he
could have been a real Scottish Laird, defending his clan from invaders,” she
whispered to Jessica. Jessica’s description had been woefully inadequate. She
had failed to mention that he was gorgeous. Thanks, Jess, Rori thought.

“Smitten are we,
roomie
?” Her roommate
laughed, observing Rori’s wide eyes.

“Let’s get in there, I’m
starving
.” Jessica tried to quietly open
the door and sneak in. Unfortunately, the door
was situated
directly in Chef’s line of sight as they stepped through.

“Ni
ce of you to join us, ladies.”
Chef MacRae
seemed startled as he glanced at the two young ladies. He nodded curtly. “Miss
Johnston, I was surprised to see you signed up for the class, but welcome. And
this is…?” He waited for Rori to introduce herself.

“Rori,” she said, feeling
her face turn red
. “I mean, Aurora
Sinclair. I’m Jessica, I mean Miss Johnston’s, roommate.” She couldn’t believe
how flustered she was. Normally she was cheerful and carefree, but this man
intimidated her as no one else ever had. It was a surreal feeling.

Glancing to Jessica for
support, she saw her friend was just as surprised
at the chef’s cold welcome as she was. They had
observed his laughing and jovial manner as he made his way around the room, but
now he had turned icy and brusque.

“Aurora?
As in Sleeping Beauty?”
Chef
MacRae had now turned his full attention on her. She squirmed under his gaze. I
will never be late for another class in my life, she thought to herself.
So much for first impressions.

“
Yes,” Rori tried to regain her composure. Hating
having to defend her unusual name, she was a tad irritated. “My mom is an
elementary teacher and that particular story is her favorite.
Although I would never have taken you for a fairy tale
connoisseur.”

“Do you have a sister named
Rapunzel
, or Snow, or
Cinderella?” Marcus seemed unable to walk away from this enchantress. He had
not quite picked up on her tone of irritation.

“Actually,
no
.”
Rori’s rare temper flared.
She smiled a falsely sweet smile at the disagreeable professor. “Her name is
Gwen.”

“As in...?”
Marcus continued, unaware that their
conversation had drawn the attention of the class.

“Guinevere,” Rori answered.
“My father is a Professor of History
. Mom
got to name me; he got to name my sister.”

Struggling to regain his composure,
Chef Marcus reverted to curtness.

“Well, Princess Aurora,
” he said, and watched her blush at his sarcasm. “So
glad you woke up in time to make it to class. I’d appreciate it if you would
find time in your busy schedule, Your Highness, to make it on time tomorrow
night.”

“Yes, Chef,” Rori ducked her
head and nodded
. She was stunned at his
rudeness, not that it was unjustified. She and Jessica had disrupted class with
their lateness.

Rori was
such a positive, upbeat person, to a fault some of
her friends said, that encountering someone so much her opposite left her
speechless. Her family and close friends would laugh at the idea of her
speechlessness, even under extreme circumstances.

“I’m so sorry,” Jess
whispered as they made their way to their station
. “I’ve only had him as a substitute in my pastry class, and I thought
he was really nice and funny then. Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”

“Or a bad life,”
muttered Aurora. She fought back uncharacteristic
tears and prayed. ‘Lord, help me endure this trial. I know it may seem trivial,
but I think that I’m in the class for a reason since it was such a fluke for me
to be able to sign up for it. Please show me what that reason is so I can put
up with the verbal abuse I appear to be in for.’

“You will see on the screen
behind me a list of safety issues,” Chef
MacRae
immediately began, the incident apparently not of enough importance to cause
him any hesitation. “Each of you has two copies of this at your station. On
both copies, please initial beside each item and sign at the bottom. I will
come around and collect one of the signed forms as I take attendance. The other
form should be placed in your binder.”

Rori pulled her binder from
her superhero backpack, not realizing what an eccentric combination her hippie-like
attire, bright neon hair clip, and her masked avenger backpack made
. She tried to be as quiet as possible, hoping not to
attract any more attention. Unfortunately, in her nervousness, she dropped her
pencil case as she pulled out the notebook. Of course, since she was an artist,
it was not an ordinary zippered, canvas pencil case. It was bright, shiny, and
metallic. Perfect for making a lovely and loud clanging noise.

Chef turned towards her
table at the clamor
. “Problems, Princess?”

“No
.” Rori groaned and Jessica for some reason found the
situation quite funny. Rori knew Jessica well enough to know that her sudden
interest in the bowls lined up on their station meant Jess was trying to hold
in her laughter.

“Good.
” Chef dismissed her with a look of impatience.
Turning to the rest of the class, he gave further instructions, “You can also
begin reading your recipe and instructions so we will be ready to begin as soon
as possible.”

“Yum,” Rori whispered to
Jessica who had finally composed herself
.
“It’s crepes.”

“Or
crepps
,” Jess giggled
pronouncing the word in her best over exaggerated French accent. The surreal
tension of the first half hour of class caused Rori to be slightly giddy. She
giggled at Jess’s antics. Of course, the chef chose that very moment to step to
their station so he could collect their paperwork.

“Something
funny, ladies?
”
Chef MacRae asked.

Jessica jumped almost to
attention, her military
upbringing, and
culinary experience coming into play. Aurora on the other hand had found her voice
and her innate tenacity again.

“Yes,”
Rori replied as she met the chef’s serious striking
green eyes with her dancing ones. She was not going to let this man intimidate
her. Plus, maybe he just needed to laugh more. “We were wondering, is it
pronounced
crapes
or
crepps
?”

“Whichever you prefer,” the
chef clipped out
. “Now if I may check
your names off so you can get to work. I know not everyone takes cooking as
seriously as I would like but please try to maintain some discipline in my
kitchen. Miss Johnston, I expected more decorum from you.”

Immediately regretting
having gotten her best friend in trouble, Rori tried to make amends. 

“I’m sorry, Chef,” she
interjected quickly. “That was all my doing. Please do not hold my immaturity
against Jessica. She really does take cooking seriously and she is very good at
it. She is graduating in the top two percent of the culinary arts program and
has a promising future. She cooks for us all the time and even volunteers at
the homeless shelter once a week, cooking them gourmet meals with the pantry
items. She….”

“Enough,”
Marcus cut in. “You have made your point. Now please
concentrate on getting your ingredients ready.”

Jess had buried her head in
her hands about halfway through Rori’s ramble
. Those that knew her roommate well found Rori’s endless chatter
endearing. Rori only got out of control when she was nervous. Obviously, that
was the case tonight.

“Sorry,” Rori mumbled, and
signed her name to the class roster, adding her email address and phone number.
I seem to being saying that a lot tonight, she thought to herself.

“I hope he’s in a better
mood tomorrow, otherwise this class is going to be miserable,” Jessica said.
As they began to measure and prepare their ingredients,
she
added, “At least for you, Rori.” She chuckled at her friend.

“Funny
.” Rori rolled her eyes. “We can only hope.”