NOPALES!!!

so, let's, and when i say let's, i mean myself, be honest with ourselves here: i'm a lazy vegetarian. years ago when i stopped eating meat, my friend eric was talking about how good the salads are at the service station in norman, OK, and i thought to myself, "i may be a vegetarian, but i ain't crazy. i'm not just ordering a freaking salad!" i never said that to him though, but i thought it. cut to years later, the fascination with frozen amy's organic meals far in the past, and the boredom with every combination of veggie burger and potato long since set in, i've become an adventurous cook...but still a skeptic at the restaurant. when i was in mexico, everyone ordered the nopales (cactus) at least once at the amazing taco stand that we went to at least 7 times, everyone except me. drunk one night in a crappy mexican restaurant in my old neighborhood (and for some reason not at one of the two AMAZING mexican places in Ditmas Park, El Alamo or Cinco De Mayo), i decided to give the nopales a try, and my verdict was "wow...tastes like a bell pepper." maybe there was a sarcastic clap afterwards, like i said, i was downing negra modelos and trying to solve the mystery of Victoria beer (a tale for another day), my memory of the dinner is foggy and the only lasting sensation of that dinner is one of being underwhelmed.

so today, in my very minimal red hook ballfields weekend (one visit), i accidentally got nopales. also, btw, anyone caring to go to the ballfields and not wait in line at all for any vendor, go around 11 or 11:30. i walked right up to the huarache stand and ordered my veg. huarache con queso, and in the assemblage process, the senora making my huarache asked me repeatedly if i wanted something on my huarache, the word describing whatever that little something was being a: in espanol and b: out of my diminutive spanish lexicon. so, i replied "si," she handed me the huarache & it was loaded with sliced, grilled nopales. sweet and tart, soft but not soggy grilled nopales. it was a revalation, a welcome addition to the palate. highly recommended. also, the ballfields was turning up the volume today, and i don't mean in food quality or service quality, though both were far above par today. as i walked up to the soccer field, i could hear a loudspeaker from blocks away, and when i got there, an assemblage of teams, i assume all of the teams playing there today, were in a giant circle on the field, and the MC was holding court. i think there was a national anthem playing, my unfamiliarity with other nation's national anthem is, frankly, embarrassing.