When Things Don’t Go According to Plan

There were two main reasons I decided to name these festivals, instead of simply calling them dates or plans.

1. Festivals are extremely difficult to reschedule.  They take months and months of planning and coordination.  They won’t simply reschedule Coachella because someone has a headache or isn’t in the mood.  Same with my festivals.  These plans are concrete.

2. I’m heavily influenced by Gilmore Girls and I wanted to add a little more whimsy to my life.  Their festivals always seemed so much fun and I wanted that for myself.  If I couldn’t live in Stars Hallow, I could certainly be inspired by it.

Because these festivals are new, it is taking me a few tries to get them to the level I planned for.  In the case of March, I had an ambitious plan and fell short, but we didn’t cancel.  We still had an incredible night and created a strong memory.

The festival for March was our International Food Crawl.  I planned it for the weekend before Passover started so I would be able to indulge before the Passover diet kicked in.

So, what happened?

First of all, it almost didn’t happen.  When we sat down to plan the event, it was starting to become extremely expensive.  Our eyes were set on the best restaurants of Montclair.  All of that food, plus drinks, plus tips, added up quickly.  We tried for almost an hour to put together an itinerary that sounded fun and didn’t break our budget.  On that day, it felt impossible.  We had to walk away for an entire week.

I’m so happy we did that.  I was able to attempt planning a second time when I was more refreshed and less stressed.  The planning became so easy; I wasn’t sure how we’d gotten so stuck a week earlier.  I gave my budget and requirements to Claude and was given a great starting off point for our itinerary. 

Now, you are probably asking, what does an International Food Crawl entail? The initial plan was to get cocktails, appetizers, dinner & dessert at 4 different spots, all different cuisines.  When we sat down to plan it the second time, we decided we didn’t need to start with cocktails.  It had us start drinking earlier than we’d want to.  We moved cocktails to be an optional way to end the night.

The dress code was “pick one country as your inspiration and dress up like that country”, with bonus points if one of the countries on the “passport” for the night, and even more bonus points if someone correctly guesses your country!

At the time of creating this festival, I thought we’d be able to rope some of our friends into adventuring with us.  The timing didn’t work out, so with all of the festivals, we continued on just by ourselves.

The extras of the festival were to bring a “passport booklet” and stamp/sticker each stop.  In the booklet, we were going to score the experience and declare a “Country of the Night”.  Also, the musical extra was to play a short themed playlist on route to each stop to match the country’s vibe.

This is where things didn’t go to plan.

I attempted to dress in Parisian style.  I did my hair and makeup to match their trends and had a cute outfit planned out.  Unfortunately, as it often does, the outfit didn’t work the way it did in my head.  My outfit to the first stop was just okay, but we were going to be late for the reservation, so we had to go!  Sam interpreted the dress code differently than me.  He tried to dress from the inspiration of a flag and chose Japan.

We picked one neighborhood in town that we could walk to.  The plan was to head out and stay out until we were done with the entire crawl.

Since we were running so late, we decided to drive to the first stop.  As we were running down the street, I realized it was so much colder than I had originally thought.  We had our experience (more on that in things that did go right below) and drove back home so we could walk to our second stop.  It was way too cold to continue wearing my outfit, so I changed a third time.  I lost all Parisian influence and was really disappointed in myself.

Oh, and I also ran out of time before the festival to make the playlist, make Passport booklets, or source the stamps/stickers.  All of that went out of the window.  I started to doubt if these festivals were worth it.

So to recap what didn’t work:

1. My outfit.
2. We drove instead of walked.
3. My outfit part 2.
4. We didn’t have passport booklets.
5. We didn’t have a playlist.  

Now, let’s focus on what did work.

We had what felt like an adventure close to home.  We landed on appetizers in the Mediterranean, dinner in Peru, dessert in Italy, and wine from New Zealand.  That sounds pretty international to me.

One of the accidental benefits of this night was we got a taste of what it could be like if we did an entire date at each of these spots.  We loved our Mediterranean experience and would definitely go back for a full date night.

At 5:30PM, we headed to Zeugma where we ordered the Borrek & Grilled Halloumi.  Every bite was delicious and the vibes were so romantic.  On the weekends, they have a no kids atmosphere after 5.

We then went back home to drop off the car & for me to change into something warmer.  With time to spare, we enjoyed our first glass of wine on the couch before walking to our Peruvian dinner reservation at 7:30PM.

We tried Terra X, a new spot in town and really liked it! It was BYOB, so we continued drinking our NZ wine & we enjoyed the Lomo Saltado. It was super busy and a little loud.  They recommended coming back during the week to have a quieter experience.  

We didn’t want to rush through the night, so by the time we were done with dinner around 9PM, our initial dessert spot was closed.  We took to the street, popping into different places until we found one that had a dessert we wanted.  Finally, at the end of the street, we landed on Laboratorio Kitchen.  Their lava cake was one of the best I’ve ever had.  I still think about it 3 weeks later.  

Stuffed to the brim, we decided we didn’t need a cocktail spot and headed home.  On our walk home Sam & I were talking about how different our night felt.  It was filled with whimsy and adventure.  It felt like exploration and more memorable than it would’ve been if we just went out for dinner.  

In the end, it wasn’t that much more expensive than a regular night out but it was immensely more fun.  The only piece I’d consider next time is how we spaced out the crawl.  By the time we sat down for dinner, I was already full from appetizers.  To keep the spirit of the crawl alive, we plan to try a full week of either cooking or eating different cuisines!

So you see why I started the story with the intention of festivals.  We did that and these festivals are worth it.  Even if it didn’t go exactly as I planned, it was more than just a night out.  The extras are meant to enhance the night to make it more special.

The most important part, we did it.  When the planning got hard.  When it didn’t go according to plan.  We did not allow ourselves to cancel.  We committed to a year of festivals, a year of memories, a year of spending our time differently and it may look different than we intended, but it was still a huge leap forward towards where we are trying to end up.  

I go back to the question that started it all: Is this a life I’m proud to be living? And the answer was a resounding yes from this night.  I felt like we really lived that night.  I have a story and a memory and a shared experience with Sam that makes our lives feel a little less boring.    

Challenge: Plan a night or week of intentional eating with a theme.  Ours was international, yours could be centered around one ingredient or a style of plating.