Aussie visitor shares cheery nature and beef pie

People wander in and out of your life. As you move, change jobs, discover new hobbies or take a new route on your evening walk, you inevitably stumble across new people.

Some people pass by, others are bound to you by a single moment, still others stay for a season. Sometimes, they end up being a part of your life forever.

These forever friends may be your foundation, but those others that are there for a moment add color and interest to our ordinary lives. They help create a stock of memories that can be pulled out when days are rainy or the bus ride is boring or you need a good dinner party story.

During some seasonal work at a local artisan cheese company, I met Blake Bowden. He’s a slim, grinning 34-year-old who hails originally from Byron Bay, Australia, and now resides in Norwich, England.

He immediately charmed me with his humor, positive attitude and melodic accent. I would ask him to say “banana” each time we worked together (Have you heard someone from Down Under say “banana”? It’s lovely), which quickly turned into a standard greeting of “Anna Banana.” It’s annoying when Americans call me this, but when Blake said it, it was musical.

He is a career chef who spent time at London’s renowned St. John restaurant (famous for its nose-to-tail cooking ethic, before it was a thing) and was spending time in Wisconsin to learn more about cheesemaking, a calling he will pursue back in England.

As we wrapped cheese side by side for a few hours each week, we spent most of our time talking about food — piecrusts, terrines, scones — with me learning British slang words. I made him his first s’more at a campfire, which delighted him.

We had a potluck the night before he was scheduled to fly back home, and everyone brought their best dishes. I baked an autumnal apple bundt cake, there was a spicy butternut squash soup, lots of wine and whiskey, and Blake delighted us with a savory meat pie.

It’s a super-British classic that he executed perfectly with braised beef shank, a dark Wisconsin beer and the added touch of a marrow bone centered in the middle.

Blake brightened a season of my life, and I am grateful. The rest of the cheese staff and I have lovely memories and a few new stories to tell. And if I ever visit Norwich, he will show me the best pubs.

RECIPE:Blake’s Beef Pie with Sweet Onions and Stout

Anna Thomas Bates is a mother, writer and cheesemaker who lives in southern Wisconsin. Email her at tallgrasskitchen@gmail.com.