Mediterranean

Just came back from a week in Southwest France (based in Toulouse). Got a lot of work done, but also had a little bit of fun. One day, we drove to Collioure, a town on the Mediterranean, very near the border with Spain. (Not surprisingly, there were LOTS of Spanish tourists!) It was a cute town:





Gina and I took a hike up to a little castle on the hill. We encountered LOTS of prickly pears, and since that was something I knew for a fact wasn't poisonous, I mentioned to Gina that the pears were edible:





They were very sweet and VERY good. Rumor has it that my uncle makes prickly pear margaritas. I can tell you that if you made a margarita with the prickly pears we ate, it would be a great success. (Isaac, in particular, would like it!)

Unfortunately, I forgot about a couple of drawbacks when you eat a cactus. You may have noticed in the picture where Gina is opening up the pear that there is a cactus spine sticking out of her right index finger. In fact, she ended up with numerous spines on her lips and tongue (we spent about 10 minutes picking them out). Next time, I think we'll use gloves and be more careful about only eating the inside of the fruit...