Nopales

Cactus Salsa

In November I am going to be part of an exhibition at Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego California along with my online critique group: Louise Sackett, Katherine Tyrrell, Gayle Mason, and Vivien Blackburn. 

The show is supposed to reflect the wildlife in the park. Here's a snippet from the Mission Trails website:

Mission Trails Regional Park encompasses nearly 5,800 acres of both natural and developed recreational acres. Its rugged hills, valleys and open areas represent a San Diego prior to the landing of Cabrillo in San Diego Bay in 1542. 

It has been tough for the group to come up with subject matter for the show as all but Louise lives far from the area. I live in New Hampshire, on the east coast, which seems mighty far away, but Katherine, Vivien and Gayle live even further away in England, so I am not going to complain. 

On the Mission Trails website they have listings of pretty much all the plants that live in the park. One was the prickly pear cactus (the one and only cactus in the park) which I am very grateful for! So when I went back home to Illinois this summer I visited a Mexican grocer and got myself some prickly pear cactus! I know... show in California, I live in New Hampshire and I picked up the subject in Illinois... at a grocery store. Well you do what you have to do!

So to end an unnecessarily long story, my cactus has been getting browner and browner in the fridge so I had to do this piece now! Its a collection of ingredients for Nopales Salsa! 

I'll be doing a couple of more pieces for the show soon... thanks to my stepsister Lisa who lives in San Diego and who sent me a bunch of goodies she and her son picked up for me!