I love happy endings. Even though I am not absolutely certain that this is the case with the story of the married couple who met at Cordon Bleu cooking school. I feel that I have had a glimpse of their joy and their “happy ending”.

We were leaving Seattle after a wonderful weekend with the Iflands.  Rebecca had declared a couple of evenings earlier, whilst at their dining table “If only we had more time, I would have loved to have taken you to “The Fat Hen””. She then shared the story of a Seattlite who’s mother was a graduate of the prestigious Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris and how her daughter also attended the school and met her Italian husband Maximo while there.

Fast forward to this morning, Maximo was in the tiny café kitchen where he whipped up the most decadent and rich breakfasts for D and I. His wife had baked all the pastries that were featured in the restaurant including the perfectly bubble filled baguette that I used to sop up every single bite of my delectable sauce.

Rebecca who hails from our province in the middle of Canada had declared that even though she would not normally indulge in a Benedict, the Fat Hen’s version was the best she had ever tasted with its heavenly hollandaise sauce. Since we were in seafood territory, D chose the Benedict with wild Alaskan smoked salmon. The petite roasted new potatoes were a delectable accompaniment.

I needed help with my baked eggs alla boscaiola where two eggs had been plunged into a bubbling solea tomato sauce with sausage, mushrooms and mozzarella, to finish the cooking process. At least, this is how we guessed the dish had been prepared. The more quickly you broke into the egg, the softer the yolk was that had been poaching in the hearty sauce. By my last bite the egg was fully cooked.

We spotted Maximo as he efficiently let down a counter to cover the doorway to the kitchen to lovingly plate and complete his delicious fare. He was obviously the handsome Italian chef that had smitten his fellow culinary student. He was shy (and busy) but came out for a moment to shake our hands in greeting. His wife was home with their children. They are open from 8-3 Tues to Sunday, a schedule which seems to perfectly suit their regular customers as the place was chock full at 10 am on a Tuesday morning. From what we guess, their timetable also supports their young family and this is where the happy ending comes in. Living a life where you can love what you do but at the same time have the freedom to do so around life’s most important things, like family.

Kath’s quote: “Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.”-Marcel Boulestin

Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

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