Pacific Northwest Werebears(6)
Luckily in her planning and research for being a logging company cook, she had come across a popular American cook that lived on a ranch in a state called Oklahoma. Sophie figured feeding cowboys had to be the same as feeding lumberjacks. She wasn’t trained in traditional American meat and potato meals at Le Cordon Bleu, so she hoped her cowboy recipes worked out.
Hearing some sounds start up outside, doors opening and closing she figured it was around time for the men to be getting up. Glancing at the clock she saw it was a quarter to six. Good to know how early she was going to be starting around here.
Turning on the flat top griddle, she got to work making her pancakes. For her first real attempt she thought they turned out pretty good, they looked like the picture in the cookbook at least. She tossed them into a steamer tray as they were done. She figured she could put out the first batch and keep making them as long as they were needed.
Walking out to the hall, she set out the pancakes and the sausages. She’d transferred the now thick and sticky compote into another tray. The door to the mess flew open and a large burly man with a long beard down to his chest stepped in.
Looking around, he boomed out, “Are you an angel from heaven? What is that I smell? Smells like my momma’s kitchen when I was a boy!”
Smiling sheepishly Sophie blushed and introduced herself, “I’m Sophie, the new cook.”
“Amos, nice to meet ya, young lady. I was coming in to get the cereal out before the savages start howling their stomachs are rubbing against their spines,” he chortled. “I also grab one or two of the guys on limited work duty from injuries to help me make up sandwiches for the men’s lunch boxes. They come in and grab what they want, no need to fuss with them. They usually take chips and cookies and go.”
“Well I couldn’t sleep, the jet lag had me knackered, so I figured might as well try to get something warm into the men before they head off to work. Can you think of anything I missed,” she asked looking around at the steam trays.
“Coffee,” he boomed. “Men won’t do anything until they’ve had their coffee.”
Looking a little lost, Sophie spun around. “I didn’t even think of that! I don’t drink coffee, I’m English, we drink tea. You don’t think they’d want tea do you,” she said in a panic.
“Settle down there missy, I’ll get the coffee brewing. You go grab those big jugs of milk and orange juice from the cooler. That will keep ‘em happy for now,” he assured her.
Running back outside she found the milk and orange juice, brought them out to a table and found some buckets to fill with ice to keep them chilled.
Sophie really hoped this first breakfast wasn’t a disaster. She would hate to crawl home so soon.
Chapter 6
The men that started trickling into the mess hall all stopped right at the entrance and took a deep breath. Some even closed their eyes and smiled before making their way inside and heading straight to the buffet tables.
Sophie introduced herself to anyone that asked. They all raved about the food. She had to stop and make more pancakes twice as she wasn’t quite prepared for the massive quantities of food these hungry men could put away. Something she was definitely going to have to plan for.
Halfway through breakfast, Wyatt managed to stop in. He took one bite of his pancakes drenched in honey butter and compote and picked her up and spun her around. He declared her the fairest princess in the land and the best cook in the country.
Blushing not only that he had picked her up, because no one had ever done that, but that he made the whole room look at her and laugh. They did all end up applauding which helped her feel not so chagrined at everyone staring.
Wyatt told her that Cage wasn’t going to be able to make breakfast. Something had come up with one of the machines and he needed to fix it before the men got started for the day. So she loaded up a Styrofoam container with a heaping helping of the morning’s offerings and asked Wyatt to take it to him.
“Anything for you, sugar,” he grinned then gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek before striding out into the sunlight.
Hmm, Americans are a little more hands on than I’m used to, she thought. Turning to the tables she noticed most of the men were starting to head out. She realized that she had some serious cleaning to do before she could even think about preparing dinner. Lucky for her, Amos and a few of the injured workers stuck around to help clean up and make the sandwiches. Sophie watched in awe at the mound of white bread and meat sandwiches the men threw together. They then laid out industrial size boxes of chips, cookies, and a tray of fruit no one touched.