Beauty and the Beast

Disney Dinner Night  - Week #1 Beauty and the Beast

This week, we took on Beauty and the Beast, so naturally, we had to start the festivities at the library, Belle's favorite place.  Little CJC loves the library, especially the puzzles.  We also found a Beauty and the Beast book that we were able to check out, that Patrick and CJC read while I fixed dinner.  

Oh, as you can see, I went a little overboard and attempted to dress her up as a little Belle.  Obviously not a fancy ball gown, but she is at least in Belle colors.  I also decided to decorate the table for dinner.  Our guest bedroom used to be decked out in a "Be our Guest" theme, so fortunately I had previously made the magical rose and already had the Lumiere.  The "books" the rose is sitting on is actually the yearly puzzles the theme park puts out.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but I turned over wine glasses to hold the candles and I filled the bottom with some roses.  I also found a hand mirror at the dollar store that CJC probably didn't see the connection to, but loved playing with anyway.  While at the dollar store, I also found a three pack of crayons each with a different princess on the package. Score, that's three weeks of themed activities.  So, to go with the crayons, I printed off a few free Beauty and the Beast coloring pages from the internet.

I couldn't resist adding this picture of little CJC's face when she saw the table decorated.

She quickly opened her crayons, and colored the pictures while I finished cooking dinner.

So what did we eat, you asked?  Well, pork chops, french-style green beans, risotto, and French bread.  We also had wine instead of the champagne featured in the movie.

For dessert, we of course had to have the iconic "grey stuff" they sing about in the movie.  I decided to make brownies as my base.  I then attempted to top my grey stuff with a strawberry rose.  This may not look great, but it was easy.  All I did was slice one strawberry into 4 slices for the outer petals.  For the inside of the rose, I cut off both ends of a second strawberry and then made four slices making sure not to cut through the entire rose.  I then of course added extra grey stuff to the side, because it was absolutely delicious.

CJC was so thrilled with the night, that she asked to have her picture taken with Lumiere after the movie.

We had a lot of fun tonight.  In fact, I hope I didn't set myself up for failure next week, but I've told myself and Patrick from the beginning that some weeks are just going to be better than others.  So, we will just have to wait and see what happens next.

Let me know what you think, and be sure to come back to see what we do next week, when we take on 101 Dalmatians.