Docking the Canyon, Pt 2, It tastes like burning
Toroweap Outlook by Kantiki
Story - Docking the Canyon, Pt 2, It tastes like burning: Before getting flushed outta the Grand Canyon, my brother Skybreak and I ran into a different problem. We were running out of food and water. Now, we're pretty hardy survivors and we'd rationed for a few days... but the end was in sight. We decided to take one last hike in the canyon, then cook up an actual feast with our remaining rations.
On our hike, I joked with Skybreak about the chipmunk that he'd been hallucinating for days. He would shout out, "Oh, there it is!" Then, when I went to look, he'd add, "Oh, no, it's gone." The Ghost Chipmunk had been a source of laughter for days. I was a little sad when I actually caught sight of the little bugger on our last day. It really was quick. As soon as it knew we'd spotted it, the Ghost Chipmunk darted back into the red rocks of the canyon.
In the desert, your water consumption goes up by about four or six times that of what you'd drink within the safe confines of a temperate city. While the afternoon rains brought a bit of coolness, and definitely extended our stay out on the rocks and ridges of the canyon, we still cut off our adventures early.
Our main remaining dry rations were a bag of dry rice, a bag of dry beans, and Skybreak's portable spice cabin. What we didn't have was any actual firewood. Nothing to worry about, we had matches and we were in the desert. Pouring half of our remaining water rations into the pot with the rice and beans, we began gathering any dry burnables to put under the pot. We cleared a large circle around the makeshift cooking pit, then wrapped all the burnables in paper and sprinkled a nice layer of matches onto the pit.
It was guaranteed to light on fire.
The question was how much fire?
Only one way to find out. Skybreak and I both lit matches and tossed them into the pit. This is what we have since referred to as "the flashcooking incident", primarily in reference to the pillar of fire that formed in the firepit. For all we knew, the pot itself could be melting in the middle of those flames. After more than a minute, the fire calmed down enough so that we could see the pot and know it wasn't melting.
Skybreak, armed with the hiker's most important item--a towel--was able to pop the lid off, add spices and stir the tasty treats inside of it. I was worried about how it'd taste, especially when considering the adverse conditions behind its preparation. I was wrong. With a hefty portion of nomz gathered onto my plate, and the first spoonful in my mouth, I had nothing more to say other than, "It tastes like burning!"
These were the best damned beans 'n rice that I've ever had! Granted, Skybreak's cooking is known far 'n wide, but damn. They'd been flashcooked for less than ten minutes... 'n they were the last of our food. It was time to go.
You won't find this recipe in a book. It'd require a flamethrower.
Related Entries:
• Docking the Canyon, Pt 1, They call this a road
• Docking the Canyon, Pt 3, Flushed
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Metric - Gold Guns Girls (NiT GriT & Stephan Jacobs Remix)
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