Page 77 of Tumbleweed Temptation
“You done with me, then?”
“Until two weeks. Ginny will get you an appointment. And then, hopefully, for another year.”
Mr. McKay gave a sharp nod, hopped off the table, and walked out the door. Austin stayed in the exam room for a few more minutes, until he was sure the man was gone, then he moved into the second exam room.
Two more appointments, and he wouldn't be able to get to The Wheel House fast enough. Too bad there was nothing he could do to wipe the memory of that.
*****
THE WHOLE TOWN WASbuzzing with excitement over the first cook-off the next week. Ginny and Austin had purchased the ingredients, enough for the five cooks who would be competing in the diner. They’d locked the doors to the diner so they could control the flow of people, and the line of people for the audience extended down the block.
They’d chosen Janine, Mrs. Lopez, Nancy, who was the regular cook from the diner, and Mrs. Drexler to be the judges, so they were already seated at the counter. The waiting crowd was growing restless.
The competitors were already in the kitchen, arranging their areas. None of them were used to cooking around other people, so that would be an added challenge. Poppy, Maggie Salinas, who worked with Lacey, Yasmine Mendez, and Pastor Moreno’s wife Alice were the contestants tonight.
Javi and Beck had helped set up cameras in the kitchen, and screens from the elementary school in the dining room so the audience could watch the competition, since they couldn't really see into the kitchen.
Sofia and Hailey manned the door and let the people in a dozen at a time to claim the tables, passing out door prize tickets as the audience entered. Most of the audience were women, which was expected, but Patrick had shown up, too, and saluted Ginny before taking a seat alone at the other end of the counter. They got almost everyone seated, even if they had to squeeze into a booth, at least no one in town were strangers. Some of the audience stood by the door, but the restaurant just had no more room to squeeze people in. The Wheel House had more room, but Delgado’s was going to be a tight squeeze, if the turnout was like this
Austin stood up between the pass-through window and the counter, with the microphone from Poppy’s karaoke machine.
“Ladies, and gentlemen.” He nodded at Javi and Con near the kitchen door, in case there were technical difficulties. “Tonight is our first Broken Wheel cooking competition. Tonight these five ladies will be competing to make the best entree using any or all of the ingredients we have here tonight.”
Ginny held up the chalkboard, where Poppy had artfully listed tonight’s ingredients.
“We’ve got quinoa, cauliflower, chicken breasts, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, spinach, lentils, sweet potatoes, snap peas, broccoli, onion, garlic, honey, dried herbs, basil, tomatoes and low-fat cheeses and milk. Each cook will make enough for eight, and we’ll try to make sure everyone gets a bite of something. Again, the winner will get the special of the week here at the diner, and each contestant will submit their recipe to Ginny, who will put them all together in a little mini cookbook once the competitions are done. Are we ready to watch some cooking?”
Ginny grinned at him from behind the board. He really was cute doing this.
The cheer went up from the crowd, and he turned to the contestants behind the window.
“Ladies, you have forty-five minutes to wow us. May the best woman win.”
He tried to keep up a running commentary as the women cooked.
“Looks like Vivian Lopez is going with a chicken recipe. Remember, for eight people,” he reminded. “She’s selected the garlic, basil, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes and mozzarella. That sounds amazing. Good luck with that. And Mrs. Moreno has chosen chicken, also, with honey, vinegar and the green vegetables. Yasmine is taking the quinoa challenge. Have you ever cooked with it before this contest?”
Yasmine shook her head, not looking away from what she was doing.
“Great! That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. Nobody’s touching the lentils,” he laughed. “Maggie is going with the spinach, chicken, milk and cheese. Remember, you’re limited to these ingredients, no adding butter or flour.”
Ginny couldn't see who he addressed the last comment to. She looked at the screen, but only saw Poppy working with cauliflower, chopping it very finely. She had tomatoes beside it, chicken, basil and mozzarella. She was going for a pizza. Ginny hoped she had time to get it done.
She was pretty amazed at how smoothly everything was going. The women worked out sharing the equipment pretty well. Ginny was glad she’d thought about bringing the contestants in ahead of time so they could get used to the industrial equipment. They would have to do the same at the other restaurants with the other contestants.
The smells filling the small restaurant were pretty good, and Ginny’s stomach started to growl before she remembered they’d decided to serve vegetables to the audience. She motioned to Javi and Con, who helped her pass out the trays of vegetables and yogurt dipping sauce to each table.
They’d already put a pitcher of water and cups at each table.
“Try the dip and tell me what you think,” Austin said into the microphone. “I made it.”
Ginny snorted out loud and turned to give him a look, which made the people at the tables laugh.
“I did. You helped.”
“I found the recipe,” she reminded him. “And went to get the ingredients while you were seeing patients. You may have measured and stirred, but I did the hard part.”
Their banter delighted the audience, and she got a few, “You tell ‘ims” and “Ain’t that always the ways.”
