Huib groaned when the alarm clock went off. Last night they had set it half an hour earlier because of the earlier breakfast. "Owww, what are we getting into?" he wailed.

Margreet turned to him with a sleepy face, to which Huib took a very different tone, "Good morning sweet beauty! You look so wonderfully relaxed!"

"Sleepy, you mean surely?" asked Margreet, snuggling up against him.

"No dear, as much as I'd love to, but at this time of day we unfortunately have something else to do."

Totally opposite to his words, Huib pulled her tightly against him. "How wonderful it was last night. You know what to do!"

"Hmm, I just did what you regularly do with me: explore your whole skin. And since that seems to be the largest organ of our body, that was a huge job. That's why I'm still such a dull bunny now... But you're right, it was great. I loved seeing how your body responded to my hands! And now get out young man, we are expected at the table in a moment!"

.

By the time they finished their breakfast, they heard both vans of workers arriving.

"How many men have you actually engaged?" asked Huib.

"Six, they work three by three and I will step in where help is needed. And when they're done at your place, the other crew will continue at Sjaak and Lisa's, maybe with help of some other workers."

"That's not too bad," thought Lisa, "I had expected many more to come and was wondering how you were going to deal with the coffee and lunch. But six more will do. Should we get some more chairs?"

"There are still some of those folding ones in the barn next door, I'll fetch them right away." Huib got up and walked through the back door to the barn.

With four folding chairs he came back. "That way we have some extra for unexpected guests, too."

He placed them against the wall and sat down next to Margreet for a while. "What are you going to do like this? You can't go into the guest rooms yet, I suppose, they don't have breakfast until the usual time."

"I had wanted to go back home before that half hour, but now I'm wondering if we can already do something for dinner or lunch." At her last words, Margreet looked questioningly at Annerieke.

"Today I only wanted to do bread for lunch, otherwise the construction workers will expect to get something special every day. Then tomorrow we'll do a salad with it. We can already wash and cut the vegetables for tonight, then we have more time for ourselves this afternoon. Oh guys, coffee time and lunch time are also moved forward half an hour. Our afternoon will be a little longer then, but we'll get through that!"

"Well yeah," said Sjaak, "we'll survive that. What do you want to do, Lisa?"

"I'd like to help out here too, can I, Mom?"

Annerieke's face folded into a broad smile, "Gladly Lisa, cozy!"

"Shall we walk with Simon then, Sjaak? Then we can see what kind of meat we have in the tub with those tough guys!" Huib and Sjaak grinned at each other and at Simon.

"Tough guys, they sure are. Hard workers too, I know them inside out! Good idea of you to walk with them, then you can get acquainted with those who are going to disturb your peace the coming period!"

.

When the men had left the kitchen, Annerieke thought it best to first prepare breakfast for the guests. Then she showed the young women how to make a marinade for the chicken filet. Annerieke then cut the chicken breast into strips and stirred them into the marinade. Lisa asked her why she had cut the chicken breast into strips. "Because as strips they absorb more of the marinade. And then they become tastier, I think... I'll put them in two large baking dishes later, then bake them in the oven in a very small layer of the marinade. The rest of the marinade I use to make gravy. I've had good experiences with that."

"Fun," thought Lisa, "I've never prepared chicken breast like that before. I wonder how it will taste!"

Margreet and Lisa began to cut the leeks. "I never really liked leeks before," Margreet told them, "but I see a couple of cans of corn in there. Are you going to wok those through it, Annerieke?"

"Yes, and also these red bell bell peppers. Those are just nice for the color, but they taste good through them too."

"Where do you get these recipes, Annerieke? From the Internet?" wanted Lisa to know.

"Some do, but lately I've been trying to just taste in my mind how things taste together. That's working fine so far! Tonight we're first going to put the leeks and bell bell pepper pieces in the two woks, and at the end we'll add the corn kernels to warm them up. And while I'm telling you that, I'm thinking I won't make a separate gravy at all, but I'll put the marinade through the vegetables."

"And what else are you going to add? Potatoes?" asked Margreet.

"Yes, I was going to do that, boiled potatoes, but... That’s special," Annerieke thought, "normally I have the menu in my head and execute it that way. I rarely change anything. But now that we're talking about it, it's like new doors are opening. Would it be nice to add baked potato cubes?"

"That seems delicious! How many potatoes do we need for that?"

Annerieke handed her a five-kilo bag of firm-boiling potatoes.

"That many?" asked Lisa in bewilderment.

Annerieke laughed, "Yes, but not just for tonight. What's left over, I'll use tomorrow in the salad for lunch. Ideal, that gives a salad just a bit more firmness, and those construction workers can use that!"

"By the way, do they bring their own bread? Or do they eat from here?" asked Margreet.

"They get from here, but besides that they probably take their own. Those guests like to eat something in between. With the coffee I will cut thick slices of gingerbread, and I will spread a lot of butter on them. Look how quickly that goes through!"

Margreet nodded thoughtfully: "Then I guess I'll have to start on my wraparound skirts today. If the baby doesn't make me fat, then the gingerbread and the hearty salad will!" She smiled cheerfully at Annerieke.

"Don't worry about it," Annerieke advised, "the more we heal emotionally, the more our eating habits and our bodies also heal and we can just enjoy food and more easily determine how much we want to take. Honestly, that makes a difference!"

"Not crazy," Margreet thought, as she drained the sliced and washed leeks in a colander, scooped them into bowls a moment later and set them on the dining table.

"Shouldn't they be in the refrigerator?" wondered Lisa.

"No way, not vegetables like that, they don't spoil in half a day. But when we've cut the bell bell paprika’s and put them on the leeks, we'll put a glass cutting board over them so they don't dry out."

Lisa looked surprised, "A glass cutting board...I used to do plastic wrap all the time. How I fiddled with that stuff, it rarely wanted what I wanted! A cutting board is much easier, if you have the space for it."

 "Plenty of space here!" thought Margreet.

"How many of those cutting boards do you have?" asked Lisa.

"I think about eight, just because I find it so handy to put them over bowls. And for cutting, of course. And I find them ideal to clean."

"Eight cutting boards? Comical!" Lisa laughed and proceeded to peel the potatoes. Margreet took the peppers, cut them open, removed the seeds and cut them into small pieces, which she divided among the bowls of leeks. Then she placed on top the glass cutting boards that Annerieke had already grabbed for her. She took a peeler out of the drawer to help Lisa with the potatoes.

Meanwhile, Annerieke had also finished the chicken breast and walked to the dining room to see if anything needed to be replenished there. In the past she had felt that she should have a chat with all the guests, but she had noticed that most of them preferred to have breakfast in peace. Therefore, she kept it simple, greeted with a nod and checked the buffet table.

Marcel came up to her: "Good morning Annerieke, what you have prepared for us is delicious again. And I heard that the construction workers have already arrived. Do you think I can go and have a look around there later?"

Annerieke laughed, "Of course Marcel, as long as you make sure you stay safe, don't get any heavy things on your head and so on. It's a construction site huh..."

Marcel nodded and chuckled, "Oh yes, I certainly will."

Annerieke turned to the guests, "May I have your attention for a moment? The renovation of two houses at the back of the estate started this morning. You are welcome to walk past them, but please be careful not to get hurt."

Then she turned and went back to the kitchen, where she took over peeling and cutting potatoes from her girls so they could get to work in the guest rooms.

To chapter 184. Meeting the construction workers

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