Chapter 25

Sunday, we were woken by Pixie making noises in the kitchen a little after 6am.

I started to climb out of bed until Kelly put her arm around me, “leave her be, there’s not a whole lot we can do to help her, so let her get on with the prep at her own pace.”

A few minutes later Naomi put her head around the door, “should I help her?”

“Go see if she wants any help if you like,” Kelly answered sleepily, “but to be honest I’m not sure there’s anything to do this early, it’s 11 hours before we even serve the starter.”

“Ok, I can’t leave her on her own though, it’s not fair.”

“No worries, you go down. If there’s anything we can do let us know.”

A few minutes later, Naomi returned, “it’s ok, you can get back to bonking or whatever it is you were doing, she’s making some kind of beetroot and goats cheese filo parcel starter that will take her about four hours or something.”

Kelly jumped out of bed, “she’s doing what? Oh the poor thing, come on Tom, we can’t let her spend all day cooking, I thought she was just getting stuff ready extra early, I didn’t realise she was already hard at work.”

“Do I have to help, you know what my cooking is like.”

“You can make breakfast and coffee so we don’t starve.”

We all quickly made ourselves decent, then we went down to help.

“I’ve bitten off more than I can chew I think,” Pixie said sadly as we entered.

“Well, we’re here to help, you’re the head chef, give us jobs.”

“Thanks,” she said with real feeling, “does anyone want to make filo pastry? I can show you how.”

Naomi put her hand up, Pixie gave her some instructions, and soon we all had jobs. My first job was the one Kelly had issued to Naomi, coffee and breakfast, which was just cereals as the cooker, oven and all available flat surfaces were taken.

With 20 starters prepared and in the fridge for cooking nearer the time Pixie set Kelly and Naomi the task of cleaning up while I helped her prepare a sherry trifle.

“I searched long and hard for a nice vegan trifle recipe, I don’t mind using milk and egg and stuff, but in a moment of madness I decided to challenge myself to make a full vegan trifle, I’m afraid I went a bit mad with your credit card on this Kelly, we’re using real saffron for the custard.”

With a clean worktop Pixie issued more instructions as we started to make a trifle from scratch, we weren’t even using pre-made sponge, if this meal isn’t a roaring success it won’t be for a lack of effort.

During a lull in activity Naomi and Kelly set about dressing the table. As we had two different sets of chairs Kelly had bought pink and gold covers so they would all at least look the same.

Cutlery was polished, crockery dusted, place settings set, name cards written, party favours placed, mid course conversation starters compiled. We even had a fun quiz organised for between the main course and dessert.

Pixie had set in motion the social event of the decade, pretty good going for such an introvert.

Pixie had written timings for the day on a big whiteboard she’d brought down from my office, as each task was completed she drew a little heart next to it, at 1pm it was time to take the beef to Kelly’s kitchen, I carried it carefully, Naomi had a bag of potatoes, Pixie had the ingredients for yorkshire puddings, the beef, yorkshires and roast potatoes would all be cooked in Kelly’s huge oven.

According to the butcher, the beef would take 3½ hours, then need to stand for 30 minutes, we’d use that 30 minutes to cook the yorkshire puddings, then wheel everything back in Kelly’s heated trolley, which I was currently cleaning as it hadn’t been used in almost a decade, fingers crossed it still works.

Naomi spent the time the beef was cooking compiling a suitable dinner party playlist, a 4 hour mix of gentle sounds.

With dinner almost ready we all changed, when shopping for table decorations Kelly had also bought Pixie a very elegant evening dress, deep black and cut just right to subtly highlight her figure without being overtly sexual. I’m almost certain Kelly spent way more on the dress than we did on her Macbook. I looked down and was glad to see Pixie had removed her beloved Dr Martens and was wearing a very nice pair of court shoes, they may be Kelly’s.

Pixie had agreed to greet people as they arrived, she was the host after all, Naomi was serving champagne in the garden, Kelly and I had been given a very comprehensive list of instructions for cooking the starters and serving the main course.

Josie and Clive were the first to arrive, dead on 5pm, Pixie greeted them warmly, giving Clive a friendly hug, shaking Josie’s hand, then she led them through to the patio for pre-dinner drinks.

Helen popped in to borrow Kelly’s Mini, Becky had bumped into Elsie in the morning and she wasn’t walking so well, so we’d decided to give her a lift down.

A few minutes later they were back, as promised Elsie was dressed for dinner with the Queen, a beautiful green and gold dress and a string of real pearls.

Helen was in a two piece skirt suit, Becky in a colourful party dress, without prompting, everyone had decided to dress up for Pixie’s dinner party.

At the stroke of 5:30 Naomi rang a little dinner gong and everyone filed inside. Kelly had printed a small menu card for each place setting, and we were treated to a lot of appreciative chatter from the dining room as Kelly and I pulled the starters from the oven.

I plated each filo parcel and Kelly drizzled a sauce Pixie had made from beetroot and balsamic vinegar, I followed behind once they were all plated and dressed the plates with a walnut and a few pine nuts.

I have to say, we made a good job, there was a definite wow factor to the plates.

We took them in two at a time and the room agreed, they looked good, and smelt delicious.

Everyone served, we sat at the end and waited whilst Pixie thanked everyone for coming to her first ever dinner party, Elsie said Grace and we tucked in.

Oh. My. God. A taste sensation, the beetroot and Cornish goats cheese worked perfectly, the sauce and pine nuts not just garnish, they completely added to the overall dish. The girls of Pixie’s house are in for a treat if she gets a say over the menu.

Everyone loved the starter, even Naomi who had previously refused to eat beetroot.

As Kelly stacked the starter plates in the dishwasher I started to carve the beef, it was cooked just right for me, crispy on the outside, still pink in the middle. Kelly started to plate the veg, yorkshire puddings, roast and mashed potatoes, then I added a good portion of beef to each and Kelly poured gravy.

For her own meal Pixie was having all the veg, a vegan wellington made of mushrooms and nuts, and a meat free gravy.

More gasps and compliments as we served up the main courses, Pixie spoke as we served, “I’ve really wanted to cook a proper Sunday roast for ages, ever since I got interested in cooking, this may seem odd considering I’ve been a veggie half my life, but I have no problem cooking meat dishes, I just don’t want to eat them. Ruth and Mel weren’t foodies, so I was hardly going to put any effort into cooking a fancy Sunday dinner for them, so today is a real treat for me. My thinking behind the starter, which I hope you all enjoyed,” she was drowned out for a moment with people complimenting the starter, “thank you, I’m glad it went down well, I thought that as the main was pure British tradition, I chose to start with something modern and experimental. Please, I’ll be quiet now, enjoy.”

Becky and Naomi, sitting on either side of Pixie, both helped themselves to samples of her vegan wellington.