I cannot believe March is here! The month that for my family means two birthdays – one of which is right smack on St.Patrick’s Day – and two anniversaries. The month that also means that spring is right around the corner, which is a big deal for us who live in the colder climates and swear that we can tough anything out. We sure can, but how awesome it is when those first flowers start coming up!
Anyway, there is a bit of a back story that precedes today’s recipe and here is how it goes.
My St.Patrick’s Day baby was born about a year and a week after I’d moved here so I was not particularly familiar with the life in New Hampshire, USA, never mind a holiday that was not celebrated in Lithuania. I remember being wheeled into the hospital on the night of March 16th and a jolly nurse reassuringly smiling and saying: “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a St.Patty’s baby!” I must’ve looked quite dumb because I said something to the extent of “maybe, we’ll see” and remember trying to get my thoughts away from the question “what is a St.Patty’s baby?” and towards focusing on the next contraction.
I just giggle now, when I remember this. Of course, the nurse was right (she knew that a woman brought in to the hospital at 11:30 pm is likely to have her child the next day!). I did ask my husband about what she’d meant and he smiled at me as if I was a child that didn’t know better. And it took my son a few (more like 15) hours to finally make up his mind and get out into this beautiful world.
I’ve learned a lot since then both about life in the U.S. and St.Patrick’s Day. Memories of that evening and subsequent day bring a smile to my face. My little Pisces is no longer a baby, but he’s taught me a lot about determination, being clear about what you want and going for it.
So today I find it only fitting to share a very simple yet a very symbolic recipe (if it can even be called that!:) – a St.Patrick’s Fruit Salad or Fruit Rainbow, complete with a pot of gold!
I made this for my son’s birthday one year because I didn’t want to have chips and salsa alone as appetizers and didn’t want to just buy a fruit tray, which was not very special. He asked me why not make a rainbow from all the fruit – it looks pretty and is healthy. And boy, was it a hit! I served it next to all the other typical birthday treats and this fruit platter was gone in no time.
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do:)
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Ingredients
- 4-5 strawberries, cut in half
- One orange, peeled and sliced
- Chunks of pineapple, fresh or canned
- Green grapes
- Blueberries
- Banana, sliced
Instructions
- Wash and prep all the fruit:
- Cut the strawberries in half
- Peel and separate the orange into slices
- Pour the juice of chunk pineapple into a glass (if you're using canned pineapple)
- Slice the banana
- Arrange the fruit in a flat platter in the following order:
- Strawberries
- Orange
- Pineapple
- Grapes
- Blueberries
- Banana slices (this is your pot of gold!)
And just for fun, here is a video that I made (my very first one!:)
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