But with Mom and Anita’s birthdays, and the news about Anita’s Mom… well, I just HAD to make the party silly and light. Wish I could show you the invitations, but I haven’t gotten permission from the ladies yet – just imagine a tropical beach, two hula gals, with YOUR mother's and sister-in-law's faces imposed… “Age is a Beach?!?!?!”… Not only did I use the marvelous menu from Katie Lee, I spent a bunch at Oriental Trading Company. Leis, flowers for the hair or table, mini-beachballs, floral garlands, a rattan runner for the table, mini-Tiki lamps… and of course, grass skirts for the birthday gals Don Ho serenaded us until the Yankees game started… We added an “exotic” fruit platter for nibbling – didn’t Ris do a marvelously artistic job? That’s a real coconut – it was definitely fun watching Jeff and Ant (my nephew, Anthony) working on making an even cut – I’ll share the technique another time. I prepped the shrimp earlier in the day, and once the meat was resting, we started to fry it. I used “duck sauce” instead of orange marmalade, slightly heated. AWESOME! The pork tenderloin was honestly the best I have ever tasted. And it only marinated 3 hours! Sorry, no picture - it disappeared too fast The pineapple salsa was a little too hot for some, and the rice was unique, but not exquisite… Still, they provided a great balance for the meal. Instead of banana bread, Papa made a banana bundt cake. The original recipe came from a Pillsbury Bake-Off winner - I’m working on getting permission to re-print, as it is not on their website. [Wrong - see the link just prior to this]. We DID make a few changes: as the recipe calls for a frosting/streusel mix that is no longer available, I found tiny dried tropical fruit chips, and he ground some macademia nuts. Hey, this was a luau! A little rolled oats, brown sugar, butter… Mom added some cinnamon sugar… Served with vanilla ice cream (I couldn’t find coconut) and topped with hot fudge and flaked coconut – yummmmmmm. Let’s not forget Marisa’s cookies!!! Yes, we all over indulged. But as I mentioned before, we will be repeating this menu – and now we have all the accessories to go with it