Valentine's Luau Dinner

For Valentine's dinner I made my family a Hawaii themed party.  We listened to our music that have from our trip to Hawaii. That I think makes it feel the most Hawaiian.  I also had a few decorations and leis for everyone (just cheapie ones from the party store--how fun would it be to have real ones).  Here's what we had:

Dessert:
Vanilla bean cheesecake with mango puree

The mango puree was made in my Vitamix.  It's 3 cups of partially defrosted fruit (or fresh is fine), 3/4 cup sugar or to taste (I used about a half cup for this recipe) and 1 tsp lemon juice.  Blend on the hot soups program.  We have made this with frozen mixed berries one time and blueberries another time and it always makes a delicious sauce, which thickens up later in the fridge.

I made the cheesecake from scratch of course, using a recipe for New York Cheesecake.

The feast:  Lobster tail with butter, coconut shrimp, luau pork and rice (from Rumbi grill) and pina coladas.

I've only bought lobster tails a few times and I never remember how to make them, so I had to search the internet on how to deal with them.  I finally found a basic you tube video that explained how to lift the meat out of the shell and bake it on top of the shell.  It was really easy.


The shrimp was the most time consuming, but it was pretty easy.  I used this recipe.

My helper with the shrimp