The call of the kitchen

Once back in the Abbey I headed straight for the kitchen. The smells coming towards me were beyond imagination. I pushed open the huge carved door into the kitchen and was bombarded with the sounds of laughter and many voices . It looked like a party was going on. I started to back out as I did not want to intrude on all the excitement but the Enhanteur saw me and came rushing over. "Come, come," "Now we all are here"…" she called. The delicious smells drifting through the Abbey were like the gong in the chapel, calling everyone into the kitchen. Falcon was in the kitchen stirring a huge pot of the source of those delicious aromas and Lois was passing out a huge platter of pasties. Each crescent was golden brown and inviting. I hurried over and picked up a plate and squeezed in between Gail and Chameleon at the long plank table. The conversations that swirled around me were stimulating and just what I needed after so many miles alone, but right at the moment the pastie were dominating my thoughts. They stirred up many buried memories from the past. My husband was raised on pasties and soups in the frigid mining community in Northern Wisconsin. My mother-in-law taught me how to make them when I was just 19, exactly as Lois had made them. Pasties were my husbands favorite meal and were made exactly as Lois had made these. Only thing is family always put ketchup on them. Anyone have any ketchup?