Dinner and a Book Club: The Dating Plan by: Sara Desai

5 stars for this geeky, family-filled romcom with a lot of heart!

Synopsis:

Even with a step-by-step plan, these fake fiancés might accidentally fall for each other in this hilarious, heartfelt romantic comedy from the author of The Marriage Game.

Daisy Patel is a software engineer who understands lists and logic better than bosses and boyfriends. With her life all planned out, and no interest in love, the one thing she can’t give her family is the marriage they expect. Left with few options, she asks her childhood crush to be her decoy fiancé.

Liam Murphy is a venture capitalist with something to prove. When he learns that his inheritance is contingent on being married, he realizes his best friend’s little sister has the perfect solution to his problem. A marriage of convenience will get Daisy’s matchmaking relatives off her back and fulfill the terms of his late grandfather’s will. If only he hadn’t broken her tender teenage heart nine years ago…

Sparks fly when Daisy and Liam go on a series of dates to legitimize their fake relationship. Too late, they realize that very little is convenient about their arrangement. History and chemistry aren’t about to follow the rules of this engagement.

Daisy's aunties are not only involved in every aspect of her and everyone in the family's lives but they are also amazing cooks! Well...besides Taara Auntie, but let's not worry about that. The Dating Plan is not just a cute, sexy, rom-com, it's also a foodie's paradise. I have a notebook that I keep food ideas for each of the books I'm reading. Most of the time I'm writing down specific dishes mentioned by the author. Below is a picture of my notebook while I was reading The Dating Plan.

This isn't even a complete list of what was mentioned! About halfway (maybe less) through the book I was overwhelmed by all the incredible-sounding dishes and I just stopped writing them down. For anyone who has read the book, you'll notice that I hadn't even gotten to the "extra hot pork vindaloo" scene before I put my pen down and just enjoyed the lush food descriptions (again besides Taara Auntie...Shark Stew??).

Creating a "Dinner and a Book Club" menu based on this book would be easy to do. There are countless, incredible-sounding Indian dishes mentioned throughout the story that would not only make for a delicious dinner but would also make for a beautiful table.

Pakora would make a great appetizer! Pakora is a crisp, fried snack made with gram (chickpea/garbanzo bean flour) and lots of spices. It's usually made with vegetables, but it doesn't have to be. You could also have little bowls of pav bhaji, a vegetable curry served with buttery, soft rolls available for guests to snack on before the main dishes. Poppadums and chutney are always a good way to start a meal. Or you could always grab a bag of Liam's favorite snack, Kurkure Masala Crunch, toss it in a bowl, and let your guests enjoy! (I checked, you can buy it online if you want some.)

For the main course, there are endless possibilities! If you are wanting to stay true to the book, you couldn't go wrong with a pork vindaloo, but it might be best to keep it a manageable level of spicy instead of extra spicy. Although I can't handle much heat, if you can...go for it! I'm also a big fan of tikka masala, bhindi bhaji, saag paneer, and biryani, among others. Although if I'm honest, I don't know how traditional some of those dishes are. I need to educate myself better on what is considered traditional Indian cuisine.

Jalebi ice cream sandwiches were one of Daisy's favorite childhood treats (if you look at my notebook paper I wrote falebi because based on the font I couldn't tell if it was a J or an F - thank you Internet search for correcting my mistake). I looked this treat up and it sounds delicious but difficult! If you can't find them anywhere, you can plan your dessert around all the treats Daisy indulges in when she's sad. There's plenty to choose from and besides, by the time you've set out all the other beautiful, delicious dishes, everyone might be too full for dessert! :)

The celebration of this book, for me, happened at an amazing lunch with my mom and two of her friends at Dakshin Indian Bistro (https://www.dakshinohio.com/ - Instagram: @dakshincolumbus). My mom and I were lucky enough to be dining with her friends Stanley and Tracy. Stanley is from India and I felt lucky for the opportunity to ask him the type of dishes he enjoyed not only at the restaurant but in general. I love listening to people talk about food and spices and the memories they conjure. I've never had a meal served like the picture at the top. I learned that it is called Thali. The restaurant's website explains it best: A Typical Indian Thali comprises of a number of dishes and has a little bit of everything -from sides and snacks to mains and dessert, making it a wholesome experience.

The food was amazing and the experience was really fun. I loved how it was presented and that you had little bits of a lot of things. I really want to look for this type of lunch experience again and I hope Dakshin Indian Bistro becomes another restaurant my mom and I go to whenever I visit. It was a relaxing lunch of outstanding food and fantastic company.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Kim