European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 28, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 2007 stars and stripes Page 25 youre invited americans Host sunday dinners in Paris by Carol Pucci the Seattle times its sunday and in Homes All Over people Are sitting Down to sharing Good wine and Lively  it be fun to score an invitation maybe discover a new neighbourhood and see what its like inside those old buildings with the big wooden doors better Why not just invite yourself two american South Erners living in Paris Welcome you to do just at with a scraggly mus tache and Reading glasses pushed Down Over his Jim Haynes looks More like a College professor on his Day off than a Man preparing to Host 60 people for dinner the next but Hes had a lot of a Louisiana native retired from teaching at the University of Hes been hosting Sun Day dinner for 30 years in his apartment in the left Bank neigh boyhood of Alesia for anyone who wants to teachers and friends of friends from around the most of whom have never mingle Over a standup meal in a Kitch atelier no bigger than some living All anyone has to do is go to his web site com and Click on sunday Din then Call or email him for a Short notice is the first 50 Are often his cellphone rings and he four people what Are their names Haynes scribbles Laura from Romania on a scrap of the phone rings two from you know the door across Atlanta native Patricia Laplant Ecollins browses the Street Market stalls Patricia Laplante Collins shops the Market stalls on Rue Montor Gueirl near her right Bank Home in the Paris garment go Jim Haynes left Bank 83 Rue de la Tombe Issoire in the 14th District of becomes a Salon for dinner every sunday at 8 see com for reservation or phone 01 4327 donation is 25 includes Patricia Laplante Collins hosts Paris soirees at 13 Rue de Mulhouse in the second sunday dinners Start with a cocktail hour at donation is 20 euros she also hosts wednesday cocktail gatherings and a saturday singles both 15 euros see to make a or phone 01 act on the Rue she gathers an armful of Leeks and decides that a Gratin will be on the menu for the sunday soirees she hosts weekly on the third floor of her right Bank apart ment in the garment District of Laplant Ecollins came to Paris 23 years ago As a student at the inspired by expatriate american women such As Gertrude Stein and Nathalie who opened their Homes As gathering places in the she organized african Ameri can themed literary salons in the those evolved into weekly sunday gatherings focused on topics ranging from Art to Strolo she asks for a donation of 20 euros about for the which include a cocktail hour followed by introductions and a program with an English speak ing often an artist or Haynes hosts As Many As 150 in summer when theres extra room outside in the Laplant Ecollins soirees Are More usually about 2025 she loves to he Doest but has friends who she uses he uses plastic Glass the foods Good at both place the wine and most everyone Speaks Chez Jim or Chez you both dish up american hospitality with a French and if youre in Paris on a youre Haynes front door opens onto the Kitchen from a hallway on the first floor of a Century old build ing meant to House studios for the space by the stairwell doubles As a bar on and the neighbors dont mind the in Madame in her sometimes comes Over to help chop onions or As the first of the expected 64 guests Start arriving at about 8 Haynes sits on a Stool and checks names off a list with a Pink magic no one has name so he shouts out Intro put your stuff Down and Start Haynes Calls to no one in Hes very Good at getting people to says Peter Wai who works for a Cable Elevi Sion company in Amsterdam and comes to the dinner whenever Hes in Haynes is a Man who packs much into he was stationed with the air Force in Edin where he founded an alternative theater company and paperback he moved to in the he helped Start a news paper in Amsterdam dedicated to sexual and travelled to hungry and Romania to write travel act photos Jim who has been throwing sunday dinner parties in Paris for three greets a the dinners began after he settled in Paris 35 years ago to teach courses in Media studies and sexual a House guest offered to Cook for Haynes friends to repay him for his Hospi Twentyfive it was the Best meal of my he and the soirees became a regular helpers serve starting with the then the main course and Haynes estimates Hes hosted More than people Over the most of whom he never met until they knocked on his the number of love apart ments that have come out of these i cant count married he lives but Only rarely is he without a House guest or he travels and but connect ing people is what he does Best and seems to enjoy eight years Patricia Laplant Ecollins founded Paris soirees and began opening her Home for with the goal of exploring new ways for expat americans to helping out in her cubbyhole of a Kitchen the Day i arrive is Robert Jonathan a chef who once cooked at Seattle space Hes making a persian eggplant dish and a cold spinach dip to go with the Leek Gratin and bowls of red Beans and Frost sets appetizers on the Coffee table As looking relaxed in pants and a lace tonight were having a kind of free flowing she guests help them selves to wine and Settle into chairs and sofas in a Large living room with tall windows and wooden Well add stuff As we go along until people Arent hungry any and then Well have Des the night i i met a Boeing executive who works in an american travel a parisian a French film maker and an Indian pharmaceutical Laplant Ecollins recalls that As a she overheard her friends sister talking about How she spent her Junior year abroad wandering through the latin Quarter and going to i was so fascinated by what she had to i said to Ive got to do she went to worked As an a married a French Man and made Paris her now in her late she seems to have settled when i first it was very hard to meet she explains to the it still someone that of unless its sunday and youre having dinner Chez Patricia or Chez