Mar 14, 2017, Updated Jul 22, 2024 And the holidays that you totally skim over as an adult (unless you’re in university and use any excuse to paint your face and drink too much beer) become exciting again when experienced through the eyes of little ones. As a grown-up, you say Saint Patrick’s Day and I say Guinness. Irish Cream. Lamb stew. Garish (yet delicious!) green frosting. All good things (though not in the same mouthful), but I’d completely forgotten about the more enchanting details like leprechauns and pots of gold and four-leaf clovers and the story of Saint Patrick himself (apparently he banged a drum and scared all the snakes out of Ireland, did you know that??). When I was a kid, I got unreasonably, can’t-sleep-the-night-before, plan-for-weeks excited for all the holidays, no matter how minor. Thank god that was before the internet, if I’d known about the International Ice Cream/Pizza/[Insert Other Food Here] Days that crop up weekly, my little brain might have short-circuited. I want to inject the fun and magic I remember into my own kids’ lives now, too. I’m not super Pinterest-y with hours to sink into DIY projects, but I do attempt two things for every occasion. The first is free! The public library. We check out seasonal books every month, it’s really fun to read stories about the holiday. And the second is really cheap! The dollar store. We get cheesy decorations, cookie cutters, pins for our clothes, stickers, little toys and games – a grand haul for under six bucks. We all get really into it. (And by that, I mean I get really into it, my older kid jumps on the bandwagon – a bit confused about what mommy’s going on about – and the baby feeds off the excitement and starts running in circles, probably with a dangerously small shamrock decoration in his mouth. The husband tolerates the chaos. Kind of.) I would love to have small, low-key kids’ parties for things like St. Paddy’s Day and Easter, but man who’s got the energy for that with an 18-month-old, a 3-year-old and a job (or even without the job, jeez). Maybe next year. All that to say, I made this lime and kiwi tart to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day with a secondary shout-out to Pi(e) Day, which is tomorrow (3.14). Two holidays with one pie! I saved the scraps from my tart dough and rolled them out to make shamrock shapes with my dollar-store cutters. I baked them alongside the tart for about 6 minutes. I used the same cutter to make shamrock-ish shapes from my kiwi slices. The lime curd is decidedly more yellow than green, which I knew would be the case. If you want it greener, you could add a touch of food colouring and I wouldn’t judge you. Especially because I just discovered this set of natural food colours for $6.99 all derived from vegetables and spices. I’ll be ordering that. Theo (3-year-old) loved cutting out the shamrocks and dreaming about searching the park for leprechauns. We live downtown – I’m scared instead of a pot of gold, he’ll find just pot. (At least it’s green? ?) This recipe is adapted from Williams-Sonoma Dessert of the Day. If you’re looking for more sweet treats to celebrate this festive occasion, don’t forget to check out this collection of delicious green desserts for St. Patrick’s Day. Happy baking and have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!
