Once upon a time, in a land not too far from where you sit right now, lived two young ladies. Let's call them...Eddie and Lola.
Well, one day Eddie and Lola decided to bake a delicious loaf of focaccia for Lola's mama's birthday. As Lola prepared the dough, mixing flour and water with sugar and yeast, Eddie picked fresh chives from the garden and chopped sweet garlic cloves. Humming as they worked, the two women kneaded the dough until smooth, elastic and speckled with bright flecks of chive and garlic.
The dough was covered and left to rise, as jars were returned to their shelves and benches were cleaned. It was then that a gasp passed the lips of Eddie, as Lola returned a concerned reply,
"What...what's wrong?".
Eddie held up her left hand, wiggling her finger where a gold band should have been. Instead it was bare.
Lola began frantically searching the kitchen; moving appliances, clearing shelves, searching the sinks. Eddie stood back trying to remember the last time she had seen her ring. The room was strangely quiet, just the sound of cupboards opening and closing and Lola's desperate sighs.
"I took it off before I mixed the dough, and I put it down here...", Eddie recounted, gesturing to a section of bench between the espresso machine and a sink. Lola lept upon the spot, clearing away dishes and peering under appliances, alas it was not there. Suddenly, Lola swore loudly, covering her gaping mouth with her hands.
"Shit, it's in the bread! It's in the bread!" she gasped.
The rising loaf was retrieved from it's warm nook, and the ladies began pulling and prodding at the dough, smothering it's delicate air-bubbles and filling the room with a garlic-y aroma. For several minutes the dough was beaten upon, until it was clear it was not harbouring their golden treasure.
The women began searching throughout the house, retracing their movements of the past hour. The bedroom, ensuite, courtyard and living room were scoured. Nothing. The kitchen was poured over, double and triple-checked. Nothing.
Both women looked to each other with matching expressions of disappointment. A few four-lettered words were uttered and many tears were shed.
"It'll be okay, we don't need a ring. Our love is stronger than that", whispered Eddie as she embraced a red-faced Lola. The two women shared a brief kiss, and retired to the bedroom for an afternoon siesta. Although it's disappearance still baffled them, there was no point continuing a search for something that was so obviously...gone.
Later in the evening, after delivering their gift to its birthday recipient, the women arrived home and began preparing an evening meal. As Eddie began preparing a batch of
special pancakes for supper, in the hope of bringing a little joy to their rather dismal evening, Lola caught up with a
friend or
two. Suddenly, in the midst of the calm night, a shout came from the kitchen and Lola was summoned.
As she curiously rounded the corner, Lola was met by the beaming smile of her love, and holding in her finger tips, was the golden band they had searched for! They bounded around the room, laughing and dancing.
"Where was it?!", squealed Lola, whilst slipping the ring back on Eddies finger.
"In. The. Bin!", replied Eddie.
Lola looked surprised, "What? The bin! But, how?", she exclaimed.
Eddie pointed out that earlier that day she had pre-emptively thrown out the pancake packaging with the all important recipe printed on the side. Upon realising she needed it, she had planned to search blindly through the rest of the discarded rubbish, no matter how bad it might have been. But there, just underneath the lid and nestled between a corn husk and an empty paper towel roll was a shining, glimmering flicker of gold.
With the recipe packaging situated perfectly underneath.
The moral of this story, dear friends, is to always check the place you least expect (even if it means traipsing through the trash)...and pancakes are perfectly suitable for dinner.
