Dinner Swap story from Kathryn
I grew up in a not-so-typical-family. While everybody around was rushing to and fro, my parents were discussing what happened the previous day over a cup of tea. While everyone was twiddling with their Blackberrys, cellphones were a no-no inside the house not only because it was an intrusion to the quietness of the house but because they said it wasn’t very helpful to “real” communication. While everyone was gulping their dinner so fast their digestive system couldn’t keep up with them, my mom was slowly stirring the stew and minding the bread baking in the oven at the same time. We even had time to play Scrabble and read books together (TV during the weekdays was another no-no). When I moved out of the house with the thrilling thought of living independently, I was excited to try new things. I reveled on take out dinners. I slept late watching TV. About two weeks after that, I realized how bland take-out dinners were (for my taste buds anyway) and how noisy the TV can be sometimes. Simply put, I sorely missed home. I told my Dad about it and he wisely advised me on setting up a group with whom I can swap dinners with. I wasn’t sure how to do it so I browsed through the Internet and found out that it wasn’t such a novel idea after all. I decided to make my own group with a couple of new found friends I met in the apartment I was living in. What started out as an experiment for us became a trend in the apartment. Our neighbors eventually started to come to us asking for help on how to do this and that and asked for solutions to their group’s problems. Weary of being accosted even when we were in a hurry, we decided to sell a kit containing tips on how to start, what stores offered discounts for bulk buying nearby and even the shelf life of different foodstuff. A lot of people bought one and we used part of the proceeds to organize a small backyard party for the dinner groups in our area. My friends and I are still amazed at the turn of events. We also learned a lot from the experience. But the biggest benefits for me are having home cooked meals every night and becoming like sisters with my dinner group buddies.
