Magnolia Beach

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Stuffed

I just got in from dinner at La antigua. I got the enchilades verdes again even though I had avocado for lunch AND I got L’s guacamole. I think I should cut myself off from avocado for a few days, but I have two left at home. 🙂

To my delight, my enchilades were better than the first time I had them! There was less green sauce and what was there was less cilantroey. Usually a dish isn’t as good the second time around, so this was a nice surprise.

L had fajitas and we both had a beer, meaning that with the damn chips we’re served at the beginning, we were stuffed coming out of there. Next time I go there, I will tell them, “No chips!!!”.

We toyed with the idea of going to the Saltwater Saloon for another beer and a game of shuffleboard, but neither of us was in the mood to consume anything else tonight.

I’ve decided to take the plains route back to Canada, so he and I will be seeing each other again when I drive through Wichita. I was promised the house to myself for a few hours so I can use the tub. That almost makes me want to go back to Canada. Almost. 😀

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Writing Day

This grey cold day wound up being perfect inspiration. I haven’t sat down to write for several hours in a row since the days I was finishing up Full-Time RVing in Canada.

There are no words to describe what it felt like to have the right words flow effortlessly out of me like that. It’s still a little too soon to make an official announcement about this ebook, but I’m hoping to do so during the next week. I’ve talked about it so much that it will be nice to have something concrete to show for all that talk! Right now, I have three quarters of a solid first draft and a quarter of a very rough beta draft. 🙂

I’m going to finish my current chapter, then call it a day. L invited me out to dinner at a location of my choice (“It’s Saturday night, we have to go out”) so we’re heading to La antigua at 6:00. I had avocado for lunch, so I don’t know yet if I’ll be having green enchiladas or something new. 🙂

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A Homey Day

Today was really low key. It’s a chilly and windy out there, so I’ve stayed in. An invasion force of pterodactyl-like pelicans landed this morning and have been providing Neelix and me with entertainment all day.

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Caroline and her husband came by in the afternoon to tour the rig. Her husband gave me his thoughts on how and where I could add a giant monitor to my office setup. The number one thing keeping me from doing so is that I want to run the monitor off DC, not AC, so that I don’t have to turn on the inverter. He said that it’s doable so I’m going to do a bit more research on that.

Caroline had a nice present for me, a cross-stitch project that she’ll never get to, so I’ve already started on that and will continue tonight with a movie. I found a DVD with eight surprisingly good movies on it for just $5 at Walmart and have been watching one a night. It’ll be nice to have something to keep my hands busy in the evenings now.

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Nopal

Tonight, I cooked up the nopal, or cactus paddle, that I bought the other day.

I took Melissa’s advice, cut it up like a fan leaving the bottom attached, and then seared it in my cast iron pan.

Removing the spines wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I just scraped a sharp knife along the top and then wiped the nopal on both sides with a damp paper towel.

Removing the spines wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just scraped a sharp knife along the top and then wiped the nopal on both sides with a damp paper towel.

Searing nicely next to a really good pork chop.

Searing nicely next to a really good pork chop.

Tomate, carne de cerdo con limón y pimienta negra, nopal y arroz.

Tomate, carne de cerdo con limón y pimienta negra, nopal y arroz.

I thought that my palate had been around the block once or twice, but it had never met nopal before. My first reaction to the stuff was that it could not possibly be of this world. Both the texture and taste were complete alien. The texture is so odd, both mucilaginous (slimy, like okra) and crisp. The taste doesn’t even come close to green beans. It’s fresh, but a little sour.

Truth? I have no idea what I think of nopal, but I was not able to finish what I had on my plate. My taste buds were in complete overload.