The Grand Canyon!

Whoohoo!

11th November 2013
Arizona, US
78.8 miles north of Flagstaff

Words are going to fail me and never do justice to this day so I'm simply attaching the photos to this post and letting them speak for themselves. Even then, it's just one of those places that will never have the same effect on you unless you are actually there to see it for yourself. Standing on the edge of one of the world's natural wonders with the wind in your face as you cautiously peer over the edge to see the Colorado river miles away below you is an indescribable experience. Everyone should visit the Grand Canyon.

Seasoned with Grandeur,

Jacob

Getting excited!

Super excited!

Some things make you feel like you can fly!

One of my all time favourite photos of this trip

I thought this was cool. Different hiking routes with the recommended supplies needed. I would love to do some of these!

If you look closely you can see a pod-racer bottom left...I'm joking!

The raging and wild Colorado River literally miles below.

Now, that's a view...

The vastness is hard to comprehend

"Am I really here?"

Breath taking, right? It's about ten miles to the plateau on the other side.

He, he! Now this was a surprise!

Elk at an arms reach was such a cool, unexpected thing to see.

A few for my ever growing collection...

An experience that I'll never forget.

Anyway, anybody else hungry now?

Oh, and here's a fantastic picture I thought I'd add...

The Grand Canyon from Space! Just bamboozical..

I Cook in the Mojave Desert - Part 3

 Once again, it was time to be back on the road again. However, there was still more delicious stuff to make. Helen and I made pizzas for everyone! Absolutely fantastic fun!
 A little trick that Helen does with her pizza bases is lightly oiling the pans but also sprinkling a garlic powder mix on the oil. This gives the base that perfect, light and golden crispness. When it came to toppings Helen told me off for being stingy with the pepperoni. Apparently we were making American pizzas, not English pizzas... Ha, ha! 

 If you're looking at the photos and thinking that some of the pizzas look like they ballooned a bit, that's because they did... The first ones were obviously left the longest so the carried on rising a bit. That didn't stop them tasting just great however! 
 And don't get me started on Butterfingers, let alone the ice-cream version! Some things I wish I was never introduced to...oh, boy.

Butterfinger "candy" bar

 Dear Sullivan family, thank you so much for everything you did in my stay with you all. Hopefully it won't be too long until we get to all meet up again. If ever you fancy a break from the desert and want to cool off a bit, don't hesitate pay me a visit across the blue. God bless you all!

Seasoned with some Californian sunshine,

Jacob

The pecan dessert from Part 1 with pumpkin pie
ice-cream.

Absolute deliciousness! We did a sausage pizza too. (right middle)

Double deep pan!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

I Cook in the Mojave Desert - Part 2

Oh yes, Twinkies...

 Here are some more photos of my stay with the Sullivan family in California. Making cinnamon rolls, pasta bolognese, glazed roast pork shoulder, managing to get photos in an industrial kitchen and trying the world famous Twinkie for the first time! I have to say, the Twinkie wasn't fantastic...

 For my fellow Brits who are likewise ignorant of these squidgy lumps of empty calories, or, as my favourite comedian, Tim Hawkins, put it, "deep fried hunks of trasfat and sugar", Twinkies are described on the box as "golden sponge cakes with creamy fillings". So, let me help you get a mental picture here. Imagine a cheaper than the cheapest Victoria sponge with quality far less than that of a TESCO Everyday Value type thing, take away the jam, times the preservatives to the third power, leave it uncovered for forty-eight hours and you might have something still healthier in comparison to a Twinkie. I'm pretty sure it's only the legal addictive stimulant that these kinda things are laced with that keep people coming back for more. Have a read of this story at least before you think about trying one. What a 37 Year Old Twinkie Looks Like... (And as it happens, on the radio it was announced that there was a new record set for the most amount of Twinkies consumed in six minutes: 121! That's about 20 per minute.)

My first Twinkie!

 Anyhow, check out the photos below for real food and a little surprise at the end...

Griddling pancakes. I didn't intend to make a lemon...

My mini-me

Glazing the pork...

...and the finished result!

Making a delicious bolognese sauce on a superbly large scale for well over twenty people.

It was so cool to see Worcestershire Sauce over here!

Not a masterpiece exactly but for the little hands that helped it certainly was. (In case you're wondering, that's pineapple not sweetcorn...)

The world's best cinnamon rolls! Oh my goodness...

Don't ask! It's amazing where good manners get you.

Tim at his best. The Twinkie Song!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly