Fourth of July Rainbow

A few weeks ago, we got a golden ticket in the mail. It was an invitation a Fourth of July party hosted by the Amazing Alice and her equally amazing and pyrotechnically talented husbad. This is an event not to be missed.

You know those magazines that have pictures of picturesque Fourth of July celebrations, with red white and blue plates and floral arrangements with flags in them and adorable children in matching tie-dyed red white and blue t-shirts? I always look at those pictures and think, "Who does that?" Now I know: The Amazing Alice, that's who!

Each family was asked to bring a dessert or a side dish. I decided this would be the perfect time to try to make rainbow jello. I remembered my mom making it when I was a kid. We hadn't had it in years. Now I know why. It takes hours and hours to make. But look how pretty it turned out!

My daughter and I had a great time making it, too. In case you want to try it, this is what we did:

• Mix up a 3-ounce box of red gelatin according the the package directions.
• Pour into the bottom of a large glass rectangular pan. Refrigerate.
• Mix up a package of knox gelatin with one cup of boiling water. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Add 1/2 can of sweetened condensed milk. Let the milk mixture cool on the countertop.
• When the jello mixture is soft-set and the milk mixture has cooled, GENTLY spoon the milk mixture on top of the gelatin mixture. If you try to pour it on top, it'll splash big holes in the soft jello. (Guess how I know that?) Allow both layers to set up in the refrigerator. This takes about an hour.
• Then... repeat all those steps with orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

We started our jello on Friday morning, and added the last layer on Sunday afternoon.

I think the next time I have the urge to pour, stir and wait in order to make something beautiful, I'll do it with ice resin!