I taught them to cook vidya4 - Flipbook - Page 12
10
Autumn Term
A murmur of horror comes from the back row – basket, bring
stuff in. What sort of a lesson are we doing?
‘What are we making today Miss?’ A quiet, nervous girl is
speaking from the front row.
‘Your name?’
‘Alice.’ She’s sweet enough to wear her navy coloured Alice
band that neatly matches her navy school uniform.
‘Miss – I want to do O level Cookery but I’m in this group.’ She
could have added ‘of idiots’ or ‘boys’.
‘Alice, We’ll talk about changing groups later.’
‘Class, we’re making fairy cakes today.’
‘What? I said this lesson was for poofters!’
Gavin stands up to shout – his voice is as large as his size.
‘It’s a simple recipe – the same weight of egg and other
ingredients. Beat the margarine with the sugar until it’s creamy.’
I bang my wooden spoon on the edge of the mixing bowl and
the soft, shiny mixture plops down. Gavin will be good at this.
‘Crack your egg into a cup, beat it with a fork, stir in, sieve
the flour and fold in gently. Then spoon it into paper cases in the
tart tins.
Gavin booms again out from his stool.
‘When are we doing tarts, Miss?’
He smirks to the group.
‘I’ve never done a tart.’
I really hope Gavin won’t turn up to my pastry lessons where
we learn about rubbing in and knocking up.
‘Aprons on, hair tied back, hands washed – let’s get cooking.’
The room busies with weighing and beating then it’s into the
cake cases for baking.
‘Wash up while the cakes cook.’
The warm fragrance of baking cakes is calming us all down.
Even Gavin is quiet. He’s sitting on the floor by his oven, watching
his raw cake dough rise and turn golden brown.
‘Onto cooling racks and ready for marking.’