What is Bon Appétempt?

I don’t think that anyone wants to be any one thing. More than that, I think it’s impossible. Mothers can’t just be mothers. They are also daughters, sisters, partners, coworkers, bosses, cooks, writers, dancers, free-ranging animals, etc. Same with fathers. Same with your best friend. Same with the woman who runs the daycare where you send your baby. Same with your 13-month-old baby who throws tantrums for you and your husband but apparently not for the woman who runs the daycare.

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On the Monday before Christmas, I had the super cool opportunity to go to NPR’s offices in Los Angeles and record an interview with Audie Cornish for All Things Considered. I was so excited; my book would be out in six weeks, and I imagined all the people I might convert into readers who might then buy my book! Long story short, the interview never made it to air.

I don’t know how All Things Considered works, but Matt kept telling me that this happens a lot—that they cut interviews and segments when something else comes up, and since my interview was holiday-themed, it had a short window to air before Christmas anyway. But I mostly blamed myself, sure that I messed up the interview somehow; I know that I’m not exactly a precise, articulate speaker, let alone one who says things in concise sound bites. No, I usually take a moment to process a question before giving an often meandering answer.

So, a month later, when I had some phone interviews lined up to publicize the book, I decided to brush up on how to concisely and clearly answer questions about myself. Ha! What a silly notion! I really did though. Matt actually emailed me a list of questions that he thought interviewers might ask. The first one was: “What is Bon Appétempt?” (Which, of course, is a trick question because it’s both a blog and a book. Nice try, Matt!)

But now that the book has been out for a whole month and Matt’s and my big PR push (sorry, but that’s what we’ve been calling it around here) is winding down, I found myself asking the same question, although this time strictly in terms of the blog. And this is what I came up with:

Which brings us back to my original statement: I don’t think that anyone wants to be any one thing.

At my book event in Raleigh, some kind person in the audience asked me if I would continue along with the blog now that the book was out. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I think it was something along the lines of: Yes! Absolutely, yes!

In a way, this post is a longer answer to that same question. Of course I’m going to continue with Bon Appétempt. I’m obsessed with this blog and the people who read it. But this time around, I want to give myself (even more?) carte blanche to write about whatever it is I want to write about; to post whatever it is I want to post.

On the same day that I made the above pie chart in my journal, I also drew this:

Yes, I want to write about gymnastics. In fact, I have a gymnastics-related story I’m working on (more on that later). I also have two essays I wrote that I tried to place with the New York Times Magazine as part of Matt’s and my big PR push (sorry, sorry—it’s just what we called it!), but as the NYT passed on them, I am looking forward to posting them here as well.

That said, I’m positive that the future will still hold recipes, culinary adventures, miscellaneous videos, photographs, and writing. But I think the best case scenario, as far as I see it, is that one day in the not-too distant future, you’ll be reading this blog and someone will be reading it over your shoulder; and you’ll turn around, catching them in the act, and they’ll say, probably with a furrowed brow, “Bon Appétempt? What is that?”

And you’ll be like: “Honestly, I don’t even f*cking know anymore.”

See you next week, friends!