The three of us decided to celebrate with a themed dinner; something we've done many times in the past, and loved. My daughter and I had no specific movie ideas, so I asked my son what he would like to watch. He chose Jurassic Park. We had a good laugh, but decided to run with it.
After scrolling on Pinterest it was obvious that the only challenge would be making our dinner look appropriate for adults, rather than a 6-year-old's birthday party. I can't say how many bowls of yogurt-coated pretzels labeled "dinosaur bones" I saw... and while they're perfect for kids, I wanted something a little fancier than that.
Feeling as if I needed SOME dinosaurs on our table, I found each of our favorite dinosaurs at the dollar store, and painted them with pearly acrylics. I LOVE how they turned out! I pulled a leafy tray and aqua gravel from our Christmas in July bin,
and added a pair of candles for a fun $3 centerpiece. Gold leaf-shaped
placemats helped add to the sparkle.
For dinner, I made four-citrus marinated Quorn, (vegan "chicken") with gallo pinto; Costa Rican rice and beans. I had originally planned to make triple citrus, but at the last minute added grapefruit for even MORE flavor. A bed of greens was dressed simply, then topped with Chinese tea eggs nestled in Parmesan cups. There were glasses of mango margarita mocktails, and for dessert I made chocolate mousse dirt cups with almond-flour shortbread cookies, stamped with dinosaur footprints.
We celebrated a day early, because my son works today. It was fun, low-key, and low-stress.
In a word, perfect.
