Being Cooked For By Friends

On Monday night, only a couple hours after jamming with Rurik, I joined him and Megan for dinner at their place, which she was making. The dinner was a delicious chicken-based pasta dish with beans and garlic bread on the side. Naturally, in addition to eating, we just sat around for a bit and had some drinks over largely heavy conversation, which of course (knowing me) was much appreciated.

The thing that was noteworthy about this evening is that I hadn't really been cooked for by someone that isn't generally known to do that sort of thing (i.e. a roommate, parents, or occasionally a significant other) since I lived in The Netherlands. Even then, that was pretty much the only time it had happened in my life up to that point, including my time in Athens and Bloomington for school. I'm not sure if it's just not as common to cook for friends here in America as it is abroad (I met Megan abroad, by the way), if it's just the type of friends I hang out with (people who generally don't cook meals), or what, but it's certainly true that I don't get asked to dinner a lot here.

That said, perhaps this is a good thing... I mean, I always end up enjoying the food and having a good time, but to be honest, I'm a little too restless to enjoy sitting around in one place for too long, the assumption being that before and after dinner you'll hang out there "relaxing" for awhile. Generally speaking, I prefer to do my socializing at bars and restaurants, and even then, I like to move around if one place is getting stale.

So, perhaps I'm just the odd-man-out when it comes to being cooked for here in the States. I do like the idea of it all, but more in a sort of removed sense of quaint appreciation that someone would want to do something so intimate with me.