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So Today the NY Times Travel feature was about this new kind of travel accomodations popping up throughout Europe…the “impromptu B & B”, where anyone with an apartment or spare room can turn it into an impromptu B & B for travelers and the cost is pretty much just that of an upscale hostel.

Now this idea would not go over well with my father, a retired detective. He would of course consider his daughter, as a woman, alone, staying in a strangers’ home in a foreign country just an overall bad idea…

BUT!!!! To MY mind…if said foreign country was Paris and said stranger was this 26 year old French chef named Julien pictured above then this says nothing but GOOD GOOD GOOD idea to me!

sign.me.up.

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Dinner with Strangers 3 was held this past weekend at the Design Firm, Chartreuse, which is owned by my friend and dinner guest, Charity Ewanko.  Her patio there is just lovely and worked out perfectly for the intimate dinner.

Just as dinner guests got comfortable and got to know those that were seated near them, I went and made half of them pick up their trays and move to a new seat! hahhaha! It is not called “dinner with the 3 closest strangers that are next to you” so, i wanted to encourage as many connections as possible.

The theme of this dinner was BBQ, so Chef Ryan Santos of PLEASE Catering cooked up a clever take on the traditional concept and I am shocked that I ate pigs feet and declared my love for them, BEFORE knowing what I had just eaten. ( I am still making up for years as a weird finicky eater)

ABOVE: new friends, Justin Gould and the location hostess, Charity Ewanko

The lovely Serena Harrigan of Gray’s Auctioneers, one of my favorite sources of antiques in town.

The next dinner will be August 29, so if you are interested in attending, please join the FB group HERE.

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well, since i lost all my blog posts from the last 3 months, there are no more of my KINDA AWESOMES posts…so alas, we will start anew with things found on the web that i think are…KINDA AWESOME

found via Apartment Therapy and considering i LOVE summer, these are definitely KINDA AWESOME

MAP TO GHOST TOWN (found via here by artist found here)

ghost town meets awesome map meets skull = KINDA AWESOME!

Melvin Poupard - well, um, he’s French and well, lovely to look at, which is just straight up not just KINDA AWESOME!

i think its KINDA AWESOME how this guy is posing in this particularly decorated room under the particularly fussy covers of this particularly fussy bed.  good for him.

found via the selby

This video by my friend Justin Coulter is definitely KINDA AWESOME!!!

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So when I started my day today, I thought the only thing I would be doing before going into work would be helping out Ryan by picking him up where he was dropping his car off to get fixed…turns out immediately following that, I discover that I have my 4th flat tire in 3 months!

SOOOOO, change of plans!  No need to get bummed out, having road side assistance, and pretty much being on a first name basis with them at this point, Ryan and I pretty much decided to turn today into Tuesday Funday or SUPER TUESDAY!!!

Both with broken cars and broken bicycles we decided to explore on foot.  Perfect weather day, only being in the 70’s with a great breeze off the lake, we headed to The Harp for lunch.  See Ryan below using his legs to get him there and me giving the proverbial thumbs up to being comfortably seated yet again:

from there, we walked back to ROOM SERVICE where Jessica was holding the fort down so we decided to set out again on another adventure…this time, an adventure on Cleveland’s RTA bus system.

We picked up the #26, shown below in all of its glory, from the corner of W.65th and Detroit and headed to beautiful downtown Cleveland.

Along the way, I saw these guys and wondered if perhaps we shouldn’t have explored this as an option first:

Once downtown we walked around Euclid Ave and E.4th street for awhile, my favorite part of downtown, where we ran into Adam from Luxe:

After hanging out for a bit, we each got the call that our respective cars were repaired and ready for pick up so we headed back towards the bus, on the way we decided to stop in and check out the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Public Square..Ryan loves Abe, (ask him about his abe tattoo) -his adoration clearly exemplified below:

Below you will find Ryan mocking me by intentionally thwarting my attempt at camera hijinx:

Upon leaving public square, we headed back to meet up with good ol’ #26, where me passed and met Johnny:

While, there are no more pictures past this point, I can say we went on to the Tremont Farmers Market where Ryan put in some orders for our upcoming DINNER WITH STRANGERS!

And now, back home, back to work!

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AGAIN, having lost the last 3 months of blog posts I am attempting to repost some of the more important ones…DINNER WITH STRANGERS is a big part of what I am doing these days, so here is a re-cap of that past post:

DINNER WITH STRANGERS:

DWS Two

So what is DINNER WITH STRANGERS?  Well, it an intimate dinner amongst, well…strangers!  At least theoretically.  Inspired by a DINNER AMONGST STRANGERS that I attended in Paris, hosted by American expat Jim Haynes, pictured below:

This version I co-host alongside my friend and very clever chef, Ryan Santos of Please Catering

HOW IT WORKS:

Ryan comes up with a theme or concept for the dinner and creates a very unique menu inspired by that theme.

And I come up with the decor and table settings around that theme AND I pick the guest list!

I pick 24 people, to keep it intimate, that I do not think know one another, or at least too well…as I do not know who actually knows who it is not fool proof, BUT it’s fun no less!

So each person pays for a 5 course meal and drinks are BYOB. It is held in a different venue each time, with a different set of guests and fresh new menu.

Essentially, it is a networking event, but to my mind, a less formal, more relaxed and intimate one.  As a result of past events, people have made new friends, gotten side work and expanded their own connection to Cleveland.

DWS One

CHECK OUT SOME REVIEWS FROM PAST DINNER WITH STRANGERS ATTENDEES:

CLEVELAND FOODIE

NORTHCOAST ZEITGEIST

SHARK & MINNOW

NORTHCOAST LIFESTYLE

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING ONE OF OUR DINNERS, EMAIL ME:

info@roomservicecleveland.com

JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP HERE

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Well, since I just lost ALL my blog posts of the last nearly 3 months, i am going to put some quicky versions of some of them up again…probably sans all the words…i think the pics are always the best part anyhow!

Here are a few pics of MADE IN THE 216 from set up to the actual event.

It started as an empty shell:

slowly but surely it kinda became a store…

with a little help from super intern Courtney!

tearing the paper off the windows the day of the event was MOST gratifying!!!

lucky enough to have the help of my BFF beth during the entire weekend. xoxo

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Ok. Cleveland summers are amazing. on the list of what is so awesome about Cleveland summers, near the top you will find PATIO’S !!!!  And as far as I am concerned some of the best patio’s in Cleveland are on EAST 4th Street in DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND.

How often do you go downtown?  Do you live in a near west neighborhood and find that you rarely cross the bridge?  Well, this past spring I realized I DID THAT!  I live just over the bridge in the Detroit Shoreway Neighborhood, and had nary a reason to go downtown…like, ever.

Well, that epiphany did not sit well with me, so I immediately started finding reasons to go back downtown and I am once again under its spell.  I switched to a downtown based hairdresser and dentist and let me tell you, enduring the dentist while looking out over downtown and to lake erie from a 15th floor office is almost enjoyable, and the arcade where I now patronize the marengo spa is one of the most stunning buildings I have ever been to anywhere!

And then there is E.4th Street…with the charming overhead stringed lights, world-class restaurants and sights and sounds of live music and entertainment, it really does cast a spell, particularly this time of year.

I have been going back several times a week for dinner and/or drinks, because it feels just that good to spend time downtown.

So on Thursdays E.4th street is hosting PATIO PARTIES with vendors and music joining the roster of great restaurants, bars and entertainment.  And since, I cannot miss an opportunity to spend more time on this street ROOM SERVICE will be setting up there EVERY THURSDAY this summer between 5-8.  It is really fun, come visit, hang out, get a drink get some dinner!

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I just accidently DELTED the last TWO MONTHS of blog posts off this blog !!  who does that?  how can i get them back?  oh man, well…

Dear visitors,

Please stop back and check for new posts, I had many many posts on here since this last one, but am apparently a spaz and presses buttons before reading what i am doing and then next thing you know, I have lost them all!

I will do my best to update and keep this current moving forward.  I apologize for being a big dummy

xoxooxo

Danielle

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