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Chapter Twenty
Talia
“Ihave an idea.” I hold up my fork, a light bulb blinking over my head. “I’ll add catering to my business plan and you can work for me. That would also require you to be my personal chef. Once I make my millions, I refuse to suffer through my own mediocre cooking.”
Calista laughs as she plates up another perfectly fried rectangle of tofu. She marinated them, topped them with a sheet of nori—aka seaweed—then deep-fried the entire thing to make something called “tofish.”
I take a bite, shocked when it reminds me of fish. I’ve learned my lesson: don’t knock tofu until someone who can cook well prepares it.
She piles oven fries on the plate in front of me while I take another bite of the tofu “fish” and shake my head in wonderment.
“You’re a genius.”
“You can cook too, Talia. I know it.”
“I’m too busy to cook.”
“That sounds more like you.” She settles in next to me, forcing a scoop of coleslaw onto my plate I was going to ignore in favor of the fries. “I need an honest opinion. Adding an item like this to the menu is going to take a lot of convincing. Julio is resistant to me changing anything.”
“Meanwhile you want to change everything, suggesting you should start your own restaurant.” I chew thoughtfully before saying, “What if you crumble some of the nori into the marinade as well?”
“Yes. Great idea.” She reaches for her little chef’s notebook and scribbles something down. “And a touch more seasoning in the batter. It’s a little bland.”
I take another bite and confirm with a nod. “Not much. But maybe…”
“Tarragon,” we say at the same time.
“Told you you can cook,” she says after writing that down as well.
I hear a knock at my front door and wait for Archer to let himself in. When the knock comes again, I blink at my sister. “Well. That’s unusual.”
“I wouldn’t know. He’s been avoiding me since I arrived.” She sounds offended, and she probably is. Lis likes to have company and likes people to like her. She swore to me earlier she’d take over her best dish and wiggle her way into his good graces. I assured her he likes her just fine, but he’s trying to give Lis and me space.
I open the door to find Vivian. “Hi.”
“Hey, lady. I was in the neighborhood.”
“How are you?” We embrace in a brief hug. I feel closer to her since we had time to hang out at the Owen household. “Come in. You can meet my sister.”
In the kitchen, Calista is on her feet and pulling another plate from the cabinet. I do a quick introduction as she plates Vivian a portion of her latest creation. “I’m recipe testing and I won’t take no for an answer. So far we have confirmed we need more tarragon.”
Vivian takes a bite of tofish and chews, her eyes narrowed. “Wow. This is”—she examines the golden-fried food on her plate—“surprisingly good. I eat tofu with curry, but I never knew you could do something like this with it.”
“Tofu is the ultimate blank canvas. It’s just waiting for a talented artist.” Lis bats her lashes. “I need to convince my dominant male boss it’s worth putting on the menu.”
“You managed to finagle your crepes on the menu,” I remind her.
“Yes, but we already had crepes on the menu. He’s never served anything like this at Mango’s.”
A calculating expression crosses Vivian’s face. “Explain to him that while vegans don’t make up a majority of the population, they are usually dating an omnivore who has to please two different palates. Couples with different preferences are always looking for restaurants both of them can enjoy. Further explain that fish, especially fresh fish, goes bad quickly and can cost a lot of money. Tofu does not. I’d recommend a snazzy menu name paired with a price point deserving of this sort of unique take.”
“I love you,” Lis replies earnestly before turning to me. “I love her.”
Vivian laughs, and Lis grabs her notebook again, presumably to take down Viv’s advice.
“You both have to come to girls’ night. I’m ordering from this posh restaurant in Grand Marin that just opened. Everything is made in-house, from the soups to the salad dressings to the condiments. If you are vegan, I need to know so I can order appropriately.”
“I eat everything,” Lis answers with a wave. “But if you wouldn’t mind ordering some vegan dishes, I’d love to compare notes.”
