My Posh idiot (BOOK 2)

6💞

Iman Harriott ~

"Two days down, 8 left to go..." I whistled, as I saw Alistair approaching my way

"Good morning to you too Harriott..."

"So we're back to being that comfortable again?" I questioned

"I mean, if you want me to continue, we can make that happen..." Alistair looked over at me, cunningly as one of his eyebrows arched

"I think the fuck not" I stopped him right there

"well maybe start appreciating my presence a bit more and we won't have to go back to surname-calling..."

"That's a bit rich coming from you, don't you think?" I questioned

Alistair sighed heavily at my statement, as he stopped walking, making me follow pursuit, to see what the matter was.

"Iman-" he paused "- If you don't want me to continue being your co-host for the next eight days, just let me know and I'll step away" I twisted my head in bewilderment at the bold statement Alistair threw at me

"You don't need to do all of that-"

"Are you sure Iman?" Alistair asked "- we had a conversation after airing and I thought everything between us was clear, but something is still troubling you"

"Nothing is troubling me, Alistair, it's just taking me some time to get used to your presence," I told him

"My presence or my presence at your workplace?" Alistair smirked "...Because you had no issue with my 'presence' at the baby shower..."

"We hadn't seen each other in ten years, Alistair. The two of us talking again was bound to happen, I just never expected to be working with you again...it feels like a Deja vu kind of moment again. Do you get what I'm saying"

"I completely understand what you are saying Iman, but I'll promise you now, it won't feel like that again..." Alistair looked me dead in my eyes, so I knew he meant what he said

"I believe you"

"You better-" Alistair chuckled "- but on a serious note, if anything is bothering you, please let me know"

"Don't worry, I'll start to appreciate your presence at work a bit more"

"A bit more? You mean a whole lot"

"Nah I said what I said, Ryle"

***

"So what will you be cooking for us today Iman?" Alistair asked me, as I guided him towards the mini kitchen area that had been placed on set during the break

"So today in my kitchen, I've got the ingredients for an ackee and saltfish dumpling sandwich. For me, it's not only a great quick meal to eat for breakfast, brunch/lunch or as a snack, but a staple national dish in Jamaica that I heavily grew up on..." I started educating the audience on what exactly I'd be making and what the meal could go with.

Alistair took off his blazer, as I passed him an apron to wear. This segment was going to be only me cooking, while Alistair and the audience watched, but I decided to change at the last minute that Alistair will be cooking with me also. I did this as I thought back to what Alistair had told me earlier on. I really started thinking to myself if I was still hurt by the situation or if was I just being petty. It was pettiness and I believe that allowing Alistair to assist me in today's segment, will show that I appreciate his presence.

I do have all right to be the way I am, but he's apologised for it and whatever grudge I'm feeling, I should just let it go. Plus he gave me the chance to walk away. If I was that bothered I would've told the producers no.

"So the first thing that we're going to do is wash the bacalao fish warm water, then set the fish is boil for ten minutes-" I started "-Usually I prefer to leave the fish to soak overnight. Either way it's still doing the job in getting rid of the excess salt of the fish"

While I did that, Alistair brought the water to boil.

"After that's done, we get the fork to drain the water from the fish and flake..." I explained the next step, as I gave Alistair a fork, watching him drain the fish and fork into the sink

"We will let the fish sit in the pot, as we go over to the stove to heat the oil in the pan, adding in the onions and seasonings..." I poured in the onions, black pepper, thyme and chopped scotch bonnets as Alistair started to sautéing under the medium heat

"How long do we fry for Iman?" Alistair looked down at me for a brief moment, then back to the pan

"I'd say for about 2-3 minutes- until the onions are soft..." I answered him "You're so focused..." I giggled, watching Alistair with the pan

"In which way?" He looked back at me humoured

"The way you're narrowing your brows together-" I noticed "-Like you're in your own zone with this"

"They don't call me chef Alistair for no reason..." Alistair got cocky

"Oh really now?..." I was sarcastically amused "Now you want to add in the tomatoes and bell peppers and cook for about 10 minutes..." I added in the two other ingredients, as Alistair stirred them gently

"As that is cooking, we'll onto the next part which is making the dumplings-" Alistair followed behind me to the other area of the kitchen island "- So we've got our flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, margarine and water. We're going to combine the two cups of flour, the tablespoon of salt and baking powder and salt into a bowl" I tipped in the ingredients

"Now this is where it gets messy, but we have gloves" Alistair passed me a pair of plastic gloves to wear "You take the 1 table spoon of margarine, rubbing it into the flour, until you get dough like texture"

I added the water into the mixture, showing Alistair what to do, but it looked like he wanted to he wanted to do it with me, so we ended up rubbing the mixture together.

"Like this..." Alistair asked

"Yeah, just like that...oops sorry..." I nervously giggled, as my fingers bumped into his

"No you're alright..."

"It seems like you've got the hang of this, so I'm going to check on the pan" I took my gloves off

I went over to check the pan and I stirred the tomatoes to see if they were breaking down and they were, so I told the audience my next step, which was to add the bacalao fish into the pan. I stirred the flaked fish in the pan for a bit, before attending to see what Alistair was doing.

"Now that the dough is looking how it's supposed to look, we're gonna divide them in flat circles. They can be any shape to be honest, but to achieve the ackee and saltfish sandwich, we're gonna start of by rolling out the dough in circles, then flag them with the palm of our hands. Not too flat though, you still want some shape with the dumplings"

We were able to divide the dough into 8 flag circles. We left them aside, bringing out another set that has already been fried, to show the audience the results of the dumplings. Alistair and I headed back to the pan, as he added in the ackee into the pan.

I went to put a fork into the mixture, for a taste test to see if it was ready and it was "you've got to try some of this before we put them in the dumplings" I stated to Alistair, taking a forkful out of the pan

I looked with anticipating eyes, to see what Alistair thought of the ackee and salt fish, as I gave him the fork to try it.

"This is so good..." Alistair chewed intensively, bring his fork to the pan for another taste

I went to go and grab the cooked dumplings and a knife to cut them in half. I got a spoonful of the ackee and saltfish, placing the mixture on one half of the dumpling, and covering it the top with the other half.

"And there you have it, ackee and saltfish sandwiches..." I showed the audience the final results.