Sizzling in Singapore (A Carnal Cuisine Novel) Read Online Free PDF

into the exec position. Truth be told, he thought being the exec was a softer job. The main reason he was retiring from hotel cheffing was the fact that he had worked himself up to the top and didn't like it much. He missed being a part of the action. Missed having the hands-on day-to-day contact with the food, the people, the purveyors--everything.
    He watched from the office and found himself envying Mae her job. The entire floor was hers. She had the authority (and the skill it seemed) to step into any station, correct any person or dish, orchestrate the entire ebb and flow of the kitchen. She was the conductor without whom the rhythm of the place would fall into chaos and discord. He fondly remembered the demands of that position and respected anyone who could pull it off, including himself. Frankly, he had more pride in being second in command than he had in being the exalted head honcho.
    He willed himself to concentrate on Uncle Kurt's menus. There were some really brilliant twists and turns on standard, classic favorites. Uncle Kurt knew his way around food, that's for sure. Runs in the family, I suppose, Nick mused. His father's youngest sibling by many, many years, Kurt was more like a brother to Nick than an uncle. Both had learned the culinary trade at Nick's father's knee. Both had also inherited the Gander tendency to go off on wild adventures--the restless spirit that had impelled Nick to make the decision to leave a very cushy job at the San Francisco Elysium and strike out on his own. His father's death the year before had left him bereft and everything in the big hotel kitchen reminded him of that it was his father's legacy that put him there. It seemed the right time to finally go out on his own and open his own little shop. Generations of Ganders had wandered the globe going from one classic old-school hotel kitchen to the next. Nick wanted to be the first to break the mold and go it alone as a chef-owner. He intended to bring his classical training and his world travels together in a rustically elegant bistro. Kurt threw a monkey wrench into his plans when he took off.
    Not that he blamed Kurt for splitting. When Bernadette surfaced in Panama, he had to go find her and at least try to make sense of the relationship that had consumed him for so many years. That memory had tormented Kurt for too many years. No one knew the whole story in the Elysium kitchen and no one would hear it from Nick. Carrying his mother's surname in the Spanish tradition would ensure that there'd be no reason for any of the staff to put two and two together and connect Nick with Kurt. Nick could see the family resemblance, but with his mother's dark hair, he really didn't look like he was related to his tow-headed uncle.
    Wish you'd given me the head's up on the little hottie you had as second in command, Uncle Kurt. I could have avoided what promises to be a very uncomfortable situation. Nick brushed off the thought of Mae. If she can do it, so can you, Nicky-boy .
     
    ***
     
    Mae was happy that Nick gave her ample opportunity to avoid him during the dinner service. He stayed mostly in the office while the rush was on. From there he could observe the busy rhythm of the kitchen and assess the team. It made sense that he wanted to spend a little time getting a feel for how they all worked together. But as Mae moved in and out of stations tasting here, correcting a plate there, occasionally pitching in to expedite a large table, she thought she felt Nick's observant hazel eyes follow her every move. She could not kick the feeling of being electrically charged by his proximity and it disturbed her usual composure. All throughout service she was having a raging argument with herself, chiding herself for not being able to treat last night's incident more casually. She was determined to hold her head high and let him know that she would conduct herself in the most professional way, in spite of being anything but the night before.
    When