In the past a few singles showed up, like when I hosted Persian night. Not sure, but they possibly came with expectations of a kind of sophisticated hippie food-in, and those have not returned. A few other singles who found Linda's original post on Chowhound have RSVP'd to the positive and then bailed at the last minute.
Last night's theme was Anything French. Our hostess served salmon rillettes with aperitifs of Lillet with citrus rind and Pastis--and this was great because it wasn't about just eating French food but understanding and participating in French customs. One couple brought a lovely quiche that was served here, too. Then I served the first course, which was a five-layer vegetable terrine with shallot and herb vinaigrette and a pastry-wrapped foie gras stuffed mushroom. The temporary bachelor, a former Brit, followed with hot pan-seared shrimp with garlic on a provencal tomato and black olive compote--he went all the way to Pike's Place in Seattle for fabulously briney large fresh shrimp of a quality we can't get here in Bellingham, and he insisted that we enjoy a good red Vacqueyras with this. (I just loved that he had a point of view and thought in terms of pairing.) Then the host served expertly made chicken ballontines with a petatou (stacked potato and olive mixture topped with goat cheese) made by another couple and roasted beets made by a third, plus a carrot/caper/olive combination. Although no one said, "let's only have French wines", everyone brought only French wines which was great--this group did not start out to be wine-oriented, but it's working out that those who have stayed in share that pleasure.) For dessert, the couple who brought the patantous served the best tarte tatin I've ever had made with a pie crust instead of puff pasty, wherein said crust was 50% butter with a marvelous crunchy-yet-tender texture and the apples were only lightly sweetened. I would never want it any other way again. Following that, a Pineau de Charentes (sp?), an excellent and rather rare style of sweet, oxidative wine was served.
The temporary bachelor, faced with eight strangers and an unfamiliar protocol still kind of in development, came properly armed with his own pans and felt so comfortable that he wants to host "Indo-Chine" next month.
It has been an interesting exercise in social engineering for this group to find its feet. What Linda, who issued the first invitation, originally imagined was similar to a vegetarian pot luck group that meets here in Bellingham. They keep a master list of 30 to 50 interested people, many of them single, and whoever hosts sets the limit on the number of people they're comfortable with. When the invitaton goes out, the first people who sign up get to go unless they meet in a park so that there's room for everybody, which they do sometimes in summer. (I personally wasn't very interested in that format, it would just be a bunch of casseroles and I see too many of those in my own neighborhood. Plus, I had not yet realized this about myself until thinking about those 30 or 50 people, but it turns out that I just couldn't get excited about the prospect of eating food prepared by a gang of strangers whose personal habits I might not approve of. Plus, I go to way too many potlucks here in my neighborhood.)
But instead of all that, what seems to have happened is that the original three couples all found right off that 1) we're all well above average in our cooking knowledge and skills, and 2) we have a diverse and broad range of other interests and we like each other. More bodies, qualified to be there only because they're hungry and can make a good potato salad, won't make a better experience. It's the difference between dinner and dining. So even if it's just the six of us, that would be enough. The additions of couples like the guy who would go all the way to Seattle for perfect shrimp and the other couple, who until recently owned a very europhile-oriented wine store in Mt. Vernon, are a great addition to what we--well, Linda, she deserves all the credit--started. I hope they stay with us: last night's meal was perfect.
Oh, and one more proof-positive of compatibility? Nobody has children; everybody has cats.
Guess that proves how out of the loop I am when it comes to dessert. 
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