**Yes, this was taken with an iPhone…I know, I know…but better not so great photo than no tropical fruit parfait post, right??

A few weeks ago, Mike and I took a trip down to Baltimore for the weekend. It was a great trip (we saw Owl City in concert, ya!) and surprisingly, we had two food epiphanies that had nothing to do with crab or seafood. The first night we wandered down Eastern Ave on our way to the concert and spotted a truly amazing, cash only (always a good sign), hole-in-the-wall taqueria. The menu was a chalkboard with four taco filling options, all in Spanish and the open kitchen was stacked floor to ceiling with bags of masa. I grabbed a “Made in Mexico” bottle of coke (cane sugar, yum!) and ordered dos carnitas, Mike hedged his bets and got one carnita and one chorizo taco. And of course, a side of guacamole. The tacos came out steaming hot on soft, double layered corn tortillas topped with cilantro, diced jalapeno with a simple side of sliced radishes. And we had our own tray of two salsas and a little bowl of delicious guacamole. For me, it was a taste of home and for Mike, it was a revelation. All he’d had before was the stiff, tasteless corn tortillas that we can buy at our Wegmans. (Funny aside, when Hunter and Laura visited us, we took them to Wegmans and asked the bakery staff where the tortillas were. Blank stare. “Oh is that one of those Mexican things?”)

Moving on to the parfait. We stayed at the perfect B&B for our needs. For those of you anti-B&B people in the crowd (yes, you.), this is not your normal frilly, share a bathroom and mandatory breakfast at 9AM B&Bs. If you search for the Blue Door on Google, you’ll see that others share my sentiment (70 positive reviews, unheard of!). So if you’re going to Baltimore any time soon, I highly recommend staying there. Conveniently located with beautiful rooms and those little personal touches that make staying at a B&B ever so much better than a stale hotel room (with the possible, just as stale “welcome” cookie).  And breakfast. Wow. Crazy good coffee that was so smooth, I didn’t even need sugar. And tropical fruit parfait.

I don’t know about you, but when I hear parfait, I think two things – Shrek. And Boring with a capital B. Parfaits were all the rage for awhile, and then Starbucks, Borders and every other deli stop picked up on the craze. Suddenly blueberry, banana with a hint of strawberry, capped with mushy granola became the norm.

This? This is not boring. This is a parfait that would make Donkey proud.

Tropical Fruit Parfait
Serves 4 extra large appetites

1 papaya, small chunks*
2 bananas, sliced
1 orange, segments chopped
4 fresh pineapple rings, chopped
yogurt**
1/2 cup granola***

*Papaya that isn’t ripe yet is GROSS (in my opinion) so read this if you’re unsure how to pick out a ripe one.
**We used organic vanilla yogurt for this. We eat Fage greek yogurt as a general rule but that wouldn’t work very well in this application.
***Fresh, fresh, fresh is in order here. I bought just a large handful from the bulk bin at Wegmans but you could make your own if that’s your thing. You want it to be light and crispy without too much extra zing going on to distract from the fruit.

Using a clear glass (choose your own size, all we had were pint glasses which make BIG parfaits, FYI), start layering your yogurt and fruit (e.g. spoonful of yogurt, then a few pieces of each fruit, spoonful of yogurt, etc) and when you’re happy with the amount, top with a dusting of granola. Serve with a spoon and a smile.

–These hold well without the granola so you can make ahead of time and then top with granola before serving.