Prickly pear fruit (also called “apple” or “tuna”) really is a food. It’s tricky to handle. There are sharp spines, which are obvious, but there are also thin soft spines that will torment the unwary. Heavy gloves are required for handling until the skins have been rubbed smooth. Native Americans traditionally eat them whole (after preparation). They can be squeezed for juice, or used to flavor drinks, or as jams and jellies, or even as salad dressing. They taste like sweet watermelon (even though they look like radishes to everybody). How do you cut and prepare prickly pear cactus fruit? I got directions from the internet: (You don’t want to just knock off the sharp spines then peel them with your teeth. You can ask our son Matt how that works out.) 1 Slice both ends of the prickly pear off. Discard them.2 Make one long vertical slice down the body of the prickly pear.3 Slip your finger into the slice and grab a hold of the skin.4 Begin to peel back the thick fleshy skin that’s wrapped around the prickly pear. Discard the skin. You’ll be left with the prickly pear itself. The flesh is studded with tons of little edible seeds, if you like them, feel free to just chop the prickly pear up and eat, seeds and all. To extract the juice, place the "husked" prickly pears into a blender or food processor and pulse until liquefied. Place the juice into a fine mesh sieve and push out the juice into a pitcher or bowl. Discard the remaining pulp and seeds. Use the juice as you like. Depending on the size of the prickly pears, 6 to 12 prickly pears will get you about 1 cup of juice. It’s great mixed in with some fresh lemonade, just use equal parts of prickly pear juice to lemonade. It sounds like a lot of work for small reward, but I guess in a desert environment, you take what treats you can get. (You can also eat the pads.)
Here is a cool cactus we saw in New Mexico
I think it’s a variety of prickly pear. Doesn’t that red fruit look yummy?
I don’t get out much
…since we’ve been home. But when I do, I see roseate spoonbills.
Judy is recovering well from her hand surgery. She’s through taking narcotics and is getting the rest of the way with Advil. She has been sleeping a lot these last three days, but I think that’s only natural after surgery. She has already said that as much as her hand hurts now from the surgery, it’s already the best it has felt in months.
Judy is recovering well from her hand surgery. She’s through taking narcotics and is getting the rest of the way with Advil. She has been sleeping a lot these last three days, but I think that’s only natural after surgery. She has already said that as much as her hand hurts now from the surgery, it’s already the best it has felt in months. We’re that close!
446 bird species seen for the year. Wouldn’t it be good to get to 450. A nice round number. If we figure out how to get to 450 though, we have to be careful not to get to 451!
The Jeep parks itself
Really. It has park assist for both parallel parking and perpendicular parking. Tell it you want to find a space and drive down the row. When it locates a space it likes, it tells you what to do from there: “Take your hands off the wheel and back up.”“Stop.”“Pull forward.”“Stop.”“Back up.”“Stop.”“Parking complete.” It always backs in. We’ve tried it when there are clear parking lines to follow. It works. I tried it in an old parking lot where the lines are faded, but there were cars to park between. Here’s how it looked when it was done.
It nails it every time. Self-driving cars. Baby steps.
It nails it every time. Self-driving cars. Baby steps.