The Lost Recipe for Happiness
Chapter One
Elena had been expecting Dmitri for more than an hour when he finally stormed
through the back door of the Blue Turtle, the Vancouver restaurant where they
both worked.
She'd come in early, as was her habit, to cook in the agreeable quiet of the
Sunday morning kitchen, when the young apprentices and line cooks and
dishwashers were all still abed after their Saturday night revelries. Her only
companion was Luis, the forty-something El Salvadorian commis, who stirred his
stockpots with a hand so brown and squat it looked like a hand balloon. He sang
cheerfully under his breath, a bloody old Spanish folk song about a conquistador
taking revenge on his enemy. It made Elena think of nights at the VFW when she
was eleven or twelve, drinking Cokes while everyone danced the two-step. No
doubt it made Luis think of bodegas back home.
Humming tunelessly along with him, Elena stood at the stove, stirring pale pink
shallots and yellow onions with a long wooden spoon, thinking of the things she
needed to check for service today. She thought of conquistadores and the plate
armor they'd worn to p ... read full excerpt from: The Lost Recipe for Happiness ebook
