Peter Pan

Week 18:

Ahoy there, mateys! It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

ARGGHH!

Ok, that is about the extent of my pirate talk. I know, I am such a landlubber!

Sorry for the delay on the post, but two of my favorite people came to town last weekend, so the dinner got pushed back and the blog typing even MORE so. I tried to make it worth the wait, though!

Speak no Disney, hear no Disney, see no Disney (yes, we chose who was which monkey on purpose).

I was going to do this dinner with my mom and sister, since it was kind of a tea party set-up and I distinctly remember my mom having a Tick-Tock Croc screensaver at one of her earlier jobs that I was entranced with as a child (Ursula and others may have been on there as well, but all I remember is the croc), but I did not have a couple of key items yet (they came the day after they left. Sigh.), so here we are!

Justice and I did this meal on Tuesday because, due to the delay caused by the postal service and travel plans for the upcoming weekend, we had to squeeze in another meal. I didn’t have time to type up the blog, as you can see until today (with editing still needing to be done), but, hey, the "Pirate Talk" Day worked out. Love it when a “plan” comes together.

Here is the menu off of the STAR(second star, that is)board side (a.k.a. right):

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I started with tea, because the Darlings were a part of civilized society and I love tea from my time in London. The girls I studied abroad with and I even had tea at The Orangery which is located in Kensington Palace (now home to Will, Kate, George, Lupo (their Nana) and the newest addition they just formally announced around the time of this dinner).

We, also, flew by Big Ben!

I didn't have a fancy tea tray, so I did what any non-grown-up would do. I made my own and used my imagination!

I think it turned out pretty well. It is even in the Union Jack's colors!

The tea itself ended up being very grown-up. Sorry, Peter.

Thanks to my mom and sister coming to my rescue, the tea was served in a tea set that I received from one of my favorite teachers of all time. She let a bunch of fifth graders use her fine china to illustrate the Boston Tea Party, thus leading me to LOVE history. Then, she proceeded to get me fine china of my own (starting my collection). Even though the Boston Tea Party was a stand against England, I still couldn't pass up a chance to use this extremely thoughtful, unique, and beautiful gift!

One of the supplies that I mentioned I was waiting on happened to be PG Tips, my tea of choice. I believe I had a cup of this, and a crumpet, every night when I stayed with my friends Allison and Vicki. Mmm..

Speaking of Allison, we went to junior high together in New Mexico before she moved back to England. We kept in touch, but this study abroad trip was the first time I’d seen her since then. I spent about a week with her outside of London, but we did get to meet up in London one day for an excursion. What did we do you may ask? We found the Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens. Fitting, very fitting.

Next, we had crumpets. This, as explained above, was a nightly snack of mine with the tea. Crumpets are kind of a cross between a biscuit and toast and they are FABULOUS!! Seriously, we need to adopt them in the states. They were the perfect compliment to the tea and addition to our tea party.

Lastly, for the menu at least, we had Pirate’s Booty. Seeing as it is getting to be fall, Target had Caramel Apple Pirate’s Booty. I was not THAT adventurous, but I did increase Hook’s spoils. I picked up some of the classic snack, but also added some Pirate’s Booty shells & cheese. Hook and his band of pirate’s probably haven’t had this much plunder in a long time what with chasing Peter Pan all over Neverland.

I found this pirate stuff at Hobby Lobby after the fact. Could be fun additions for your own Peter Pan night.

Now for the add-ons (that I actually did).

The main menu focused on Hook and touched on the Darlings, but I wanted to highlight some more characters in the movie.

For example, I LOVE Tick-Tock Croc (as mentioned above), so I searched for something to do. I found this croc at a local candy store, painted up an alarm clock for him to eat using melted chocolate, and there you go. Isn’t he cute?! He even extends his jaws and snaps when you push a button. Hook better watch out.

I think Tick-Tock likes it...

For Tinkerbell, I added some Pixy Stix (a.k.a. fairy dust). Can you believe a guy I asked about where to find these didn’t know what they were?

I know Tink, it is an outrage! Just shake it off.

There you go.

Whoa, whoa Tink! Too much shaking. Tinkerbell was twerking before it was cool (Sorry Miley and Tink, still not cool to me)!

If YOU do not know what Pixy Stix are, here is a picture.

You know, I never understood why Tink was SO jealous of Wendy. Peter said Tink meant more to him than anything in the whole world AND she gets to start every single Disney movie. O, and she's been made into figurines like the one Justice's sister has.

Geez. What more can a vain fairy ask for?

Speaking of the beginning of Disney movies, I noticed something this week. The two stars showing the way to Neverland are also featured at the beginning of Disney movies..even before Tinkerbell (keep it together, Miss Bell)!

By happy accident, I found an acorn cookie at my favorite kitchen store, Creative Kitchen. This tied in perfectly with Wendy and Peter (in the book at least). Peter and Wendy, not knowing all the grown-up details, give each other an acorn and a thimble to represent a kiss. I, of course, had to get a thimble to go along with my acorn.

I thought about making these acorn cookies (http://itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com/2012/09/halloween-treat-acorn-cookies-hershey.html), but I thought the above would do nicely.

Also, even though they lost, I still had my guns up (for Texas Tech). Sending a kiss your way, Kliff!!

Notice the "Hidden Mickey" band-aid!!

Speaking of the Peter Pan book (when I mentioned the kiss), check out the Peter and the Starcatchers series, if you are a Peter Pan fan AT ALL or if you like to read. These books tell you how Peter Pan (and some of the other characters) came to be in Neverland and why he visits the Darling family specifically. Yes, Tinkerbell is a part of it.

All this talk about Peter Pan is making me hungry. For the star of the show, I had tea sandwiches. Peter Pan peanut butter sandwiches in the shape of stars to be exact. The peanut butter is Peter’s namesake, of course, the small, finger-food goes well with tea time, and the stars were for Peter’s directions to Neverland (“Second star to the right and straight on till morning.”).

I had his hat as well!

With the crusts cut off, like a mother (or Wendy) would do.

For Princess Tiger Lily and her people, I made a waffle cone teepee. Yes, I know, not the best paint job, but that is what you get when you let the squaw handle the icing.

Tink where were you for this?!

or this?!

My future niece loves Lalaloopsy dolls and she had a Tiger Lily version (for Thanksgiving)!

She even has Michael's teddy bear with the feather!!

For the Lost Boys, I got some peanut butter trail mix, which was FANTASTIC and showed the Lost Boys’ “loyalty/similarity” to Peter Pan since it was a peanut butter snack, too. They were all orphans after all. Maybe, they can use it to find their way back to their mothers?

On another note, I don't know why Hook had such a hard time finding their hideout. I would think it would stick out like this tree does in the park I run at.

Just follow the mushrooms..

For the mermaids, I had some blue Kool-aid drinks to go with mermaid lagoon (sorry, forgot to include them in the overall picture).

Now, back to the Darlings. I mentioned that they were a part of civilized London society and that they probably partook in tea time when they weren't busy flying.

When I studied abroad in London, I found some other treats that I wanted to bring into this meal. One of them was “biscuits”. Some you find even say “Digestive” on them, but I chose the fitting tea biscuits for the occasion.

I, being a chocoholic, found that English chocolate is WAY better than American chocolate (plus, you often can have it with a side of gelato). I included my favorite, Galaxy, chocolate to this meal.

I, also, included some honey Teddy Grahams for Michael’s teddy bear, since I’d already done a teddy bear cake and cookies (I, also, forgot to put these in the overall picture. Geez, I was slacking!).

Lastly, I wanted to do something for the whole cast and crew, just in case I missed someone. As I mentioned before, my mom and sister were in town. I wanted them to try Sweet Boutique, a cupcake shop, because they are making our wedding cake. So, I had a “light bulb moment”. What if Sweet Boutique made me some Peter Pan cupcakes? Good idea, but my wallet couldn’t keep up with my brain (especially with honeymoon and wedding expenses), so what if I experimented with gum paste with my mom and sister? Another good idea (Megan turned out to be quite the gum paste guru), but after a couple toppers (I only made Tink’s shoes that you see below), I realized this was a lot more work than I had anticipated. Just when I was about to give up, another idea hit me, print-out toppers like I did for Snow White! Third time was the charm!!

Well, thanks Peter.

I got to include Nana with this idea, put Tinkerbell on a strawberry cupcake for her red-hot temper, and show the mermaids!!

Here is (almost) the whole thing!

Sorry Peter, I am wrapping up!

It was my turn to draw and it will be…

Beauty and the Beast! I love this movie, but fitting in a large, French meal will be a bit tough since WE are going away this weekend. O well, all I need is a little faith, trust, and pixie dust, right?

I might just have to attempt Michael's statement..

Until then, keep your windows open for a certain flying boy may decide to visit (kind of creepy if you really think about it. No wonder Wendy’s mother was concerned about a boy sneaking in through the window)!

Coming Soon: Beauty and the Beast

P.S. We got this AWESOME Mickey waffle iron from my future mother-in-law!! YAY!!