Roomie Dinner Night

March 16, 2009

When my son Eli was a student on a tight budget sharing an apartment, Tuesday was Roomie Dinner Night.

Each person would take a turn buying and cooking. Eli specialized in barbequed brisket. Nick, who tended toward vegetarianism, would buy fresh vegetables and cook them with pasta. Mike would make whatever was cheapest. "I always made a mess," Eli remembers; "Nick never made enough. Mike was always late."

But years later, what Eli really remembers is the sociability. "We would write off that night; we wouldn’t go out, we wouldn’t study. Instead of socialization being haphazard with the three of us, there was a time we knew where we would sit down and be together."

He remembers out-of-town friends showing up, as well as siblings and girlfriends. "It was a more relaxed atmosphere than going out. First there was the waiting for the meal while it was being cooked; there was the presentation, there was sitting around afterwards, there was dessert.

"Going to a restaurant is always formal, because it's always someone else's place; no one prepares food for everyone else. The waitress comes, she takes your order, you eat, you leave." Who’s to say whether the dinners were cause or effect; but years after the apartment broke up, the three former roommates have remained close.

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