Dining With Strangers

This morning I woke up and had no clue what I was going to do today or what I would even eat for dinner. Since most stores are closed on Sunday’s and all I have is an apple left for my lunch, I didn’t really know what I would do. I remembered that of course it was Sunday! And that one of the things on my list was to go to Jim Haynes house for dinner. It was recommended in my guidebook as one of the things to do, especially when traveling alone. Mr. Haynes has been hosting Sunday dinner for the past 30 years at his beautiful apartment in lower Paris. It’s called Dining With Strangers...naturally. And that’s exactly what it is. Every week is a different kind of meal whether it’s lasagna, Chinese, pasta, French, pretty much anything, made by a volunteer chef.
At first it seemed extremely odd that some guy would just have dinner at his house, almost free, it’s suggested to make a donation in which he donates to charity. Yet at the same time it seemed so incredibly awesome that this guy would host dinner every single week for people he didn’t even know...it seemed too good to be true. I had no idea what to expect, or what to even think about it, so I was on my way to this dinner with high hopes and an open mind. Of course I had my directions and map, but at some point I thought I went too far or in the wrong direction. I was looking at my map and overheard a family trying to find the same street and I asked them if they happened to be attending the dinner as well. It turns out that they were lost too but we were able to find the apartment. This lovely family was from California and Hawaii and all of them were just the sweetest people I have come across thus far, I wish them the best of travels :)
We got there right at 8 which was perfect timing because dinner had just begun. I grabbed myself a glass of white wine and a plate of a little salad and the first garlic bread I’ve had in forever, and the main course was in the words of the chef, “more like a shepherds pie but technically it’s called a lasagna because that’s what Jim wanted me to cook tonight.” Whatever you want to call it, it was incredibly delicious. While munching on this wonderful dinner, I was able to get to know this kind family along with several other strangers from all over, like a salesman from Miami, a kind ecologist from Marseille, and the barely 20 year old chef from Michigan who cooked the entire meal for some 60 people. And for dessert we had vanilla ice cream with raspberries. Ah, simply mouth watering. And to dine in such kind company was the perfect way to end a Sunday evening. Dining with strangers has been kind of the norm during this trip so it wasn’t too different this time around, but this particular experience in itself was simply worth it.
I’m thinking next Sunday for my last night in Paris, to enjoy a filling meal with some random good company would be the perfect to end my time in France. The chef even promised to make my favorite meal of spaghetti and maybe some meatballs, which isn’t the most French meal, but hey...it beats the frozen vegetables I’d be eating in the hostel.
Thank you, Jim Haynes for a wonderful meal and a beautiful place to enjoy meeting people from all over the world. I only wish I could stay in Paris and have the opportunity to be a part of this kind of meal every Sunday.

http://www.jim-haynes.com/index.htm