Keith and I had an absolute blast last night with some of our closest friends; all married couples. So much fun I wouldn’t even dream of keeping it to myself.
While traveling the world last summer, and interviewing couples happily married 25-years or more, I came across this very cool activity.
A couple in Perth, Australia got together with their closest married friends -nine couples in all- every other month to travel the world…without ever leaving home.
Allow me to explain.
This group of friends created passports for each person, including customized country passport stamps, and every other month they’d visit a new country by way of food and decor.
A different couple hosts the event each time, finding the perfect restaurant (or turning their home into one), and then the group all travels to the chosen location together.
The hosts are charged with knowing all about the country they’ve chosen and throughout the evening they share different things about the culture, food, people, etcetera. It’s a beautiful way to get to know the entire world (while spending time with your friends) at a fraction of the cost.
After I returned from my travels, Keith and I invited nine of our favorite couples to join us in creating our very own World on a Plate (WOAP).
The funny (yet oh-so-sad) thing is we were the first hosts and chose our favorite ethnic restaurant. The problem was -and we didn’t realize this until it was time to create the country passport stamp- we chose a restaurant that served Pan-Asian food.
Hmmmm…you mean there’s no country called Pan-Asia? How’d that happen?
We had a wonderful time but that definitely wasn’t the way we wanted to start off the American version of WOAP. This time around, my sister and her Dominican-born husband hosted us -eight couples in total- at a real country: the Dominican Republic. It was some of the most fun we have ever had with our wonderful group of friends.
When we arrived, they had the Dominican Republic flag waving outside and when we entered their home, we were all greeted by a colorful sign that read, “Kings WOAP Dominican Republic Night” and leis in the colors of the Dominican flag. Each of us put on our leis as we entered the home.
The decor was colorful and festive. Dominican music filled the air as drinks and a 4-course dinner that began with albondigas (meatballs) and hit a high note with sudado de pollo (sweaty chicken) and carne de res guisada (braised beef with rice and beans) filled our stomachs.
We ate and ate until our tummies could not possibly take in one more thing. Carlos, my sister’s husband, told stories of growing up in the Dominican Republic and gave us a look into his country (he doesn’t like desserts or candy because as a kid he’d climb up trees and hack off a piece of fruit if he wanted something sweet).
It was a fabulous night and a wonderful way to encourage happiness in marriage. When you get together with a group of married friends, and the only thing you focus on is all that’s beautiful in life, nights like this carry on with us long after the evening has come to an end.
Give World on a Plate a try with your own group of married friends. I promise it’ll be well worth the effort.
QUESTION: Do you and your married friends have any special activities you enjoy doing together?
Until tomorrow…make it a great day!
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