We Didn’t Make S’mores

Dr. Seuss’ heavenly alter ego must have created Utah. That state, filled with impossibly deep canyons, brilliant blue skies, and deep orange sandstone rocks, is magnificently imaginative and magical. Which is why a close college friend, Alex, and I decided to take a road trip there this summer.

A few weeks ago, we loaded up my electric blue Subaru Impreza and drove from Denver to Zion and Bryce National Parks in Utah. Along with the CDs and sleeping bags, I packed marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers. Making s’mores, I imagined, would be a quintessential moment during what was likely to be the last vacation for two college friends. (In the last seven years, Alex and I had traveled to Portugal, Peru, Maine, and New Hampshire together, but she now is four and a half months pregnant.)

Zion and Bryce had other plans for our s’mores. Zion, with its daily highs of 105 degrees, melted our chocolate bars into goo before we even pitched our tent. Bryce, located at nearly 9000 feet, sent chilly nights, which begged for hot chocolate and marshmallows, not s’mores. (I took these photos before we left!)

Reality foiled my well-crafted dessert plan—and honestly, I should have seen it coming. This summer has tossed me curveballs, the least of which have had to do with camping food. In the last four months, I watched three of my closest friends get married, found myself suddenly single, and then met a wonderful man who I find endlessly impressive. I built a blueprint to start a farmer’s market cookie company next summer but decided that, in 2012, I’d rather use my entrepreneurial energy to create a garden. And I finally acknowledged that this blog needed a bit of a change. I love developing recipes and sharing the stories behind them, but my experience with global flavors is much broader than the stories I’ve been telling.

Now that I’m back from Utah, I plan to fill Big World | Small Kitchen with a variety of food stories. Some will be recipe-based, as they have been in the past—and all will continue to be laced with personal anecdotes and the flavors of the world. But in this new format, Big World | Small Kitchen will have short stories, more photos, posts without recipes, and more. These stories will be published frequently, and the future of Big World | Small Kitchen should be as versatile as our s’mores ingredients, adapting to tell the best stories. Hopefully in these tales, you will find a bit of Utah’s imaginativeness and a touch of friendship’s sweetness—both of which matter much more than making s’mores.

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