Our beloved friends, Chioke and Taruan (aka – the best looking people on the planet) hosted the coolest party on Sunday.  They let all their friends vote on their favorite movies from the 80s and then chose four for us to watch.  They listed the movie times so everyone could come and go when their faves were on.  This was the schedule:

1pm – Weird Science

3pm – Coming To America

5pm – Heathers

7pm – Labyrinth

It was so much fun.  Chioke rented a popcorn machine, and set up bbq nachos, cookies and beer for us to enjoy. But you know what, these guys are so much fun we could have had just as great a time in the middle of a field sitting on hay bales.

But for a food lover like myself, the greatest surprise came in the form of the Magic Berries, a cool little berry that alters one’s taste buds to make sour things taste sweet. There have been “taste tripping parties” all over the world since their discovery and although I had read about them, I had never had the opportunity to try one.

Until Sunday.

Chioke and Taruan ordered a bundle for us to try at the movie party. There were all kinds of foods set out for us to sample after we ate the berry. You sort of let the berry melt in your mouth so that your tongue is coated with the juices and then you try some sour foods. First up – lemons.

The lemons tasted like the freshest lemonade I had ever tried. It was so exciting. The sour edge was taken out. It still tastes like a lemon, but more like a lemon candy.

Then we tried grapefruit. I am not a grapefruit fan, but this was really good. Sweet and juicy, with none of the bitter aftertaste.

There was balsamic vinegar that disguised itself as maple syrup and jalapeño peppers that seemed as if they had been coated in sugar.

A taste trip, indeed.

Here are a couple of photos of our friends Jay and Val trying the berries and Val sampling the lemon afterward.

I thought this was the greatest idea for a party – ever. You could take 20 people who had never met, let them try the berry and tastings together and you would wind up with a room of 20 new friends.

And just in case you were wondering – no, these berries are not illegal and no, they do not alter your consciousness – just your taste buds. The effect lasts from 15 minutes to 1.5 hours. In my case, I would say I was closer to the 15 minute mark. That was plenty of time to enjoy all the non-sour fun!

After taste tripping on magic berries, I plopped onto Chioke and Taruan’s very comfy couch and watched Weird Science followed by Coming To America…four hours of being a couch potato. After the second movie, the party started to fill up, so we decided to give up our seats, go home to our own couch and plop down there with our dogs.

It was a magical day!

Special thanks to our darlings Chioke and Taruan for taking a day of watching videos and turning it into a happening. As always.

xoxo, Patti