A Dazzling Dinner

Well this is my older sister Jari...

She left for an Internship in South Africa today.  I'm not sure why this was a hard good by.  I mean she has been living away from home off and on since 2007.  WHY was this so hard?  Maybe because she is not going to be able to call when ever she wants, or she will not have a laptop, or that she is going to be in Africa... need there be more reasons?  So the Friday before she left, Blake and I (and I really mean Blake helped a lot!) made her a dinner like never before.  

If you know Jari you know that she is a fun loving and the perfect kind of crazy.  She has alway wanted a dinner like the one from the movie Hook.

So we made it happen.  

Except a little more classy, meaning we dressed up (fancy/silly/old fashion) and NO food fight.  I know the food fight is the best part, but we just did not want to clean that mess up.  And the best part of the whole night was that the date was 03/25/2011, Jari's half birthday.  If you do not know, Jari alway has good New Year's resolutions.  One year it was to celebrate everyone's half birthday.  I mean this girl went all out, take a look at what she did for Blake's.

Now on to some photos of our Dazzling Dinner.

That blue stuff is the chicken... I did not know how it was going to work but Blake made it happen.

 And yes we all wanted pictures with the food.

The best part of dinner is alway desert.  We had brownies and coconut macaroons.  Macaroons are my dad's favorite desert, but I have never made them from scratch.  So I tried it, and they turned out amazing.  The best part about them is how easy they are.  

Here's the recipe I used.

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients

• 1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk (which I alway have in my cupboard because it's my favorite ingredient)
• 1 egg white, whipped
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
•     1 (14 ounce) package flaked coconut
  
  
  Directions

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with foil; grease and flour foil. Set aside.
2. In large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, egg white, extracts and coconut; mix well. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets; slightly flatten each mound with a spoon.
3. Bake 15 to 17 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Immediately remove from baking sheets (macaroons will stick if allowed to cool); cool on wire racks. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

I added food coloring to go with the theme of the evening.

 We also had a little tea time.

 Even the boys got into it.

After dinner we played domino.  

 or more like set them up...

I am still finding domino around the apt.

This was going to be the last time we saw Jari till JULY!  But that was not okay with ether of us... so Blake and I drove down to Ocala for one last meal.  And what a better place then a Brazilian Stake house?

If you would like to stock Jari, go to her blog... I give you permission.  

http://jarisantos.blogspot.com/