Chapter *17*

Schnitzel

Mad and the others had gone to Ally's for the afternoon which invitation I turned down to give me a chance to get the cooking done. It's a bit of a bummer, Em gets collected for her hols in the morning so I've already had to say my goodbyes to one of the gang. The rest of us are going to the pics in Mansfield tomorrow, a last outing before I depart for Manchester on Sunday.

Aunt Carol had indeed located everything for our German style evening meal but whilst I've seen Frau Thesing making the schnitzel I've never actually made them myself.

“anything I can do?” Aunt C enquired.

“I think I'm alright.” I don't want an audience if I make a hash of things!

“I'm next door if you want me.”

“thanks.”

On my second attempt at coating one of my battered bits of meat with breadcrumbs I nearly went to find Aunt C who I'm sure would spot what I was doing wrong straight away. However spotting my handy on the side gave me an idea.

“Gaby! What are you doing calling?”

“I thought you'd at least be missing me by now.”

“we are, how's the hand?”

“how do you know about that?”

“your Dad told me when he came to fetch brotchen on Sunday.”

“oh, its okay, bit sore still, can you talk?”

“I'm only in Aldi, so whats up?”

“I got talked into making schnitzel for dinner and I've got stuck.”

“stuck?”

“please Con how do I get the breadcrumbs to stick?”

she laughed down the phone at me.

(apparently I just needed an extra egg.)

“Connie, I'll be your friend forever.”

“is that a threat or a promise?”

“huh!”

“go on then, what've you done?”

Five minutes and one expensive airtime call later I'd successfully fixed the problem.

“thanks Con.”

“no problem, hang on I've just seen Max…Max?… Gabs is on the phone.”

“bye Con.”

“hang on Gab, Max is just coming.”

I cut the connection, I really can't do Maximillian von flippin' Strechau right now.

“how're you getting on?”

“I just need to deep fry them and they're ready to go.”

“I'm looking forward to trying them.” Aunt C noted with some enthusiasm.

‘don't expect too much.' I muttered to myself.

By the time the Rose entourage arrived the Rotkohl was hot, the croquettes were warming and the dumplings were draining.

“hmm, something smells good.” Bern mentioned from the door.

“as long as it tastes okay,” I observed, “where's Andrea?”

“Granny and your aunt are cooing over her, you need a hand?”

“could you start taking the plates and stuff through.”

“sure.”

Mad arrived a moment later, dressed better than I'd seen her all week.

“Mum says you should go get changed.”

“I've not finished cooking.”

“looks pretty cooked to me.” She noted.

“the schnitzel needs flashing.”

“flashing?”

“I can do that,” Bern volunteered from behind me, “go change tante Gaby.”

“you can borrow something from my wardrobe.” My cousin suggested. Yeah right.

“whatever, about thirty seconds Bern, I'll be straight back down.”

I have to admit that I did smell like cabbage, hmm I reckon I've got like ten minutes. Up stairs, into the shower, hair wash, hmm put it in a braid, five minutes. My personal clothing options came nowhere near smart of course, sugar, I'm gonna have to raid Mad's stuff. That looks familiar, hey its my Gothy dress, you remember, the orange one, I suppose it was a while ago.

“ta da!”

“wish I had your figure.” Bern lamented.

“I wish it wasn't all me. Everything done?”

“yep, now you're here we can eat.”

Blame me.

The dining room was pretty full, four adults, three teens and Drea sucking her thumb in the carrycot.

“so Gab, what is all this stuff?” Uncle John enquired.

“lets see, Shnitzel,” I started pointing to each item in turn, “Já¤ger sauce, that's got mushrooms in it, Zwiebel sauce.”

“onions.” Bern supplied.

“yup, then theres potato croquettes, red cabbage and Kná¶del.”

“dumplings, yum.” Bern mentioned.

“dig in, its best hot.”

The table became a hive of activity, no one wanted to miss out, me least of all, after all, I cooked it! Those not familiar with the delights of German cuisine were cautious in their helpings, me and Bern dug in with gusto.

Oh yeah, the boy done good. Well maybe the mushroom sauce was a little thin but I think I did a fair job on the rest of it. It seemed to get a thumbs up from everyone else too, after the initial reticence they managed to clear every dish of anything eatable.

“phew, I'll come to Restaurant Gaby to eat any time.” Mr Rose sighed.

“I told you it wasn't all sausages.” Bern mentioned to her dad.

“certainly not just a pretty face.” Uncle John grinned.

“you don't say that to me.” Mad pouted.

“the only thing you can cook is a boiled egg, you burnt the water doing that.” Uncle J pointed out.

“did not, it boiled over.”

“give over you two, so what do you do about pud in Germany?” Aunt C asked.

“not much usually, bit of fruit or maybe yoghurt.”

“ice cream?” she suggested.

“ooh yeah.” I agreed.

“everyone up for that?”

there being no naysayers she headed off to the kitchen.

I started collecting the dirty plates.

“give your cousin a hand Mad.” Her Dad prodded.

With Bern joining in the table was cleared before Aunt C brought a tray of loaded ice cream dishes through. So okay, I could've eaten more eis but when I finally sat back I was pretty content and with how the meal had gone. Yeah I know, I ended up in a dress again but that ends when I get to BC on Sunday.

The Rose's stayed for coffee but left fairly early, Drea was getting a little tetchy and Bern was clearly pretty tired too. It was however agreed that her Mum would babysit so she could join the rest of us at the pictures tomorrow. I am so not going to have children, you can't do anything without them coming into the equation — its not like I'm ever going to do anything to end up with children is it?

to be continued....

 © Maddy Bell 12.06.12