HOLY COW. I've been to passed through Flagstaff once before and all I noticed was the snow and rail road tracks. After a quick Yelp search I found this gem-Tinderbox Kitchen and Annex. I'm talking some delicious pork belly (with blue cheese grits, spiced apple sauce and honey), beautiful seared scallops (with parsnips, turnips and brussels' sprouts), and lovely shrimp and grits (with polenta and some chimichurri sauce). This place was packing big flavor for such a sleepy, small college town. If this was in a big city, it would absolutely be able to hold its own. *drool*
Now you may be asking, why didn't you just go straight across through Wyoming and Utah back to Cali? Well, because that would be too easy, plus my dad had a senior pass to enter state parks (remember?) So I figured we should use it and what better place than the friggen Grand Canyon!
Look how grand!
Fun Fact: The Grand Canyon is the home to a fleet of rehabilitated California Condors. While we were there we were able to see a dude with an old TV antenna looking thing (whats that?!) searching for the where'abouts of some recently released condors. Each condor has a little band on their wing (I like to think of it as natures equivalent of a Tiffany's Tennis Bracelet) and each bird's band has a special frequency that allows rangers to tell which bird is near!
Look at that grandness!
Fun Fact: California Condors are almost twice the size of a Turkey Vulture.
Another Fun Fact: Because Turkey Vultures are smaller, they're not big enough to support the weight of a band like the Condors (boo, no Tiffany's bracelet for them!) But thats okay cause unlike the Condor, Vultures have historically be more resilient when it comes to the whole endangered business.
I convinced the parentals to hang out till sunset so we could catch.......
....this beauty! I have to tell you, golden hour anywhere is my favorite place to be.
This picture ^above^ does a pretty good job at summarizing how I felt about the Grand Canyon. It's so majestic and wonderous and beautiful but the whole time theres a big wire bar in front of you or a big slab of concrete behind you. And ya'de'da I understand the whole safety aspect of it but when I want to be one with nature I really want to be part of nature! I'm still glad we went though, check that off the bucket list!
Onward to Vegas! Now if you know me, you know that Vegas is not really my scene. But the parentals had a wedding to go to so of course I tagged along and was lucky enough to have my crazy best friend meet me there!
Woah. Cool. This is Vegas?
People watching + Margs + my Bestie + Making new friends= An afternoon well spent
I am a sucker for dinner and a show, cue the Tournament of Kings! Bestie is a big fan of horses and I'm a big fan of making a fool of myself, cue front row seats in the basement of Excalibur's horse arena chalked full of fair maidens and wizards! I have no regrets, thats' Vegas right?
Off the strip we go, to a tiny strip mall near Vegas's "Asian Town." Leave it to my dad (who, mind you is a frequent Vegas'er) to politely demand for some curry lobster. That's it there, in the back, hiding behind some steamed soy sauce fish and my already messy plate.
Oh whats that? Some Yam Sprout Greens co-mingling with some glossy steamed chicken?! Wait one second, whats that lovely thing hiding back there....
....FRIED WHITE BUNS! You guys, Chinese food literally runs through my blood and I have never seen this before. Mantou is usually eaten as a snack or a cozy snuggle buddy for roasted duck and sauce. Our Mantou was made to be...wait for it...dipped in the left over curry from the lobster! I like to think of this Mantou as the more mature older cousin of the Youtiao (basically Chinese donuts that float around in a big bowl of rice porridge). Oh, be still my chow main, lemon chicken eating heart.
On ward to L.A! The city of....really good food, to catch up with my cooking twin star cousin (Go check out this smarty pants here, really go! I'll wait...back? Okay, lets resume) Jessica and her new little guy Jams!
Rule 1: as cooking twin star cousins, when visiting one another it is your responsibility to never pass up a french bakery in order to bring freshly made yums to your other cooking twin star (mainly _(fill in the blank)_ croissants). Thank you very much Mr. Thomas Keller and your wonderful bakery!
This has to be my favorite little bun though. His onesie says "Go Green," I can't with the cuteness!
For girl time, Twin Star Cousin took us to A la minute in Orange. Liquid nitrogen ice cream just has *SCIENCE* written all over it! A perfect model for a food system plus an innovative processing step mixed in with divine flavors and add ins! Every foodists dream. There would be a picture here, naturally, but I couldn't wait. Just imagine: Salted Caramel, Orange Honey and Beets and Goat Cheese in gigantic crunchy waffle cones. I promise, it was real life!
Of course, Twin Star Cousin whipped up a magical batch of scone for us, because that is what she does. This isn't the exact recipe for the scones in the pic, but I promise they'll be just as equally delicious! (<-- Click it! I promise you wont be disappointed!)
...Cheese Curds! Now mind you, these aren't any Anoka County Fair Fried Cheese Curds, but they were pretty tasty!
And to top it off....dessert at Popbar! Customizable popsicles! Can you say, green tea pop with chocolate and almonds!? Yay!
Oh my, what a marathon of so many things! There was even food in this one! Go me! Lets' take a quick break, I promise it'll be shorter than 3 months! Till then...
Stay tuned! Stay hungry!
-Taryn Julia
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