Jumping Dinner: The strangers at my table
4 pm: Lollo Rosso, Romana, Chicory: I wash lots of salad, halved cocktail tomatoes, wrapped salmon pieces with Parma ham. Three days ago, I received the e-mail with our dinner route. We were scheduled for the appetizer. We want to serve "three kinds of fish confectionery with summer salad bouquet with mango-chili-dip". The name definitely makes a difference.
6 pm: Table laid, dressing touched, fish seasoned. My girlfriend Vanessa and I are ready - only our guests will not wait. And I'm a little nervous. Funny to cook strangers in your own home.
Vanessa distributes the mango chilli dip
6:20 pm: Meanwhile, everyone is there, the aperitif - Prosecco with strawberries - tastes and we talk nice. Letitia is from Madrid, her cooking partner likes to take pictures and shows on her T-shirt the motto "Beautiful Men and World Peace". You can only support that. The second team Nils and Nina sit at the table. They did not know each other before. If you register individually, you will be assigned a cooking partner.
6:45 pm: High time for first gear. We roast salmon, pangasius fillets and king prawns. Beautiful drape on the salad, sprinkle cress and dill on it, then served. We drink white wine and talk about the proud Spaniards, the search for accommodation in Hamburg and the scrapwebs at Christmas. Luckily there are no breaks.
7.30 pm: Apparently it tasted: The plates are empty and we are relieved. The starter is already done. The others want to go slowly, they are right on the main course. There is not much time to clean up. Between us and the second gear are still 20 minutes ride on the subway.
| On the next page: The second gear |
It tasted: Julia (right) with new jumping dinner acquaintances
8:20 pm: Shit, we are too late. According to the plan, we should now eat the main course at Peer. Instead, Vanessa and I face a woman who looks at us skeptically. "Hello, we want to Jumping Dinner." - "Yes, but certainly not with me!" We were wrong in the house number and rang the wrong ones. Embarrassing.
20.40 clock: The other guests are already sitting at the table. Narrow, but cozy it is in Peers kitchen. There are pasta with two kinds of sauces. "A men's sauce and a woman's sauce," explain the hosts, Bolognese for the gentlemen and shrimp for the ladies, but you can also eat across the board if you want.
Cat Evil was very good.
21.15: I'll take another sip of rosé wine. The food is delicious, the entertainment but not very light fare: We talk about beatings teenagers, Eva Hermann and Nazi comparisons. Interesting. But also weird to talk to people you've just met. Peer's cat Evil strokes our legs. The others at the table have often participated in the Jumping Dinner. Because they want to meet new people. Curious are on foreign apartments. And of course, because they like to cook.
22 O `clock: We have to go on again. Especially a lot of time is not to get to know. But finally a dessert is waiting for us.
| On the next page: The dessert |
10:30 pm: We ring at Yuri. He is Mexican, has lived in Germany for seven years and has a pretty chic flat. His cooking partner Manuela has come especially for the dinner from Oldenburg.
23 o'clock: Dessert is a dream: Manuela conjured Tiramisù and Yuri homemade vanilla ice cream - according to his brother's recipe. Actually, I'm pretty full. But that does not count now.
00:15: It's getting late. Yuri talks about his business trips to Moscow and Shanghai. There he ate fried duck tongue and rotten eggs. Luckily we are done with the food.
00.30 clock: Let's go to the last station - the "Come Together" in a pub. Here all participants meet. Yuri donates a mojito, I chat with Nina from the appetizer and Achim from the main course. Meanwhile, a list of e-mail addresses goes around. If you like, you can make an appointment again. Everyone else just had a fun evening.
You have to know that:
Jumping Dinner takes place every two weeks Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Stuttgart instead of. Participation costs 26 euros per person.
The process is always the same: The participants register as a team of two or get a team partner affiliated. Each team is responsible for one course of a three-course meal. Each course is served in a different apartment, so that each is once host and twice guest. At each course other guests sit at the table After the meal, you made twelve new acquaintances. After the dinner there will be a "Come Together" where all participants meet.
Further information and all dates can be found >> here.
