Nopal

I thought I’d force myself to take a break from all the World Cup posts so I took a pic of a nice looking nopal, it’s so old it’s starting to look like a tree. How are people supposed to break off the paddles to eat them? With ladders and sticks? This one is covered with the small white insect known as a cochineal. If you were to squish it, the insides would burst out in a flow of vibrant red, and for this very reason this lil’ bug is harvested, it’s even in that glass of Tropicana Ruby Red Grapefruit juice you just poured. Doesn’t it suck to live in a time when even fruit juice is not vegetarian? Now I understand why the nopal is part of the Mexican flag: the cactus is green, the insects are white, and their squished bodies are red, Tri-Color! Speaking of the Tri-Color, they were eliminated from the World Cup yesterday in an amazing nail-biter of a game, with Mexico scoring the 1st goal and Borgetti helping in the 2nd goal as well. They could have won it, no doubt, but they leave the games playing an inspired match, and the game winning goal in overtime by the Argentino Maxi Rodriguez was beautiful: losing to such an amazing goal is easier to handle. Oh fudge, did I just mention the World Cup again? I guess I did! Oops.