This weekend I saw Hail, Caesar! — a movie whose stellar cast includes George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and many other notable actors, including Fred Melamed. Fred was 76th interview for Dining With Strangers, and a very interesting fellow. The movie is set in 1950s Hollywood and follows the…
Interview 84: Tales From The Town Crier
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Listen to the tale of Michael Wood! He’s an award-winning town crier, keeping that ancient tradition of public proclamations alive. He’s traveled across England — and even to Hollywood, California — to share his unique art, as he told me during a dinner interview late last month….
Looking Back On 2015
With another year almost over, here’s a look back at the strangers I met in 2015. For the second year in a row I managed to adhere to my self-imposed goal of meeting at least one stranger for a meal every month. This year also marked the first time that…
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Back in England for Christmas and mostly relaxing rather than meeting strangers for dinner — although I tentatively have one last dinner for 2015 coming up next week. In the meantime, here’s a festive throwback Tuesday to that time in December 2011 when I met Ed Downey for a meal…
Interview 83: Cycling Through America
Ines Verbeke is cycling through America. She was born in America but raised in Belgium, and long yearned to explore her country of birth. Taking a break from her career, she’s finally getting to see the States. Earlier this year, she flew across the Atlantic with a vague plan of…
Margarita’s Merry Christmas
This festive post is really a nostalgic throwback Tuesday in disguise, but ssssh. To get you in the holiday spirit, here’s a reminder of that time in 2009 I spent sipping wine and singing Christmas carols with Cuban singing sensation Margarita Pracatan. We met at her apartment in Manhattan, and…
Give My Love To Hull
Hull, England, is a place where I spent many years of my life — and now former dining stranger Lorraine Bowen has written a song about the city. Although I’ve lived in Washington, DC, for 11 years now and counting, I spent my (rather plump) childhood and teenage years —…
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
A brief update on Michael Hitchcock, the 65th dining stranger. Michael, a well-known actor and writer (including work for the television show Glee and several Christopher Guest movies such as Best In Show) is now a co-executive producer and writer on the CW comedy series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I met Michael…
Interview 82: The Swiss Ambassador
Martin Dahinden is the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States. He’s also the 83rd stranger to dine with me for this site. His staff at the Swiss Embassy were incredibly generous to arrange an evening meal last week for Martin and me, taking place at the gorgeous Swiss Residence…
In Transit
There’s an interesting new site launched called In Transit, in which blogger Evy approaches random strangers while traveling and asks them for their life story. As described on her “About The Blog” page, In Transit “explores the stories and lives of people who are waiting in areas of transit. Why…