Fresh Fast-Food

I’m racing against time at the moment. I wake up in a panic as I realise there is nothing left in the fridge. Oh well, it’ll have to be tuna sandwiches again. My early morning lunchboxes are hastily scrambled together while trying to hide from Pierre the contents of his box.
“Have you forgotten to go shopping again?” he enquires quietly.
There’s no chance of hiding anything from my observant son.
The children are deposited outside school and I sprint off to work. It feels like the old days when we first set up French Living - a time when we left the children in the care of au-pairs while we worked every hour to persuade the people of Nottingham to visit our fledging French business. It was such an intense time that I cannot recall how or when mealtimes happened. Today, I find myself thrown back to this chaotic yet exciting time as French Living expands. We have acquired the next door shop unit and it’s now a race against time to transform it into a Gallic haven.
Why do schools end their day at 3.30pm? I scrape off the Provencal blue paint from my finger nails and dash back home to collect the kids.
“What’s for dinner?” squeals Pierre
“Why do you have blue hair?” asks a puzzled Nina
Dinner, oh yes, dinner!
It’s true that these last few years I’ve had the luxury of time to plan, organise and indulge in cooking for the family. Consequently, this week has been a shock to the system. To my surprise, however, I’ve found it remarkably easy to keep up the mealtime reputation - even without the kids noticing too much of a difference.
I think fish. Salmon, trout fillets, chunks of cod, hake. Twelve minutes baked in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil, herbes de provence. Lamb chumps are Stephane’s favourite fast food dish. Browned in the pan and then left in the oven for fifteen minutes before slicing into a fan of pink succulence.
OK so there’s a bit of a wait, the service is not quite as fluid as usual but over the years I’ve learnt not to be frightened by fresh. Fresh is quick and there’s no need to resort to expensive, salty ready-meals.
“Is it tuna again tomorrow?” asks Pierre
“Why is your hair blue?” asks Nina
OK, so they have noticed a few changes.