My mother in law has never seen a coconut.

Coconuts are not usually growing in Serbia, and I do not remember seeing them in stores either. Since she is my favorite mother in law I went to the store and brought a coconut for her to see and taste. Unlike my MIL, I did crack a few of those big nuts in my life (2), but Jerrin, a native of Kerla in India, should be an expert, since these things are as common there as apples in Washington or my native Vojvodina (Northern Serbia). With his help, opening two holes to pour the coconut milk, and cracking already pre-almost cut nuts was easy. Problem was scraping the meat from the shell. I had no good tools for the job. On Jerrin's suggestion I checked my neighborhood Indian store, but no luck - they didn't have coconut scrapers either. I even asked my next door neighbor, but she claimed that this is more South Indian thing - she just gets already shredded coconut. Why was I getting the whole one anyway?

So I did it the hard way - with a short knife, cutting a chunk at a time. Actually it took more than one knife, and if anybody asks you, tell them that ceramic knives are not strong enough for this job. :(
Once I was finally done, the amount of coconut meat that was just covering inside of the shell was overflowing from the same container. Magic!
With all the time and effort I spent on this thing, I had to take a picture of it at the end, and my Nana will have a photo to accompany her coconut story when she comes back.

Picture is taken on the cow hide for a rustic feel, with a bit of wooden floor showing just for the balance. Most of the coconut chunks are turned away so they do not show the brown back if it is still there, but small specks of the shell are left for authenticity. One soft box provided all the light needed in this case, giving a slight, soft shadow.