Full moon, 'Unfolding,' food makes the weekend a good trip

Trip to the moon

As the moon waxes and wanes, Charleston just goes wild for the Lunacy Parties at the Voodoo Tiki Bar in West Ashley. For each full moon, the bar turns on the black lights and costumed guests line up at the door ready to get in touch with their wild side.

On Wednesday, John Pundt launched a successful bout of communal body painting, to the beats of D-rock, DJ Shaft, and Rocky Horror. Miss Hoopstress Kacey, of Homespun Hoops, stunned with her LED hula hoop magic, and the guys from Charleston Capoeira took to the full moon air. Costumes are encouraged and clothing is optional.

Fashion forward

On Saturday night, the tents went up at the Eye Level Art warehouse to welcome Unfolding. Curated by artist/designer Adrienne Antonson, 15 local designers used the space to explore the evolution and the curiosities of fashion.

The event encouraged guests to show up in their most creative ensembles and, in return, unraveled layers of creative works from Charleston's very own stylemakers.

Unconventional in the display, designs hung from the ceiling or wrapped around motionless models, rather than observed from a runway. To add to the magical aura, petite Beth Coiner, frocked in designer Haley Spees' layers of lace, performed an interpretive dance with silhouette shadows. The event was reminiscent of playing in an extraordinary life-size, whimsical dollhouse of exquisite taste.

Taste-tripping party

On Sunday, I taste-tripped. And no, this has nothing to do with drugs. It was actually a Guerrilla Cuisine event. Once all the guests showed up at the top secret location and were seated for dinner, organizer and chef Jimihatt pulled out his stash of pills made from the Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum).

Curious participants let the sour red pill dissolve over their tastebuds. Afterward, it was time to fill the dinner plates with heaps of amazing food and fruits and candies. I took a sip of wine and was instantly clued that I was about to experience a wild Harry Potter meets "Alice in Wonderland" culinary taste trip.

An enzyme in the fruit binds to your tastebuds causing sour foods to taste extremely sweet! Suddenly, my California sauvignon transformed into a riesling, lemons tasted like popsicles, the coffee coated dried plums melted in my mouth like a candy bar!

With only two hours to taste-trip, we laughed so hard eating off each other's plates and sharing all of our drinks and piquant adventures.