You never know who's going to show up with no pants on, a prank up their sleeve, or a story from their day that will send the conversation spiraling out of control.
We talk over each other, we interrupt, we yell, we can carry on 4 different conversations at once (almost always with the person seated furthest away from us), we get in fights and then get over those fights all from the comfort of our dinner chairs.
We drink and laugh, and spill things... it's a messy mayhem that we have grown accustomed to and that people who come to visit shake their heads at and (I'm sure) release a heavy exhale as they walk back to their car at the end of the evening.
We are chaos. But that's life. It's our life... and every night's a party!
If you've been to our house for dinner, or if you're from a big wild family yourself, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't had the pleasure of spending an evening in complete and utter chaos, I hope you have the chance.
It's a beautiful thing when a family can come together and embrace each other's crazy.
I am the oldest of these 6 crazy kids, and haven't lived at my parents house in a few years.
I generally can only hear about the dinner time mayhem after it has happened and from the other end of the telephone.
I live over 2,000 miles away from this crazy family of mine these days, and it breaks my heart on a regular basis because most of my siblings still live at home, and I miss out on so much of their growing up.
I miss the football games, the track meets, the volleyball matches... I miss all of the morning coffees and the evening baseball games watched together on the couch.
The most painful piece of this is that my youngest sister is only 10 years old.
We are in a special club-- we are the "Bookend Club".
She is, in short, my mini-me and we are the beginning and end in the sibling sequence, and there is something special about that.
I hate that I'm not home to help her grow up, and take her on sister dates, or to silly concerts and all the other things that I should be doing with my youngest sister.
The only thing that I can do to not curl up in a ball and cry every single day about how much I'm missing out on is by literally not thinking about it.
I push it out of my mind because it hurts to know that I'm not playing as active role as I would like to be in this important time in my siblings' lives.
SO... when the opportunity presented itself to drive across the country this summer and spend a good hearty chunk of time at home with all these lunatics again, I jumped at it!
And when one of these wild humans that I call my family asks me to do something special for or with them, I'm doing my best to say "Yes!" to every single occasion... because I don't know when I will have this opportunity again.
If there is something that is important to a person you care about... make it happen. It may seem trivial, but it's the little things in this life that add up and make an impact.
Quit being so serious and enjoy yourself! You will never have this time back!
This leads us to....
When Maria (my youngest sister) asked me to cater her Luau themed dinner party.... was there another option besides "Sure!" ? No... there wasn't... because she was too excited for me to not make it happen.
I have no idea what kind of food is served at a Luau, but neither did Maria so we did a little research and below you will find the recipes for a fantastic LUAU PARTY! (and by party I mean my immediate family and all of our animals... so 10 humans and 5 creatures... normal night in our house)
Luau Mocktail
1 can frozen fruit punch concentrate
1 banana
1 big handful of strawberries
ice
- Let the fruit punch thaw, then pour into a blender
- Fill the can 1 1/2 times with water and 1/2 times with ice, pour into blender
-blend together with fruit
- stick in a happy straw
(maybe add some rum? :) )
Enjoy!
... yeeeeaaahhh yeeeaaaah not the healthiest drink on the planet, but GOSH DANGIT if it isn't delicious!
Live a little, homies!
Next up, we have....
Pine-a-chick-kabobs
prep time: 10 minutes, plus 2+ hours marinating
cook time: 12 minutes
8 large chicken breasts
1 large pineapple, cut into 1.5 inch cubes
3 T soy sauce
3 T dark brown sugar
2 T cooking sherry
1 T sesame oil
1 t honey
1/3 t ground ginger
1/3 t garlic powder
-clean and trim chicken, cut into 2 inch cubes
-whisk together the bottom 7 ingredients
-place chicken in large plastic ziplock bag, pour marinade on, make sure chicken is fully covered and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
-heat grill to high-med/high
-thread chicken and pineapple pieces onto metal skewers, alternating chicken then pineapple for as long as possible... and then throw in the towel and just get 'em all on there ;)
-grill on each side for 2-3 minutes, check that it is cooked thoroughly before removing (I tend to just pick the biggest piece and slice in the middle to make sure)
Krazy Simple Kale Salad
1 bunch Kale; rinsed, sliced off of stem and chopped into large pieces
4 oz feta (...more or less depending on your love of cheese)
1 1/2 cups
6-8 mint leaves; minced2 T extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 large lemon
Throw everything in a party bowl, mix it up, and ENJOY!
Corn Cob Grillers
fresh corn, shucked for however many people are present
2 T olive oil
salt
pepper
-heat grill to med/high
-Lay corn on platter
- Brush with olive oil on all sides
-Sprinkle with salt and pepper (I prefer to use sea salt and a fresh ground black pepper mill... but you could use any that you like)
- Grill on each side for 2-3 minutes, until the kernels begin to brown and the corn looks rich in color
NOM NOM NOM
For a last minute dinner idea, these recipes turned out SO well-- prep time was like 15 minutes total, and cooking time was about the same... throw the corn and the chicken on the grill at the same time and BAM! dinner's ready before you've even finished your first Luau Mocktail :)
No dinner in our house is complete without dessert, so we also made these awesome
Chocolate Chip & Macadamia Nut Cookies
The recipe for these can be found at....
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Macadamia-Nut-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx
I will funk around all day cooking in the kitchen, but baking is a-whole-nother kind of bird... you don't mess with what works, and these bad boys WORK!
Totally nothing healthy about them, which is why they were amazingly delicious!
Get out and throw a Luau Party this weekend!
-B-
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