[piosenniel]

Cook, of course, was the first one up in the morning. It was good to be back in her own kitchen! Up early, she had started the dough for the day’s bread, and made the apple pies that would grace the tables for lunch. A large pot was set on the hob to bubble away as the stacks of chicken and taters and vegetables, fresh from the garden, all cut bite size, were put into it. Chicken soup, it would be, with hot, thick crusted bread for lunch. The pies and clotted cream would round out the menu.

She was just dropping a bouquet of bay and rosemary into the soup, when Buttercup came stumbling into the kitchen, rubbing her still sleepy eyes. Without a word she began to set up the trays to be taken out to the tables for the first meal of the day – breakfast. Plates, mugs, and eating utensils first. Then, pots of sweet cream butter, pots of blackberry jam and those of honey were set out first, along with small silvered pitchers of cream for tea. The teapots, themselves, were all lined up along one counter in the kitchen, fresh leaves awaiting the hot water, just off the boil, to bring out their aroma and flavor.

Ruby, by this time, had dragged down the stairs, mumbling as she entered the kitchen that she needed a cuppa strong, sweet tea first . . . then she would start the thick sliced, Shire ham and fried taters in the big iron skillets all greased and waiting. Several dozen eggs were cracked and whipped to a frothy concoction, ready to be scrambled for the hungry patrons.

Even Derufin did not escape the direction of Cook after he had come into the kitchen seeking some tea before he saw to the horses. ‘The horses can wait a bit,’ she told him. ‘I’ll just slice the bread. You get it onto the toasting forks and fill up these baskets here.’

The kitchen soon was humming with a quiet energy. Eggs, ham, and taters sizzled in their pans; toast turned a golden brown; tea from the southlands sent its steamy fragrance sliding among the others.

When all was ready, the serving girls working that morning loaded up platter with plates of the various foods and distributed them to the tables. Eager customers helped themselves to the bounty and ate until they were well satisfied; then, sat back and sighed, and ate a little more.