The Purple Door Kitchen: November 2014

Well.

Here I am. I’m here. I’m completely myself and then completely not myself at all. It’s been 153 days since I wrote anything on here and even longer since I’ve posted a recipe. Thank goodness that’s over! I loved (LOVED) my break from blogging. The happiest moments of my life happened on that sabbatical, you know. But I’m excited to get started again.

1. One of my best friends was married. I got to be a maid of honor for the first time in my life. :)

2. I wrapped up my little catering business with a Hello Kitty birthday cake and finished out the summer nannying.

3. I watched my favorite human being graduate from Cornell University a semester early like the genius he is.

4. I gained a best friend, a lifetime of eye-candy, the best husband a girl could ask for.

I've spent the better part of two years missing this face and everything that comes with it. I've missed his smile, and his laugh, his ridiculous jokes, his wise insight, his support, his hugs, his questions and answers. We have spent hours and days and weeks’ worth of conversation on face time and the phone. We wrote letters and emails, received and sent packages. We were pretty obsessed with each other.

So we got married. It was perfect and beautiful and I thought I would die of happiness. And now I don’t have to live without this amazing man anymore.

We went to Rome; we came home to our new little apartment. We learned what it’s like to not have to hoard minutes when having a conversation. We don’t have to cram every moment together with exciting life changing activities because who knows when the next visit will be? We don’t have to endure plane trips back and forth. No more early morning airport visits, just early morning kisses.

Anyway, enough of my gushy mushy love stuff- on to blog plans and happy happy foodie times!

I’ve spent about a week now thinking about this little corner of the internet and what I want to do with it. I don’t have a purple door anymore, should I change the name? I closed my catering business, so I have to revamp that whole idea. Change the focus? Not so many sweets, more meal recipes? Should I change my platform? I’m tired of dealing with blogger. Is this still going to just be a “hobby”? Will I eventually try and monetize this?

I had an intense conversation with the Hubster and he made a pretty good point. It was really insightful and smart; he was being thoughtful when he mentioned it. And I really didn’t like it.

He said that if I was going to do something, I should do it seriously. If I was going to blog for a hobby, that’s fine. But then it’s a hobby. If I want to really have a stellar blog that people will follow and that will grow I have to have more purpose to this whole thing. He pretty much told me to get my stuff in line and get to business already, stop talking about creating a great blog and do it already. I got a little miffed, my baby girl feelings got hurt, but as usual he was right. What’s great is that he wasn’t only right, but he set me to thinking and planning. He was right AND inspiring. Man, I hit the husband jackpot. ;)

This is my public announcement saying:

“Sorry, babe. You were right and I was pretty dumb to get defensive. This blog is going to be as awesome as I can make it and I’ll owe it to you.”

This is also a public announcement saying:

This blog is going to be as awesome as I can make it! It’s going to be super fun. I’m planning on keeping this platform and name until the end of the year, but I’ll be working behind the scenes to develop recipes, a new look, a new name and new schemes, themes, and fun times. J (I’m pretty excited) I hope to see you along the way. Until thennnn...enjoy all the instagram foodies I've been posting while I've been away. ;)

Strawberry Jam makin'

Jam favors for the wedding!

Homemade cherry pie filling. You've never put anything better in your mouth, I swear.

Typical cupcake order

A summer wedding order of mint chocolate cupcakes.

Summer is defined by tomatoes. They are like the candy of the vegetable garden.

Homemade Salsa! It was gone in a week. Geesh.

First apple of the season. It was perfection.

In addition to making 100 jars of homemade jam for wedding favors, I kinda made enough pie for 120 guests. Who needs cake when you can have fresh pie?