It’s no secret that vicars are busy on Christmas Day, and as Cass is single and has four churches to look after she’s busier than most – and she has no-one to roast a turkey for her in the gap between services. Unlike the Vicar of Dibley she hasn’t had invitations to Christmas dinner with several different parishioners, and as she’s neither (as you may have noticed) an enthusiastic nor a competent cook, what does she have for her Christmas dinner?
Macaroni cheese for one!
Afternoon tea time, and there’s only one thing to have with a nice cup of Yorkshire tea:
‘There’s a pot of tea on the go when you’re ready and I’ll make some cinnamon toast if you like. My mother always used to make it at this time of year; she refused to have a mince pie until Christmas Eve!’
It’s the next stop on my culinary journey through the world of Cass in The Little Church by the Sea and it’s time for lunch. But I should warn you, Cass isn’t much of a cook – or very tidy!
[Anna] worked right through lunchtime and wouldn’t come and share the soup that Cass had offered her, so Cass took a bowl up to her, for her to eat while she worked. Thinking of June’s neatness Cass made a cursory effort to tidy up the kitchen after her lunch. Cass’s clutter was starting to creep out of the cupboards and onto the worktops – but it was better to have the teabags to hand, and the chocolate biscuits couldn’t be stuck away in the cupboards when she needed them so often, could they?
It’s coffee time! And here is Cass’s extra special recipe for mince pies to be enjoyed with a morning coffee:
In honour of publication day I’m eating my way through my novel! And, like Cass, I’m starting with croissants for breakfast and a hungry cat!
Anna sat opposite her at the table, feeding flaky scraps of croissant which had fallen from Cass’s plate to Twiggy who had deserted her owner’s lap in favour of Anna’s.
‘I didn’t know cats liked croissants!’ Anna said.
‘Neither did I,’ Cass said, watching her pet.
And in a strange case of life imitating art, I found a certain naughty little black cat on the breakfast table this morning helping herself – sadly I didn’t let her stay there long enough to take her picture, but here she is helping with the ironing instead …
Liz Taylorson 