Tuna fruit of the nopal

Want minced onion?

Chop top and bottom so onion sits flat and stable.

A large kitchen knife has the weight to do this. Razor sharp works best

Remove dried skin from outside

Start whacking the onion like you have a hatchet

Strong whacks. Sink the knife in over an inch

Make forty parallel cuts across the vegetable

Then rotate it ninety degrees

Start at the outside and work in -- both sides

Another forty parallel whacks

Turn onion on it's side and slice across the whacks -- thin slices

When you slice down into the yet to be whacked part of the onion start whacking again.

This is way faster than the old-fashioned way.

And remember tomates saladetes (Roma tomatoes) cut easier from the flesh to the skin.

I grew up on eating fresh nopalitos that my parents cooked and enjoying the tuna with my favorites being the yellow and orange ones. My dad knew when they were just right for eating. Today, because we are nowhere near a place to harvest them, we buy bottled nopalitos. They're delicious straight out of the jar or as one said before scrambled with eggs which is probably the most common way to make them. Delicious and super nutritious.

We like our nopales on salads.

Spines, of any kind???? TAPE!!! After being eBay people, tape was and still is a major part of our lives. I looked at him this morning and suggested that the dog chewed tape gun (one of three) goes away. Are you kidding? It's his favorite, we can get rid of one of the others.

Remember, we live in Mexico full time now, don't ship, have 10 rolls of three different types of tape. It's all good!

Food, drink, goodies, we love them all and love to try them all at least once!

Neat navegator!

If you should touch a tuna or a pitahaya (that's what the deep purple ones are called) that hasn't been peeled, the only remedy that works is to lightly and very rapidly brush the stuck part of your hand over your hair. It takes a full minute or two. But it will remove the offending spines.

The paddles of nopal can be skinned then the green center diced to pea-sized cubes. I heat a pan of water to boiling then dump the cubes in for a minute. This rids of cactus of the slimy texture. Rinse under cold water. Stir fry the "nopalitos" until they turn yellow or golden. Scrambled into eggs (Nopalitos con huevos revueltos) is maybe my favorite scrambled eggs preparation.


Having fish? Fish with bones?
Have a nice ripe banana handy.
What?
Let's assume someone didn't gulp a big big bone. That's first aid time at the clinic.

Hacking, gagging coughing.
Bite off an inch of the banana
Form it round with your tongue
Then swallow
95% of the time this fixes the problem
If not, a second try is sure to work.

Both of the above were shown to me by Mexican matriarchs.


Great going navegator! To be in Mexico is fabulous. To partake of unique foods is to come even closer to the country and the people. Jesus says to me. "Vamanos! Let's go! You can have your tacos al pastor!"