Brimming with change.  

If I could return to the wee hours of January 1st, 2020 and stamp a title on the year ahead, those three words would depict the following months far better than anything else I might have scribbled in the still-crisp pages of my journal.  Thankfully, I had no such premonition, because the magnitude and plethora of this year’s mutations have been challenging enough when taken *somewhat* in stride. 

I have never been a great fan of change.  I love the coziness and security of a routine.  Yet, here I am, just about to jump into another puddle of newness.  Because motherhood, pandemic-hood, and familial moves and additions were not quite enough.  

I began the adventure of food blogging when I was seventeen.  SEVENTEEN.  I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that I have been typing away on the internet for my entire adulthood.  Sure, I am only in my (mid? late?) twenties now, but there has been a whole lot of growing and shifting in those eight years.  In its genesis, my space was a mere Tumblr blog.  My header was designed from stock art.  My writing…. unoriginal and inauthentic, and yet, very authentic, because - as any good coming-of-age story so charmingly reflects - I was not myself-enough for authenticity to be authentic.  And if that sentence is not confusing enough to be poetic well, then, I suppose I am not the mildly-indie soul I fancied myself. 

This is the rambling way of stating that branding yourself is hard, but it is especially challenging when you are seventeen with a brimming SAT vocabulary and little internet speak.  

I still love ‘Pedantic Foodie’ - the moniker which so aptly tied up my passion for precision, perfection, and fanaticism.  That said, we evolve, and I have felt that the brand no longer held me as cozily as it once had. 

As I have inched out of manic fastidiousness and into deep breaths, late dinners, and just a very genuine appreciation for life’s simple delights, the branding of this blog has become less and less…me.  

It’s been nearly a year of waffling but now, with pink hair and a baby in arms, I think I have mustered the courage to evolve. 

Goodbye, Pedantic Foodie - that shrine to edible precision and perfection.  You will always hold a cherished place in my pastry-loving heart.

Hello, to the space Pedantic Foodie has slowly become home to - not so foreign, just a fresh coat of paint on the familiar front door.  This freshly-painted space has been reinitiated and devoted to making the every day exquisite.  Maybe that is a really good piece of shortbread…or maybe that is homemade croissants.  Cheers to doing whatever we fancy with a bit of everyday flourish. 

Making every snack a symphony, every bite beautiful, and every plate a fete. 

Welcome to Plate Fete.  

Sincerely, 

Ashlyn