Flirting.
It means to show casual interest in something. If you're flirting with that cute bartender, you have a little mini-romance that lasts a few minutes. You meet, the relationship develops, you break up ... all before he puts that gin and tonic on the counter. But ... there's always the possibility of a longer-term romance.
Alicia Silverstone suggests that you can also flirt with a plant-based diet. My friends Jenn, Amanda and I have started a supper club to have little romances with the wonderful recipes in Alicia's book The Kind Diet. (Click here to visit Alicia's website, The Kind Life -- if you've read this blog for awhile, you know that I'm pretty enamored of Alicia's recipes).
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Our hostess, mixing miso.
Why is it kinder to eat a plant-based diet? Well, one reason is that it's better for the earth, and hence for everyone living on it. Jenn, Amanda and I all have long-term commitments to various levels of greener eating (I'm the lightest green, because I eat poultry; Amanda is the greeniest, because she's a vegetarian).
Jenn hosted the first supper club meeting, and she chose "Rice Waffles with Vegetable Melange" for dinner -- except none of us had a waffle maker, so we made pancakes instead.
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Jenn and Amanda pore over the cookbook.
All of us took part in the cooking. I was in charge of the vegetable-chopping; Amanda took control of the pancakes; Jenn directed the whole operation.
We were a little nervous about the pancakes. They were made with whole cooked brown rice, and we weren't sure how they would cook up. After a little trial and error, however, we got beautiful, golden-brown pancakes:
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The vegetable melange included carrots, onions, broccoli, and seitan, which is an alternative protein made with wheat gluten. Seitan is probably my favorite meat substitute; it has a consistency a lot like chicken. In fact, the concept of this dish reminded me of a Southern classic: chicken and waffles. Only this meal was a lot healthier, for us and for the planet. And who doesn't love using the word melange? Melanges are cool.
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The meal turned out to be delicious and innovative. It was wonderful to take a break from work, to cook and share stories with friends. In fact, this was how enjoyable the evening was:
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I promised Jenn and Amanda that I would post this silly picture of myself if they were going to be featured on the blog!
We had such a great time that we're planning to do it again in a couple of weeks.
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