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The fully clothed chef

16th July 2009 by Helena 6 Comments  

There are many reasons to have children. They make you laugh, they love you, you love them, they might look after you one day when you’re old and incapacitated and they are generally jolly lovely to have around.

But one reason not to have them is their ability to embarrass you. When my BF Iona was here a few weeks ago we went for lunch at the Shangri-La hotel. At one point I spotted the chef. “He’s cute,” I said to Iona. Unfortunately Olivia overheard me.
“The chef taught us cooking today,” she told me a few days later as I collected her from the Shangri-La summer camp. “I told him you thought he was cute. He wants to meet you.”

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Of course I ignored her and thought no more of it. After all I would never see him again.

Or so I thought….this afternoon I show up to interview a kitchen artist (basically someone who makes food look nice) who works at the Shangri-La. And there is the chef. No matter I think, after I get over my initial shock. He doesn’t know who I am after all.

At the end of the interview a friend shows up with Leo.The chef looks at Leo, then at me.

“I know you, don’t I?” he says to Leo. “Is this your mum?” I can almost hear his brain adding things up. Leo nods.

The he looks at me. “And I know your sisters too….”

Busted….I make my excuses and leave.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: Children, Life, blog --> Tagged With: clothed, fully

6 thoughts on The fully clothed chef

  • Elisabeth Loesch says:
    16th July 2009 at 4:39 pm

    Very good premise for a romantic comedy! With built-in subtext, en plus! Sometimes life is better than fiction. Was he as good-looking as the man on the picture?

  • helena says:
    16th July 2009 at 4:50 pm

    Sadly not….and due to modesty police I have taken him down! Looking for a suitable replacement.
    Hx

  • helena says:
    16th July 2009 at 4:55 pm

    I actually found one of him!
    Hx

  • mimi says:
    18th July 2009 at 1:52 am

    Well, you’re right, he is cute.

  • jo says:
    20th July 2009 at 12:23 pm

    I reallllly hope he doesn’t discover your blog! Way embarrassing! (But cute, yes) 🙂

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    28th March 2010 at 6:16 pm

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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