Quick winter fruit salad makes tasty snack

BY

Has everyone else been glued to the coverage of the Winter Olympic Games? Our family enjoys the Olympics, both winter and summer, so we have gotten our fix this past week.

One of the interesting things that I enjoy is seeing what the host country looks like and learning more about it. South Korea is the host for these games. I lived in South Korea many moons ago but I don’t remember too much as I was so young at the time.

Something that has always intrigued me about Korea is the division between north and south at the 38th parallel. This line of latitude, 38 degrees north of the equator, is the current border between North Korea and South Korea.

You may remember from your high school world history class that the end of World War II also ended the Japanese occupation of Korea. After the war, Soviet troops occupied the northern half of the country and U.S. troops occupied the south.

Free elections in the south resulted in the election of Syngman Rhee but in the north a leader named Kim Il Sung was appointed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The subsequent Korean War ended in a draw, a political and military stalemate that has remained.

The Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, cuts Korea in half and stretches all the way across the peninsula for 160 miles. This dividing strip is 2.5 miles wide and is a buffer zone between the two countries.

The DMZ itself is demilitarized but just beyond the zone is one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. It is estimated that 60 percent of the artillery in North Korea is located within a few miles of the DMZ, purportedly to keep out the South Koreans.

This year’s Olympic games are held less than 50 miles away from the DMZ in a South Korean town called Pyeongchang in the mountainous Gangwon Province. It is the first time an Asian city outside of Japan has hosted a Winter Olympics.

For us, part of the fun of the Olympic games is getting to watch athletic competitions we normally would not watch. Oh yes, there are always the winter games staples like figure skating, speedskating, snowboarding and downhill skiing that we wouldn’t miss.

But it has been fun to get engrossed in snowboard cross (oh the wipeouts!), women’s ice hockey (who knew we’d bite our nails so much?) and skeleton (um, no words, no words for this).

With all this extra TV viewing, my goal this year of preparing 30-minute meals has been so very helpful in getting dinner on the table in a timely fashion before the night’s coverage of the Olympic games.

This week’s recipe is another great one from NatashasKitchen.com. It makes for a bright and cheery side to your morning oatmeal. I had enough left over that it was also a refreshing finish to our hearty dinner that same day.

You can easily add any fruit that you like to this party in a bowl. I happen to have a couple of persimmons on hand and threw those into my salad as well. Because of the citrus juice in the dressing, the cut fruits don’t brown as quickly and stay fresh for several hours.

This salad comes together easily in less than 15 minutes and is a delicious snack to enjoy while cheering on your favorite sport.

Photo by Betty Williams.

Winter Fruit Salad

Ingredients

• 1 lb. (5 count) tangerines, peeled and separated into segments
• 2 pears, cored and sliced
• 2 apples, cored and sliced
• 1 large pomegranate (to get 1 to 1½ cups arils or seeds)
• 4 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice, from 1 medium lime
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, from 1 medium lemon

Directions:

Combine the prepared tangerines, pears, apples, pomegranate and kiwis in a large bowl.

In a small bowl or cup, combine the honey, lemon juice and lime juice. Whisk until the honey is dissolved, warming for 10 seconds in the microwave if needed to help dissolve honey.

Pour dressing evenly over the salad and combine gently. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for later.