A meal with The Quiet Professor

I don't know about y'all but I swear I get hungry every time I read a Betty Neels book. Not that she talks about food overly much but ...hey, we all have to eat and when she tells about a meal she often goes into more details than other authors seem to. Not in describing tastes or anything but just telling exactly what they are eating. And it always sounds soooooo good! Check out this passage from The Quiet Professor  (which I happen to be reading, AGAIN, at the moment):

 "I asked Mrs. Thrumble to pack up an easy meal."

Megan stood in the doorway since there was barely room for them both in the kitchen.

"How kind," she said, not quite sure who was being kind, he for ordering the food or his housekeeper for packing it up.

"If you'd like to sit down I'll unpack it."

He reached past her and put the wine in the fridge and went and sat down with the cat on his knee as she took the lid off the box.

"Heavens this is a comu..." She tried again.

"A corn..."

"Cornucopia, the horn of plenty. Good, I told Mrs. Thrumble that we were sure to be hungry."

There was cold vichyssoise soup in a container, a raised pork pie, jellied chicken, hard-boiled eggs, potato salad, straw potatoes and a salad of tomatoes and apples with a garlic and walnut dressing, each in covered containers, and wrapped in a white napkin an apple pie with a pot of cream beside it. There were little crusty rolls too and a small crock of butter. Megan unpacked everything and laid the food out on plates and dishes.

"When do you want to have supper?" she asked, her mouth watering.

"As soon as it's on the table. Shall we have a drink first?" He came into the kitchen and took a bottle from the fridge.

"It's probably not cold enough, though Thrumble chilled it well."

"Champagne," exclaimed Megan, 'that's for birthdays. "

"Celebrations, too." He smiled at her. "Fetch two glasses, there's a dear girl."

She had no champagne glasses, only the all-purpose wine glasses she had brought from Woolworth's.

"Celebrations?"

"A new job, a new start in a new country there's every reason to drink to that." He eased out the cork, filled their glasses and handed her one. Megan touched his glass and sipped.

"I don't know much about wines but this one tastes lovely."

 He agreed blandly; Bollinger 1985 was an excellent vintage champagne but he had no intention of telling her that. It was enough that she enjoyed it.

 See what I mean?
Btw, it must be nice to tell  your cook/housekeeper that you need a meal to go and they come up with that little feast. Listed below are all of the elements of the meal above. I'm going to find a recipe for each highlighted dish and link it to this page. That way we can all eat like a Betty Neels character!

cold vichyssoise soup in a container,
a raised pork pie,
jellied chicken,
hard-boiled eggs,
potato salad,
straw potatoes and
a salad of tomatoes and apples with
a garlic and walnut dressing, each in covered containers,
and wrapped in a white napkin an apple pie
with a pot of cream beside it.
There were little crusty rolls too and
a small crock of butter.