Hawaiian Party Fun

Good Morning!! It is another late start for me as I slept in. I needed the rest and frankly I just didn't want to get up.

I had good intentions of taking lots of photos of our Hawaiian party yesterday. 

I hardly ever picked up my phone so I guess that is a sign of a good party. We had just the right size group (despite still lots of leftovers) and we had tons of fun. I had also planned to take photos before the party started so you could see all my decorations. I won't share any now as it looks like a true after-party! I still need to clean up and put decorations away today.

I make my usual pulled pork recipe to serve to my guests. My Mom brought some sweet and sour meatballs. Both were a big success. My pork roast recipe was a tip I learned off a blog. Skinnytaste had this recipe for making Hawaiian pulled pork and I have been using it for several years. I always use a pork roast and trim as much fat as I can. I let it marinade overnight with some liquid smoke and sea salt and then put it (including the liquid) into the crockpot. Cover with water and cook all day on low.

The pork shreds really easy. I then add more liquid smoke, sea salt, and some of the broth from the crockpot so it stays moist. Pretty much just season to taste. I change out my crockpot liner and put the shredded pork back into the pot on warm. If you have never used crockpot liners you are missing out. They are sold near the Ziplock section and make for super easy clean up.

I tried two new recipes. One was a wine sangria recipe I found on Julie, aka Peanut Butter Finger's blog. I was also going to try her fruit dip recipe but I decided not to for this party. I didn't really like the bottle of wine I used, which I sort of why I used it to get rid of it. Next time I'll make it with some Moscato. I got rave reviews though on my wine sangria. I didn't think three bottle of Mike's Light Lemonade was enough so I added all six to mine.

Mom brought some Malibu Rum, orange juice, and pineapple juice. Lots of yummy drinks. My friend Danielle actually brought me a bottle of Malibu Rum with this cute Hawaiian skirt and coconut bra. I loved it!

We have a local catering company that serves the best coconut rice. I Googled some recipes and found one for the rice cooker. As it turns out, the recipe really isn't supposed to be used in large quantities so my rice didn't cook right. My friends husband Kevin came to the rescue and ended up finishing the cooking on the stove for me. I was ready to just ditch 10 cups of rice and start again but he didn't want to give up so soon. I am sooooo glad he pushed for the win because that was some GOOOOD rice. I used this recipe. I thought it was too much fluid for the amount of rice but Kevin thinks following the actual recipe (note...don't plan for 10 cups of rice) would work fine. I guess the coconut milk was burning on the bottom of the rice cooker and therefore not cooking the rest of the rice. Whoops.

The party was a great success. I had so much fun seeing my friends and family and visiting with everybody. I can't wait until next year!