Shared Tables

(Source: NY Times)

An early summer evening.  A pop-up party.  The Louvre.  The Notre Dame.  10,600 Parisians dressed in white.

Can you imagine something that lovely?

I read about this impromptu "Diner en Blanc" two years ago and started fantasizing about hosting dinner parties of my own, albeit 10 people instead of 10,6000.

One major issue: I couldn't cook (nor plan far enough ahead).  Therefore, entertaining at my apartment in San Francisco typically consisted of lots of red wine with my girlfriends or having an out-of-town guest crash on my couch for a weekend (or weeks on end).

Fast forward two years -- I now live with my boyfriend, Alan, in Singapore, who is both an amazing cook and an amazing host (I'm lucky).  Now, my said dreams of dinners parties have finally come true (it's like Disney World, basically).  

We've had friends over for meals ranging from Momofuku pork shoulder knock-offs to chilaquiles to our version of Bon Mi sandwiches (I broke the blender when turning chicken livers into pate, gross).

It's fun.  It makes me feel like an adult at age 29.  It also makes drinking WAY more affordable (duty free alcohol < Singapore alcohol).

If I were to set another "unattainable" goal for two years time, it'd be a part-time restaurant.

(Source: IKEA Sweden)  

I read this story by Good Magazine last week about a couple in Brooklyn that turns their apartment into a restaurant one Friday every month for 16 to 20 strangers.  

In the chefs' own words:

"There's something about opening up your home for a meal that makes people fast friends;

something people seem to gravitate towards when they're in our house. Maybe that's because we're doing something that's normally reserved for close friends. People offer to help us cook. They ask if they can help do dishes. They stay talking with us hours after the meal is done. Being that friendly and open, especially in a city like New York where people don't usually hang out in their homes, makes people feel welcome."

I love this idea of community and sharing a meal with neighbors -- those people with parallel lives that have yet to intersect.

Therefore, if the same luck continues, send me an email in two years and come to my "part-time" restaurant in May 2015.  It will be a great time, I promise.