A dinner to DIE for. . .

Meet my vampirish children:
Dwayne Denartery and Anita Lotta Tai-Pei.  ;-)

(aka: Jonathan and Lucy as their murder mystery characters)

Jonathan turned twelve a few days ago.  And poor guy, he always gets the short end of the celebration stick around here, since his birthday is five days after Christmas.  It's not that we don't celebrate, (you KNOW we do) but it's never a big party. 

It always takes me by surprise.  Always.  (how embarrassing is this?)  December 25th - Christmas comes. Then the day after (the 26th) , I am sitting basking in the wow-I-pulled-it-off-again glow of the day after Christmas and then usually on the 27th I jolt awake from a sound sleep and yell "Good God! It's Jon's birthday in three days!"  Okay, I confess.  I know.  Bad Mother.  There I said it.  = ( 

But, lucky for me, this kid has never complained or cared.  He feels loved and secure (he always says) and I don't need to do anything big to prove to him that I love him.  Shut. up.  (how amazing is that?)

Ah, but having been raised a Catholic Cuban Woman (which always wins the Trifecta of the Guilt Olympics) I cannot let it lie.  I might be a Bad Mother, but I'm an Awesome Party Planner. ;-)

So, this was the year.  We had a big murder mystery dinner with Jonathan and his friends.  I remembered to invite them two weeks before Christmas.  (ooh, there must be a prize for this somewhere. =D)

It was a dinner party for eight called "Barbecue with the Vampire" (as opposed to interview) and each guest had a character to play and was to come in costume.  What a great group of suspects we had!  Their parents were present also and we had a great big Pulled Pork Barbecue dinner (looked a little like shredded flesh, but that's not important right now) and a fabulous Death by Chocolate Cake!

My favorite part of this whole affair was the decorating and getting it all together and making all the preparations and of course, we all helped detect who among us was a killer.  (I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. =D)  (notice the garlic scattered about the table. . .)

In fact, all the free surfaces in the house were covered with garlic.
This is what you would've seen if you had come to our front door that night:
That's right, I added garlic and bats to my lovely Christmas wreath.  It totally works, doesn't it?  ;-)

So, the party is over. And now

I have pounds and pounds of garlic. . .

My son is deliriously happy. He got his party. And I have tons and tons of garlic.
What to do?

MOJO CRIOLLO! (of course!!)

7 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1  medium-size onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cup sour (Seville) orange juice
  OR
1/4 cup sweet orange juice, MIXED WITH
1/8 cup each fresh lime and lemon juice

1) Using a mortar and pestle or a food processor, crush the garlic with the salt to form a thick paste. 2) In a mixing bowl, combine the garlic paste, onion, and juice, and let the mixture sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or longer.

3) Minutes before you are ready to serve the mojo, heat the oil over medium-high heat in a medium-size pan until it is very hot, add the garlic mixture (do this quickly because it will splatter), stir, and serve immediately.
4) To reheat, simmer over low heat until heated through, 6 to 8 minutes. The sauce keeps several weeks refrigerated.

We're already marinating a beautiful skirt steak in that killer mojo and singing old school Cuban songs and we've decided to call that meal,  Barbecue with A Cuban Choir.  And I'll tell you right now that it's going to be our BREATH that is the KILLER.  ;-)

I like it. =D