How's about THIS for dinner?

Fruit Salad (yummy-yummy) with Ginger Syrup.

I had to take a fruit salad to a church event. A church event where only women would be attending. I figured, NOT going to make a standard apple/banana/grape jobber with whipped cream.

So I headed off to the google wonderland of recipes and typed in 'the best fruit salad ever'.

This one came up. Hated it.

This one also came up. And while I loved the blog title, by the third ingredient, Hated it. (Pie filling? Ew.)
Epicurious was the next site on the google recipe roadmap. And 'Best Fruit Salad', brought up weird salads, weirder than I was interested in. But when I typed in only 'Fruit Salad' Eureka! The mother load. Ginger syrup over a fruit salad? OH. MY. HOLY. WOW.
Oh, oh, oh and the one with honey-lime dressing? Definitely worth trying... I asked some of my culinary moms and got favorable yelps over the ginger syrup. So I was off to buy ginger root. (which I'd never done before). You can see the recipe link for this salad above (just under the picture of super yummy-yummy).

But here's how I ended up making it:

1/2 of the most yummy cantalope I have ever bought this early in the season. (all cute and melon balled)
1 quart of fresh strawberries. (they were red, so-so, and all there was)
Chunks of fresh pineapple (cheated here and picked up an already cut up container)
several handfuls of frozen mixed berries (you know the big bag of berries from Costco? That one? Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries)
1/2 a chunk of ginger root. They looked so big in the store, I just broke one in half and walked off (shhhh).


Early in the afternoon I began the syrup. I read over the recipe once, maybe twice, and then I completely screwed it up. I wanted to make only a half batch of the stuff, but didn't quite get the sugar to water ratio right, and kept adding water to get it right. (something like 2 cups water and 1 1/2 cup sugar) I sliced up the ginger real thin (no peeling-so that was good) and after it came to a boil put it to simmer for 10 minutes. The recipe says to let it cool for 15 minutes, strain the ginger, and chill for two hours. I thought it was cool the dang stuff for 2 hours and then strain the ginger. Oops. That's some seriously strong ginger syrup after 2 hours of steeping. I kept tasting it, and it was yummy. Sweet. With a serious BITE. Serious enough, that I was convinced lady or no, no one was going to eat this?

Oh well. I got all the fruit together in a pretty bowl. I brought along a small bowl for the gang to spoon up their own sauce IF they liked it. And another little bowl for the pistachios (hey, they sounded good to me?). When I got there, I did pour a tiny bit over the whole thing...but I was seriously worried by this point.

And...

And...

And...

And MY salad was the only one totally gone by the end.

Turns out it was a salad extravaganza night. Pasta, green, and a terrific little black bean number that I'm hunting down the recipe for as I type. But alas. Mine was the only fruit one. They had no choice but to eat it. But dang, I sure thought it was good. I'd steep that ginger extra long again, and again.

Note to self: Rule for taking a dish to church gathering? Don't take something you've never tried before.

Unless it sounds Yummy-Yummy. (You know you want to click that.)