He frowned. “Dollop? How much is that exactly?”
She paused with her burn-free hand on the cabinet door. “You know, a dollop.”
“Nee, I don’t know or I wouldn’t have asked. In fact I don’t believe there is any such measurement.” His expression and tone had grown testy.
She knew she should quietly agree and then restate the measurement to something more precise, but her burn was throbbing painfully and something inside her balked at meekly appeasing him. “Of course there is. It’s about the same as a heaping tablespoon.”
“Then you should say a heaping tablespoon.” His frown deepened. “Although that doesn’t sound very exact either.”
Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Ach, it doesn’t need to be exact.” And with that she marched back across the room, grabbed a spoon, scooped up some sour cream and dumped it into the bowl with the eggs. “There. Now if you don’t mind whisking that in, I’ll have the butter ready to add to the bowl in just a moment.”
For a heartbeat Seth just stood there with his mouth slightly agape. Phoebe spotted the broad grin on Levi’s face before he turned around. She also caught the sound of a quickly muffled snicker from one of the younger boys. Ach, she’d forgotten they had an audience. Had she embarrassed the man of the house in front of his brieder?
Chapter 11
Seth couldn’t believe she’d just treated him like an obstinate schoolboy. He’d only been trying to make sure the eggs were prepared correctly. Proper measurements were important and her lax attitude toward that concept didn’t bode well for the results that would end up on their plates.
This was very different from the way Dinah had cooked. His former fraa had been very precise, using measuring cups and spoons and following recipes without deviation. It hadn’t been in her nature to be spontaneous or experimental with food. Or anything else for that matter.
Which had served her well in maintaining their household.
As he continued with his whisking, perhaps using a bit more energy than required, he told himself that they were lucky to have Phoebe as a fill-in housekeeper. He could live with anything for the five or so weeks until Edna was healed well enough to take back over.
Phoebe returned to his side, drawing his thoughts back to the present. Her conciliatory expression said she was ready to move on from their disagreement and he supposed he should do the same.
She held up the grater she’d retrieved from the cabinet. “Now we just need to grate the frozen butter into the eggs,” she said, “and once it’s stirred in we’ll be ready to cook them up.”
That didn’t sound right. “Don’t you cook the eggs in the butter?”
“We’ll add a little butter to the skillet, of course. But adding it in the eggs this way makes them fluffier.” Her tone and expression were now those of a mamm gently teaching her child. But he gritted his teeth and nodded. Taking the grater and the butter from her, he went to work. “Whatever you say, you’re the cook.”
He was glad he hadn’t argued when he saw her smile and stand straighter.
Continuing to grate the butter, he watched her from the corner of his eye as she moved to the stove. She added a little butter to the skillet that was already there and turned on the burner under it.
Studying her, he noted that she didn’t move with the same confidence and purpose that Dinah had, but there was a certain gawky grace about her.
“The skillet is ready whenever you are,” she said a moment later.
With a nod he moved to the stove to pour the eggs in.
And it seemed Levi was ready to fry the biscuits at the same time.
This would be interesting—his bruder had a competitive streak in him. The two of them working side by side would no doubt bring that out again.
A few moments later Seth held a spatula in hand. He absently turned and stirred the eggs as they cooked to make sure he didn’t over- or undercook any sections—a technique he’d learned from watching Dinah cook. Phoebe was across the room, discussing something with Jesse, and both of them were smiling. She certainly had a knack for that—making his brieder smile.
He did appreciate that she trusted him enough with the task not to hover.
“Phoebe’s a gut influence on you.” Levi’s unexpected statement caught him off guard. Had something of his thoughts shown on his face?
But then his bruder gave him a suspiciously innocent look as he nodded toward the skillet. “Those look a whole lot better than the last eggs you cooked for us.”
Seth merely glared at him and turned the burner off.
Levi grinned and did the same.
After the two of them had moved away from the stove, Phoebe moved forward and bent to open the oven door. Seth remembered that she’d put the sausage and potatoes there earlier and moved to her side and put a hand lightly on her shoulder to stop her. “You shouldn’t be carrying these heavy platters with that fresh burn on your hand. Go take your seat and I’ll get the food on the table.”
His offer was met with a smile that made her face go all soft and warm.
“Gut idea,” Levi interjected. “I’ll help.”
Phoebe turned her smile on him as well, and then with a “Danke” that included both of them, she turned and took her seat at the table.
Before he could stop himself, Seth frowned Levi’s way. But his bruder merely grinned and carried the bowl containing the biscuits to the table.
Once silent prayers were done and everyone had been served, Phoebe started getting compliments on the food, just as she had at supper yesterday.
“This fried biscuit is gut.”
She smiled. “That was Levi and Edna’s doing. And I agree, they did a gut job.”
“I never had scrambled eggs like this before. I like them.”
Again she passed on the compliment. “That was mostly Seth.”
“You did something different to the bacon, didn’t you?”
