Chez Jim

Not coincidental that this little, old grandpa shares the same name with my sweet grandpa who he reminded me so much of.

Jim Haynes, or Jimmy as his apron boldly stated, hosts Sunday night Soirees in his cute Parisian apartment every week and leaves it open for anyone to come. A simple email reservation with funny directions to his home and a request of 30 euros (more or less) in a recycled envelope grant you access into the coolest dinner party ever. Random guests from all over the world come to sit on his sofas and eat from his invited chefs while striking up conversation with new aquaintances.

My experience last night was just that! I convinced Aubrey and Hannah to go with me despite its description of "an old man who hosts dinners at his house and anyone can go". Had it not been on a food blog that my mom sent the link to, I may have been a bit more skeptical. But it turns out, this man is legitimately famous! For 37 years, Jim has fed over 150,000 people and I was so happy to be one of those people last night.

I met lot's of cool people: Joy the Mechanical Engineering student here on exchange, her friend Julie(?) also an engineering student on exchange, Bill Myskos the nicest man ever who is a 72-year old retired ER Doctor from Baltimore, David the drunk jerk who was somehow defending Mormons and then suddenly bashing on them hard core, David Turner the really old Australian architect/photographer who gets way too close to your face to talk and was hitting on me I think, Matthieu a nice Asian Parisian guy, Katherine a very wonderful lady from England who looked exactly like the actress on Parent Trap who plays their British mum, Simon a French guy, and a lot of other people I briefly encountered while there.

It was so fun! And the food? Oh my word- HEAVENLY. Ya, gluten-free went out the window for the night. I was expecting a mass-serving meal that was on the cheap and simple side. Kinda like a Mormon event dinner. Nope!
We started with delicious tomato soup that was chunky and not the weird creamy stuff that I hate and it had gnochhi (which I passed to Aubrey because of the gluten) and topped with a heap of fresh basil. The main course was salmon and shrimp in an orange glaze-type sauce with two sides of grains. The first was an oatmeal looking grain that was soaked in chicken broth or something which made them puff up and be juicy and yummy and then quinoa or something similar as well. So good! I could have licked the pan clean of that stuff but I was so busy talking and enjoying myself that the eating took a backseat to it all. (Did I really just stay that?) Dessert was a yummy cake topped with glaze and cherry galore! Goodness I might go every week.

Thank you, Jim!