Lilura MacKinzie

Lil had her feet propped up on the seat before her, her head bent over her latest purchase. Long, chestnut-coloured, hair screened the world around her and the music pouring out from her headset formed a buffer to any noise. Every now and then she raised her eyes just enough to see out of the window. Not often enough as she cursed to herself, 'I missed the stop again!', and quickly pressed the bell. Stuffing her book back into her hold-all, she got up and made her way to the front of the bus. She pulled her collar up as she got off, the wind had picked up and snow was swirling around. 'We might just have a white Christmas after all', she sighed and made her way to the shop.

Dragonsfly had been open for the past year and it was everything Lil had ever hoped for. Large bay windows were filled with pillows for comfort, two sofas were standing on opposites sides of a heavy oak coffee table, the rest of the furniture was as mismatched as was humanly possible. So was all the crockery, not a single plate paired with cups or saucers. One wall was lined with bookshelves, the other wall featured a massive stove, two extra ovens and a huge fridge. Above the stove were shelves filled with jars of flour, sugar, coffee, tea, spices and herbs. A large dresser did duty as a counter. In the far corner was a little podium that currently held a massive Christmas tree and an arch led through to a large, professional, kitchen behind the shop where Lil did the main of her cooking.

Bernie was rubbing wax into the counter as Lil entered the shop. 'Good morning Bernie, been here long?', 'Nah, just got here.' Every morning the two women had exactly the same conversation and Lil smiled to herself as she made her way to the kitchen where a large pot of tea was ready for the two of them. Bernie had been working for the previous owner for the past thirty-five years when he decided to sell. Lil had been a regular in the old café, always coming in for a cup of tea before rushing off to her job in the morning and to eat a sandwich for her dinner. Mr Michaels had told her that he had to sell, business was slow with big chain stores opening up all over town and he could no longer compete with them. Lil had felt for him as the café had been his life but her old dream had taken hold again: to have her own little shop with good food and...soul. It was the only word she had for it. Something that all the bigger chains were missing. Bernie had warned her against buying the place but Lil had pushed ahead and asked Bernie to stay on as the cleaning lady. Bernie, however, was far more than 'just' a cleaning lady. She opened the shop, made sure that deliveries came in on time, did all the little odd jobs around the place and was a complete media campaign all on her own.

'Come on, Bernie, let's have a cuppa together!', Lil shouted from the kitchen as she took her apron from the hook and hung her coat in its place. She had the new book out on the big table, opened at the page that she had been reading on the bus. 'What have you got this time, dove?', Bernie sounded slightly exasperated as she sat down. 'I thought we had agreed that you wouldn't buy any more cookbooks?' Bernie was right but Lil hadn't been able to stop herself. 'It was in the little charity shop next to the chapel and it was only fifty pence', Lil defended herself. 'Besides, they are all heritage recipes.' Bernie rolled her eyes and poured the two of them some strong tea. 'Oh, before I forget, Mr and Mrs Howard have been. I got them to put it all into the cooler except for the eggs, those are on the bread box.' Jack and Rachel Howard had a small-holding and provided practically all the fruit and vegetables, not to mention all the eggs, milk, butter and young cheeses Lil needed. 'They also brought the meat order', Bernie added. 'What's on the menu today, Lil?' Whilst Bernie was speaking, Lil had walked over to the large cooler and opened the door. 'Beef stew with dumplings, chicken and mushroom pie, sausage casserole, bubble and squeak with kale and red cabbage with apple.' Lil said over her shoulder as she started to take the ingredients out. Fresh rolls, biscuits and cakes were standard and never mentioned on the menu. 'And I am going to make that recipe.' she said whilst pointing to the table. Bernie pulled the book over and quickly surveyed the recipe. 'I don't even know how you'd pronounce that, let alone what's in it. What is it?' she asked. Lil started laughing, 'Since it's Christmas, I thought I'd make a traditional beverage. It's got quite a bit of alcohol in there but it's really good. You'll love it.' Bernie chuckled, 'Going Dutch on us, or what.' Lil laughed with her, 'Yeah, time for some culture in here. Go on, you get going. See you tomorrow?' Bernie got up, 'Of course, unless someone else sees me first but I'll write the menu down first.'

After Bernie left, Lil started the stew and casserole and got the bread dough out of the cooler to make her rolls. She stuck the rolls in the ovens in the shop and walked back to make the biscuit dough. By the time the rolls and biscuits were cooling down she had prepared two apple pies, a chocolate cake and two pear tarts with cranberries. Lil looked at the clock and thought, 'Just enough time for a brew.' and she sank down on one of the chairs gratefully. Fifteen minutes later she was softly singing to herself as she walked back into the kitchen to make Advocaat. 'I should have told Bernie that it is similar to eggnog.' she thought to herself as she grabbed the cookbook from the table. A quick look at the recipe showed her that it would only make one litre. If this was going to be the success she thought it would be, that would never be enough. 'Okay', she thought, 'Let's get the juices running. All I have to do is multiply by five. I can do this.' She made a face, maths had never been her strong suit. Five seconds later she sat down at the table with pen and paper to figure out what she needed. 'Forty egg yolks? We'll be having meringues for the rest of the year.' Lil got up and brought one of the big soup pots to the stove and half filled it with water and lit the fire underneath whilst she started separating the eggs, the yolks into one of the big ten-litre mixing bowls and the egg whites into a sturdy freezer box. She quickly beat the egg yolks loose and started adding 1500 gram of caster sugar. Lil kept whisking until she could no longer feel any sugar grains and split five vanilla beans lengthwise, scraping the seeds into the egg mixture and giving it another quick whisk, before adding five tins of condensed milk and the vanilla beans. She transferred the bowl onto the soup pan and turned the fire low. As the egg mixture slowly warmed up Lil started adding one litre of brandy whilst constantly whisking until the mixture started to thicken. As soon as it did, Lil removed the bowl from the heat and poured the mixture through a sieve into an empty bowl to let it cool.

Once the advocaat had completely cooled and stiffened up she would serve it in small glasses with freshly whipped cream, dark chocolate shavings and a couple of gingerbread biscuits.