When I was a kid, my parents drove us through New Orleans on our way to Florida for vacation. One morning, my little brother in tow, they snaked us through a boozy sex-stained French Quarter heading for breakfast. When we rounded our last corner, the air came alive for me. Between us and the crowds huddled under the striped awning was a hazy cloud, the smell of grease and chicory burning my nose. I stumbled forward into the fog and suddenly the air was sweet and sticky, the heat condensing it onto my face and arms. Cafe du Monde was powdering beignets, and breeze was turning that corner into a Willy Wonka snowglobe of sugar.
That memory defines me. I had mastered raw oysters as a toddler and knew how to handle an escargot clamp before I could write, but few things surpass my fascination with flour, sugar, and fat.
Purple House Dirt was the name of my blog, and I was a food blogger at the very beginning of the blogging craze. I kept up the blog and a high engagement with the community for about 4 years. The photos are some of my favorite work from that time, but the blog is no longer accessible.
I was the creative director, author, editor, and photographer for Purple House Dirt. Web development and site management was handled by Todd Wallar.
While Purple House Dirt never achieved the viral visibility of some higher profile blogs, there were a number of opportunities and connections that arose from this ongoing project:
My Lovage Spritzer recipe and post was published in the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook
My focus on Alice Medrich's out-of-print masterpiece Cookies and Brownies got the attention of the author herself, who enlisted me to test recipes for her Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Cookies cookbook.
Dear Detroit was picked up by the Detroit Free Press
Justin Marx, CEO of MarxFood.com invited me to create a recipe to coincide with the publication of Food and Wine Magazine's feature on his amazing company. Chicken and Spelt Stroopwafels was the glorious result of that partnership.
The overwhelming success of Will Bake for Food is directly attributed to the community of food bloggers I met while an active blogger myself.