It is just Bill, William and me here holding the fort at the moment while the rest of the family are away. As you probably know from my previous blog posts, Bill is my eldest brother, with whom I am staying for some of the time whilst I am in Australia; and William is Bill’s eldest son. We are looking after Lita’s chooks and we’re trying to remember to feed Lily the cat (not to be confused with Lily the Pink, the Pink, the Pink – if you can remember that odd song); we are also being very helpful to one another because, now that we are all alone, we realise how much work there is to do.
Yesterday Bill and I had, independently, the same brainwave to do some shopping for dinner; however, we did not discuss our intentions so it was a surprise to each of us when we arrived home, within minutes of each other, laden with our purchases.
“I bought beef-mince,” said Bill putting the mince on the kitchen worktop.
“And I bought rump steak,” I said, pulling out the steak.
“Do you like mince?” Bill asked.
“Not much,” I answered truthfully, “Do you want mince for dinner?”
“I don’t mind at all – have whatever you like,” he answered.
My brother went outside to his shed, probably to sand down a chest of drawers, and I got to thinking that maybe he fancied a shepherd’s pie for dinner. The steak could wait for another day. If Bill fancied shepherd’s pie I would make one for him, minus any tomato (because my nephew hates tomatoes), and I would have just a small portion for myself (because the smell of mince cooking usually turns me off and makes me want to go vegetarian).
The huge pie was on the table. William came in from work and said he wasn’t very hungry and I took a serving no bigger than a dessert-spoonful. Funnily enough, we all went back for seconds (it didn’t taste so meaty with the browned potato and melted cheese on top!).
“That was nice,” Bill said.
“I thought you must have bought the mince because you fancied a shepherd’s pie,” I responded.
“To tell you the truth, Sally,” Bill smiled, “I thought I would give you a break from cooking for a change and I was going to cook the dinner tonight. I knew I could cook mince and I knew I could cook potatoes, so that is why I bought mince.”
It tickled me to think of my macho older brother planning to cook for me and William. I was so glad that used his mince. In fact it wasn’t a bad pie at all. We enjoyed the other half just as much tonight, especially as nobody had to cook.