Pear Salad

Okay I have a couple of stories for you today.  The first I had a craving for pear salad.  I don't know why.  So I was talking to my Yankee friend about pear salad.  You know they do not have pear salad up north?  It is a southern thing I have found out.  Growing up you didn't have "dinner on the ground" at church without a couple plates of pear salad on the table.  So I bought a small can of pear halves when I went to the store the other day.  Small was correct.  I have never seen such small pear halves. 

Now to the real reason for my craving for pear salad.  As a kid when we made pear salad at home and it was one of the first things as a small child I was allowed to help with.  My mother always had me cut the cherries into fourths.  Can you believe that!  You would only get a tiny sliver of cherry.  To me that was the best part.  Well one Christmas at my grandmother's house I was helping with the pears.  Well my sweet Aunt Wilma informed me to put a whole cherry on those pears no skimping at Grandma's house.  Well you know that endeared her to me for life.  I can't look at a jar of maraschino cherries without thinking of her.  Well she passed away a couple of weeks ago after a very lengthy illness.  So these pears are for her, small as they are they got a whole cherry.

My Northern friend couldn't get the mayo on the pears.

Drain your pears.  See how small they are.

Put a tiny bit of may in the center.

Finely grate a little cheese and put on top of the mayo.

Then comes the best part that cherry.  For the holidays I have dyed the pears red and green to be festive.

If you have never tried pear salad give it a try and if you haven't had it in a while, pick up a can of pears.  Just don't forget the cherries.