May Member of the Month: Bowen Close

Meet our member of the month, Bowen Close,

the blogger behind Bowen Appétit.

Bowen is a co-founder of Whisk, who is moving on to new adventures outside of Wisconsin. We’re so grateful for her time here with Whisk! You will be missed, Bowen!

What was your original motivation for your blog? What keeps you motivated?

When I was learning to cook after graduating from college, I found myself frequently adjusting recipes or finding great recipes and then completely forgetting where I found them or what changes I made. Friends and family were also starting to ask for my recipes, and a blog was a perfect solution. With a few exceptions, I continue to build my blog as my own personal recipe box – things I go back to again and again. It’s been difficult keeping the motivation through periods of moving and traveling, building a business (on top of a full-time job), and having a baby, but lately I’ve had more time to focus on my site again and I love it.

What adventurous new food or drink recipes do you hope to craft this summer?

This will be a summer of big transitions, packing up our life in Madison and heading elsewhere, and we always try to fit a lot of camping into our summers and any time we travel. The main goal this summer will be building a repertoire of delicious, seasonal, from-scratch dishes we can make over a camp stove and in kitchens in various states of packing and unpacking. Whew!

What is your favorite food-related reading (books, memoirs, blogs, etc.)?

I’m not going to include cookbooks in this list because it would be way too long – but some of my favorite food books are Tamar Adler’s An Everlasting Meal, Molly Wizenberg’s A Homemade Life and Delancey, and Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking. My current obsession is Samin Nosrat’s recently-released Salt Fat Acid Heat, which I think is required reading for any home cook looking to improve their understanding of how cooking works and how to improvise more. After nearly six years of teaching cooking classes, this is the first resource I’ve seen that I think clearly explains key cooking techniques and ingredients in a way that is clear and enthralling. I love following all the Whisk blogs, of course, and some long-time favorites are Dinner: A Love Story, Orangette, and The Wednesday Chef, among many others.

Plans for the future?

My husband is graduating this month and we’ll be moving somewhere new, but we’re still finalizing those details. We’ve had an amazing four years in Madison and there’s so much we will miss!

What will you miss about Whisk?

So much! I consider myself very lucky to have been part of such a creative and talented group. I get loads of inspiration from my fellow co-founders and all Whisk members, and I’ve loved coordinating our Madison Magazine column – seeing all those beautiful seasonal recipes and photographs!