flavor trip!

have you guys heard of flavor tripping? it's where you go to a party specifically to consume a miracle berry, which is an actual berry from West Africa that somehow inhibits your sour and bitter taste bud receptors. then you go wild eating as much sour, bitter, weird and usually unpleasant stuff as you can, since it all tastes freakishly delicious.

there's a group in dc now that hosts these parties at efn lounge, so last friday my friends and i FINALLY LEFT OUR HOUSES (i realize #snowmageddon is at the point of being mocked by now, but it was NO JOKE last week after everyone had been snowed in for a week, especially those of us on above-ground metro stations which didn't open ALL WEEK OMFG) and happily skidded across the icy sidewalks to score some miracle fruit.

except, HAHA, due to the snowpocalypse, the berries had not been able to ship from california. they did, however, provide each of us with three tablets that contained the fruit concentrate and worked the same way, so.. whatever.

you popped that pill onto your tongue and let it dissolve in your mouth, and then went to the buffet to load up on sour treats:

here i've got: kiwi, grapefruit, strawberries, orange, lime, lemon, sour patch kids, sour skittles, sweet tarts, and then soy sauce, mustard, and hot sauce in the cups.

the first thing i popped in my mouth was the lemon. you guys, it was DELICIOUS. when you were a kid, did you ever dunk a lemon wedge in sugar, then suck on the wedge (then redunk once that round of sugar wore off)? it tasted JUST LIKE THAT. except... it was just a straight lemon. same with the lime. i'd never thought strawberries were at all sour before, but under the influence of the miracle fruit, THEY tasted like they were dipped in sugar as well. i guess there is some underlying citrus-y tang to them normally, but now? wiped out. purely sugary.

the skittles, sour patch kids and sweet tarts tasted.. well, they tasted exactly like they normally do. except you know how normally after you chomp down on a sour patch kid, you want to kind of screw up your face a bit? like you get that urge to recoil a bit at the sour part? that part was just.. absent. entirely. i could eat an entire fistful of sour patch kids at once and just chew away, merrily enjoying their flavor.

we also got a guinness, since.. you know. bitter and all. it tasted like freaking chocolate milk. seriously.

guinness!

we went to another bar afterwards so people could get (real) food, and all cracked up as soon as we took our first sip of beer. the stella tasted like candy. my smithwicks had no bitter kick at all. the yeungling tasted FLORAL.

before going, i was pretty skeptical about this stuff actually working. dude: it TOTALLY DOES. you should so go to one of these if you get the chance. (in dc, they've starting having one every other friday! check out their site.) i only used 2 of my 3 pills at the party, so i'm now hoarding the third for.. well, i'm not sure what, actually. i'm thinking maybe i'll buy some strong cheese and a really spicy red wine and go nuts.