My Mom's Favorite Fruit Salad-Foodie Friday

     This is one of my favorite pictures, and I don't have favorite pictures with me in them. You are looking at 3 women who hate having their picture taken and avoid it at all costs. The conversation when I had this photo framed for my mom, daughter and I covered the fact that my daughter really does have beautiful long blonde hair that just happened to be pulled into a ponytail after a day at the pool, my mom really isn't "fat" and I actually do stand up straight under normal conditions. With all of that said, we loved having a chance to get a picture of all 3 generations at once. So, you are getting a rare glimpse of an online photo of us...bet I don't look like you thought I did? Hmm?

     I told you that I would be telling you about my mother this week. I've thought about it quite a bit and I really think that I will just paint a bit of a verbal picture of the woman I love more than life. I could make it brief and tell you that she lives on a beautiful little island in Florida, famous for the powder sugar beach. She plays bridge, shops at Talbots and has traveled to wonderful places. She writes thank you notes for everything, loves to entertain and raised her 2 daughters to be both polite and proper adults. Those are some of the facts, but they don't really tell you much about my mom.

     My mom lives for her children and grandchildren. Actually, the grandkids are really her loves these days. She is their biggest fan, even when their parents might be having a hard time with them. They all worship her and her 4 oldest (of 6) have all made the trip to see her in the past couple of weeks.

     She bought me a Mother's Day gift the first year I became a mother and has continued to do so every year since.

     When my daughter was 5, she was hospitalized in Orlando. We were trapped in a hospital room with a 7-year-old boy and days without sleep, my parents flew in from Illinois for 2 days so that we could go to the hotel and sleep.

     When I had my gallbladder out with only 2 days notice, my parents drove through the night and got here just before they took me into surgery.

     My mom loves gourmet food and fabulous chocolate...but, she'd rather have cheap Brach's Bridge Mix (tastes like wax to me). When I was a kid, I'd find those really big Hershey bars hidden around the house.

     Mom buys things in 3's. When she finds something she loves, my sister and I get one too.

     My mom always has time to really listen. I try to make all of you think that I really have my act together...but really, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I'm really just a scared kid who needs her mom to tell her it will be okay...my mom always talks me through it, day or night...no matter how long it takes.

     We have lived 1000 miles apart for the past 20 years, but we talk 2 or 3 times a day. I almost always know where she is, what she is doing and she knows what I'm fixing for dinner. It was the only way we knew we could survive when they moved to Florida. Thankfully, they invented cell phones and our phone bills went down.

     My mom is cool. She loves American Idol and we often share the same music, books and television shows.

     I could go on and on...but, you get the idea. Mom has always been very young for her age (a side benefit of all that Florida sunshine) and she is treasured by our entire family.

     One of her favorite salads is a simple fruit salad that I've made for years. I was lucky enough to be able to make it for her while she had her 5 days at home. I even took a really bad picture of it.

Ingredients:

1 large can pineapple chunks (drained, save the juice)

1 large can mandarin oranges (drained)

1 1/2 cups grapes cut in half

1 1/2 cup mini-marshmallows or reg. marshmallows, quartered

1 pint sour cream

1 box instant vanilla pudding

Stir the sour cream and pudding together, adding a small amount of the pineapple juice to make it creamy. Add the fruit and marshamallows and chill. If you feel it is too thick, stir in some of the reserved juice. This salad can almost be a dessert.

Please join Michael at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday. You won't be disappointed!