Friendly Friday Challenge: PURPLE

Sandy,

For the next two weeks the Friendly Friday Challenge is to post about any and all things PURPLE.

PURPLE Color

According to this site, the color purple combines the calm stability of blue with the fierce energy of red. It is a color associated with nobility, luxury, power and ambition. It is not commonly found in nature and when it does occur, like in lavender, orchids and lotus flowers, it is considered precious.

Lotus flower

Of course, not everything precious comes by nature. In my header image I feature a gorgeously restored purple and white roadster. I’m not a car enthusiast but I could not resist taking this picture. Look at that happy face!

PURPLE Prose

The first time I heard about purple prose was in a creative writing class. It’s described as over wrought, flowery language infused with misplaced metaphors and incongruously placed words which confuse clarity and distract from quintessential meaning. Ahem. Just like that.

If you read a paragraph and your eyes roll back, it’s probably purple prose. I like this article by Lucille Moncrief which defines What Is Purple Prose, Beige Prose, and Blue Language. She gives examples of purple prose and how to rewrite and untangle it. As an example, she quotes this internet famous extract from the book Twilight, written by Stephanie Meyer.

His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, Alike thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface. He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare. His glistening, pale lavender lids were shut, though of course he didn’t sleep. A perfect statue, carved in some unknown stone, smooth like marble, glittering like crystal

I admit to having read Twilight years ago. I don’t recall thinking it was that bad but maybe I wasn’t very discriminating back then. Looking at it now, I can see why it was so widely criticized. Ms. Moncrief suggests a re-write to illustrate what was wrong.

He lay still, on the grass with his shirt half-open, eyelids closed, although he did not sleep. His white skin, faintly flushed, sparkled like thousands of tiny diamonds.

Do you have an example of purple prose? Would you like to have some fun writing it? Using your most purplish prose, complete the following sentence

It was a dark and stormy night …

PURPLE Food

In the same way that purple flowers are uncommon, purple vegetables are unusual too. Even with the few purple vegetables that exist, they invariably change color when cooked. For instance, purple cabbage turns blue during cooking. I’ve heard that the secret is to add some vinegar. Do you know if it works? Tell me if you’ve tried.

My favorite purple food is eggplant, particularly the long and slender Japanese eggplant. I prefer them to the round eggplants because the flesh is milder and the texture is denser.

I like it roasted with a miso ginger glaze. (The skin turns brown when it’s cooked.) I make it in the oven, at the same time as Feta Tomato Pasta and toss it all together for a delicious, unami rich meal.

I’ve made Miso Ginger Eggplant so often that I don’t follow a specific recipe anymore.

However, if you’d like to try it, I was originally inspired by this recipe in Bon Appetit.

These are my examples of three things PURPLE – color, prose and food. Can you think of any other? Why don’t you create a post and tell us about it?

I look forward to seeing your response to the Friendly Friday Challenge: PURPLE. You have two weeks to publish your response, after which Amanda will pose a new topic. Remember to include a pingback to this post, so that I can find you. Full instructions on Friendly Friday can be found here.

Toronto, Canada. July 2021

79 Comments

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    1. It’s a great gallery of every shade of purple 🙂 One day, you have to share a Slovenian recipe using your parent’s eggplant. It’s a vegtable that I’ve learned to love.

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      1. Thank you, Sandy! 🙂 Oh, my father and his recipes… The thing is that he improvises heavily, rarely writes anything down, uses what is to be used in the kitchen, and always makes something new. I believe he and mom most often eat them rolled in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs.

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  21. I haven’t been here for a while, and I seem to have come back for an interesting topic. Miso ginger veggies is exactly what I want for dinner today, thank you. That car is a nice find, and with happy faces in it too!

    I did have some purple prose to describe something I ate off a purple plate, so here it is:

    Empty table thought

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  23. It was a dark and stormy night, although a rainbow added some colour, bright and sparkly. Like the calm before the storm, the dog, beige and cute, watchfully looked out the old window with white frames while waiting for his master to return.

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  25. When I first saw the prompt, I thought it was so unlike you to have a plain topic. But you have outdone yourself. and have come up with an excellent post, Sandy! What an amazing team we have at Friendly Fridays! I am definitely a purple prose addict at times and I am learning to be ruthless with the word razor in my work! I will post asap.

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  32. Sandy!!!! Love this<3<3 I managed to scribble a few words. I like this color a lot and I am going to be checking out the recipes for the pasta and the eggplant soon. Thanks as always for these inspirations. Hugs for a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Red and purple reminds me of the Red Hat Society. Have you ever heard of them? They are women who wear red hats with purple outfits. They get together for socials & outtings and are always eye catching as a group, just because of their colors. When you’re older, you and your friend can join or start a chapter for your area 😉

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    1. One of my writing exercises from school was to 1) free write and then 2) rewrite with half the word count. It sounds impossible but it’s very effective. While I don’t regularly do a 50% cut, I like to routinely trim 20%. Less is always more!

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