🍽!
Their holidays had never been busy, after all, it was just the two of them and no need to make a big mess but Marie did like to do stuff for the occasion. This year however, Veld had given her some cash and sent her off down to the town for the day, telling her to take a spa day or shopping for something nice.
Anything to get her out of the house.
When she returned, he had the fruits of his labor laid out on the table, waiting. Most had been done the day or week before under guise of laying in food for winter, so it was more a matter of just putting everything together.
The center piece was a fat pheasant he'd trapped early that morning, stuffed with toasted barley, pine nuts, and spices and roasted over the fire, basted with oil and herbs. A pair of baked apples sat on either side of the bird, filled with nuts and oats and a sprinkle of expensive cinnamon.
Next a small dish of roasted root vegetables, carrots and turnips, seasoned with salt and butter.
For dessert, still sitting on the oven cooling, was a honey cake, waiting to be drizzled with dark pine syrup and chopped toasted nuts.