March 2021
Hello!
If you watch my Instagram Stories, you probably know that I had a hellish month. A few weeks ago, Portland was hit with “historical” wind and ice storms that downed a bunch of power lines in the city. At some point, over 270,000 households were without power. Our neighborhood lost power for hours at a time on multiple days, with the worst of it being a 36-hour long blackout with no electricity or heat in the freezing weather.
Now I don’t want to be dramatic, but it seemed like our intersection got some of the the worst of it. Multiple live power lines fell around the corner lot of our house. One of these live wires, after dancing around between our parked car and the house, finally got stuck underneath Erlend’s car and ignited it. We had to run out of the house at 5:30AM, underneath some live sparking wires and dangerously cracked tree branches, for fear of the car exploding and the rest of the house catching fire, too. You can read about the whole ordeal in my Instagram Story series about the incident:
But we were lucky. The fire didn’t spread to our house. Erlend, myself, and our cat were all physically safe. And after another day and a half without power and heat, the power company was able to restore our electricity.
After that, we thought the worst was over. However, the following days were a nightmare, too. The car continued to smolder and emit toxic chemicals for the next few days. But that didn’t stop crowds from coming to see it. Many neighbors were actively putting themselves in harm’s way, trying to climb in and on top of the car to take selfies and videos, ignoring and actively tearing down the the caution tape that the firefighters had left up. There was no escaping the stupidity, either—the car and the crowds were right outside my kitchen window! At the worst of it, I ended up chasing people away, crying in the middle of the street in my apron and sweatpants, telling them to stand back for their own safety and not touch anything. And still! Some of these folks had the audacity to clap back, telling me to “chill” and that “this was the most interesting thing to happen this year” and I should “be more understanding.”
Well, sure, I’m glad that my trauma was your entertainment! I’ll try and be more “understanding” as you take a photo of my burning car to post on your Facebook and Instagram accounts for your 50 followers to see!
Things finally died down when the tow truck came and hauled it away. Even then, Erlend and I were left with a pile of toxic debris to shovel and dispose of. And after an hour or so of shoveling the remaining broken glass, molten metal, and toxic slush, I collapsed inside to cry. I spent the next few days trying to get myself back into my daily routine of working out, recipe development, and attempting to cook healthy meals, only to be defeated by very inconsequential hurdles that I would have ordinarily been able to handle prior to the event. I spent the rest of the week curled up on the couch, staring at the ceiling, jumping at any loud sound outside the house, spending a fortune on takeout, and ignoring people on Instagram (which, for some reason, was being more vicious than usual—but I’ll get to that in a second).
Like I said, it was a hellish—no, absolutely shitty—month.
How are you doing?
2021: The Year The Internet Broke Hummingbird High
This upcoming November, I am coming up on my tenth year of blogging at Hummingbird High. And if you’re a steady reader, you probably know that I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how things have evolved since the beginning, what’s next, and if I should even continue blogging in the first place. And now I’m sorry to say that the events of this past month have also put things into sharper perspective. I watched far too many people disregard our trauma and stress in service of a good selfie and story to tell.
But let me rewind: I first started Hummingbird High in 2011. Back then, it was a way for me to escape the stresses of my job through baking, and to keep in touch with friends and family. You can see this intention through some of my earlier posts. Instead of focusing on the recipe, I tell stories of my work, my life, and more. I treated Hummingbird High like it was a personal journal, interspersing it with recipes I found online and in cookbooks that I’d bookmarked and attempted for myself.
Truthfully, it was only through sheer luck and accident that Hummingbird High grew to be the community and resource it is today. Thanks to my obsessive baking, I soon developed the skills and confidence to develop my own recipes. A friend of mine submitted Hummingbird High to be a contender for Saveur Magazine’s now defunct “Best Food Blog” Awards. I was then lucky to be selected as a finalist for the “Best Baking Blog” award, bringing in a plethora of folks interested in baking. A few years later, Instagram’s community managers took notice of my work and recommended @hummingbirdhigh as an account to follow, leading to even more people discovering this space. Finally, in 2017, in what seemed like light years behind my peers, I committed to a cookbook deal and blogging for Hummingbird High full-time.
When I made the shift, I actively began treating Hummingbird High as a business instead of my journal. Instead of baking the recipes I was interested in, I researched Google trends to focus on developing recipes that people were searching for. I stopped experimenting with different photography styles, angles, and props and instead just shot my food in a way I knew worked well for Instagram and Pinterest. And finally, I stopped sharing personal stories about my life. I started focusing all aspects of my blog posts on helping you bake the recipes—information about ingredients and substitutions, frequently asked questions, and troubleshooting.
And honestly, for a long time, I loved it. And a big part of me still does! I love developing the very best versions of baked goods like blueberry muffins, Toll House chocolate chip cookies, burnt basque cheesecake, and more. I love sharing all my baking knowledge with everybody, and helping folks learn to become better and more confident bakers. Even the routine food photography and styling I describe above—I love that optimizing those tasks freed up my time to make my recipes better.
Understandably, with this new focus comes a change in Hummingbird High’s audience, especially on social media. Although there are a handful of folks who have been with me since the beginning, the majority of followers are now here for my recipes. They have no idea who I am—to them, I am just some random, faceless being who publishes recipes on the internet. I would be surprised if many of them even knew what I looked like! And truthfully, for the most part, I don’t mind this shift at all. I’ve never been the world’s biggest sharer or the most extroverted individual. I actually appreciate and value the privacy that this newer audience has given me. But I will admit that it’s also led to some unexpected surprises and problems, too.
Because over the last year, I’ve increasingly been fielding emails, DMs, and comments about the “tone” of my work. I still get angry emails about this chocolate chip cookie cake recipe with the words “FUCK COVID” scrawled across it. Nearly a thousand people on Instagram unfollowed me for sharing this video of myself doing a cartwheel in response to the election results. I’ve had folks tell me off for disrespecting 911 dispatchers in my stories above, snap at me for joking about my workout routine in a recipe for dalgona coffee, and scold me for promoting weight gain stigma when I write that small batch recipes help prevent me from overindulging.
Now, I’m no stranger to rude comments on the internet. I’ve always dealt with my fair share of people being unnecessarily unkind about my work. Additionally, there are many who tell me that I “talk too much” and I just “need to shut up and get to the recipe.” But these come with the territory of being a semi-public figure on the internet. In fact, they are so ubiquitous and boring in their criticism (because to quote the great Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen, “Congratulations, you’ve found a new, not particularly original, way to say ‘shut up and cook!'”) that they barely register anymore.
But the tone policing feels new, and somehow more insidious. To me, it is indicative that many don’t realize that there is an actual human behind Hummingbird High—you know, a human being who is allowed to use colorful language and express opinions that differ from theirs. Because although I made the conscious decision to treat Hummingbird High like a business several years ago, my goal has never been to turn it into a faceless, generic recipe website with no stakes or opinions. So did I lean too hard in one direction? Or have people’s expectations on social media become impossible to navigate?
I suspect it’s the latter.
Because after experiencing the appalling and insensitive behavior of some of my neighbors this month, I’ve been critically thinking about social media and its role in my life, and, well, EVERYBODY’S life. I think that, especially thanks to the social isolation borne of last year, everybody has been inside and online for so long. We’ve all forgotten how to interact with others in a way that is meaningful—or, at the very least, not rude and offensive.
But maybe it’s just me. Because for a long time, social media—in particular, Instagram—brought me joy. It was a way to quickly share my work with my community, and to keep up with everybody’s work, too! It also seemed like Instagram made everybody so accessible. Thanks to the app, I was now connected with the bakers, cookbook authors, chefs, and even brands I’d admired for many years. We chatted about work, shared ideas, collaborated, and even became friends. And it worked for you guys, too! So many of you could now access me directly, with many of you DMing me to help troubleshoot recipes or share your versions of my recipes.
But somewhere along the way, I felt that Instagram began to get more competitive. People started exclusively sharing only the best and/or most significant moments in their lives. And with everybody’s highlight reel out on display, it created insane new standards for everybody. And all that communication also steadily eroded my work/life boundaries. More and more, I found myself answering DMs and comments at all hours of the day and night because people began treating @hummingbirdhigh as a customer support hotline.
Things got murkier when politics began to play a larger role in social media, especially after George Floyd’s death last year. Now, content creators are all supposed to, well, create content, answer everybody’s questions, AND be “perfect” humans who hold the “right” opinions and “use our platform” to advance said beliefs. But what if you didn’t agree with something we expressed? Well, that accessibility quickly became a problem, with many folks commenting and DMing to yell at us. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that I now actively brace myself every time I log into the app: “How will I be lectured, harassed, or insulted today?”
And it was one thing to expect that kind of anger around my more “controversial” posts (like this one, in which I condemned former President Trump’s decision to send federal agents to my hometown of Portland). But when I get that kind of vitriol and abuse because I decided to develop a snickerdoodle cookie recipe without cream of tartar? Yikes.
I don’t really have anything more to say other than what I’ve already said before: putting up with these crazy standards and toxic expectations feels very different from all the reasons why I started Hummingbird High in the first place. I don’t have any answers yet, but one thing I do know is that I want to spend less time on social media moving forward. I want to find better ways to connect with the folks worth connecting with outside of Instagram, and even on Hummingbird High, too. What that means yet—I’m really, really not sure. I’ve already started restricting the ability to DM me to certain hours of the day. But let me know if you have other ideas! Should I focus less on the recipes and more on the storytelling (like what you see in these monthly posts) again? Or vice versa—do I just provide the recipes without the life stories, ads, and go bankrupt? Should I start a newsletter or a substack for posts like this one? Or do I simply shrivel up and die to become reborn as a bland, opinion- and personality-less recipe developing algorithm? You tell me.
In Case You Missed It: New Recipes
And in case you missed it, I published and updated a handful of new recipes on both Hummingbird High and other websites in the past month. Here’s a round-up of everything new:
- Burnt Basque Cheesecake
- Small Batch Blueberry Muffins in The New York Times Cooking (Hummingbird High was also briefly mentioned in a New York Times article about small batch baking. They also republished my small batch blueberry muffin recipe in their cooking section! But if you’re paywalled out, check out the free version—complete with a video tutorial—on my site.)
- Strawberry Rose Snickerdoodles
- The Best Valentine’s Day Recipes on Hummingbird High (Okay, this isn’t technically a recipe, but a fun round-up of all the best Valentine’s Day baking recipes on here. Keep it bookmarked, because I plan on updating it every year!)
- Blood Orange Drizzle Cake
- Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Below are pictures of the two most popular recipes from the month—Blood Orange Drizzle Cake and Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies—to inspire you:
Food For Thought
This past month, I also spent a LOT of time thinking and reading about food beyond the baking recipes you see on this blog. Here are the ideas and issues that resonated with me:
- Recipeasly: Your Favorite Recipes Without The Ads Or Lifestories. Okay, this isn’t an article, but a tweet thread that blew up yesterday when some clueless, mediocre white man announced his new “making the world a better place” startup. The premise? Handicapping food bloggers’ capacity to earn income for developing recipes by taking their recipes (without permission, of course) and re-publishing them in his app without the ads and stories typically found on our sites (Both of which enable creators to earn literal pennies for their work; if you don’t understand how the business model of food blogging works, let me know! I’m thinking of doing a deep-dive on it… maybe in my next monthly update?). Thankfully, many people—content creators and otherwise—saw his terrible idea for what it was and provided, er, “helpful feedback” explaining how his app was unethical and basically stealing labor from a primarily women- and queer- dominated field. The responses to his tweet are definitely worth reading. My favorites include this tweet by @tnwhiskeywoman, @kittenwithawhip, and @BlueHeronFarmTX.
- “The Absurd Logic of Internet Recipe Hacks” in The Atlantic. Okay, have y’all seen that terrifying TikTok of that woman making Spaghetti-Os pie? She legit uses her FOREARMS to mash bread (that she then puts in the pie). This article talks about the rise of these nutty food videos, and why we find them equal parts gross and satisfying.
- “After Another White Food Blogger Whitewashed An Asian American Dish, People Want More Than Just Damage Control” in Buzzfeed News. If you’re a fan of food bloggers, you probably follow Tieghan of Half Baked Harvest. She recently got into trouble for culturally appropriating pho, a traditional Vietnamese dish. Honestly the whole thing is messy and complicated, and I don’t have enough space on here to explain my muddled feelings on the topic. But hit me up with your thoughts.
- “The Aspirational Appeal of Cake Mix” in Taste Cooking. A brief history of cake mix, the suspect rise of $25 “fancy” cake mix, and how cake mix still plays a role in many modern kitchens. I loved this article because yes, baking cakes from box mixes is what got me interested in baking in the first place!
- “The Power of Self-Publishing in Food Media” in Food52. This article talks about the recent trend of food writers, recipe developers, and more launching their own independent newsletters, videos, and podcasts (as opposed to relying on traditional media and social media). Honestly, I think this new shift is a result of some of the crazy expectations I myself described and was bristling against above.
Recipes and Resources To Save
And here are the recipes and cooking-related resources I saved these last few weeks:
- Looking to improve your basic cake making skills? My friend Janice wrote a wonderful blog post and tutorial on how to bake perfectly flat cakes (which you need for a perfectly even layer cake). And once you’ve built your layer cake, Whitney will teach you how to transfer the cake to a highly Instagramable cake stand! So cool. Now go and practice your new found skills with these mini chocolate and cookie dough naked layer cakes from Lindsay!
- “Here’s How To Use Brown Butter In Any Baking Recipe” in The Kitchn. Have you ever used brown butter in a dough or batter and have it come out too dry? I definitely have. But according to that article, there’s an easy fix! God bless.
- Okay, wow, these layered scallion pancraffles from Mandy at Lady and Pups tho. I turn into the heart eye emoji every time I look at them!
Finally, On A Lighthearted Note
- Have you guys heard that our neighbors to the north are currently undergoing a butter crisis? God speed, god speed.
- I don’t know if you guys know this about me, but I am low key obsessed with pizza. I can go on and on about the different pizza styles (New York versus New Haven, Sicilian versus Detroit-style versus Grandma square, and so on). But even this guide made me second guess my pizza knowledge—there are so many styles out there!
- The Cut investigates to see if this viral TikTok feta pasta (YOU know which one I’m talking about) is actually any good. Has anybody out there tried it? I’m intrigued, but also scared. I don’t know if my lactose intolerant self can handle an ENTIRE block of feta in one dish!
Okay, whew! That’s all for now, folks. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy! Please let me know how you’re doing in the comments below, and feel free to share the ideas and issues that are floating around in your heads, too.
I have been following your blog since the Saveur awards, and it is heartbreaking to see how poorly you’re treated by social media users and algorithms alike. I can’t imagine how stressful this past month has been.
These blog posts are my favorites: while I do make several of your recipes, I also just enjoy getting a look at your life and seeing what you’re reading and cooking! If you make a paid Substack I will definitely make room in my budget to subscribe (I just figured out how to use Patreon).
Hope March is much better for you!
Just here to offer some encouragement. I’m a new reader/follower, but I’ve really enjoyed your blog, recipes, and words. I can’t imagine what it’s like to receive so much negativity – I wouldn’t be strong enough for it. It does make me think more about what it means to be a good blog-consumer – I consume so much content but rarely take a second to leave a positive remark, which is shameful considering how much joy I receive from it all. I hope to help drown out the negativity moving forward 🙂
I hate that you’ve gone through so much, and had so much negativity thrown at you, simply for being you. People have never been great at being good on social media, but I think you’re right: too many people have been cooped up for so long they’ve lost some perspective.
I love your Patreon, and will of course continue to support it. But if you also want to go the Substack route I’ll follow you there, too. I don’t know if there’s a way to integrate the two; regardless, I’ll be there.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, kind, creative March.
I’m so sorry for everything you’ve been having to go through lately. I’ve also observed a general lack of thoughtfulness or even basic civility on social media. I think the one-dimensional nature of social media (especially on Instagram) leads people to make snap judgments and sweeping assumptions without realizing there’s a real human there. It’s also wild to observe people shout “UNFOLLOW” or the like when a creator expresses a different opinion from their own (usually over the most harmless thing). We are all people learning as we go, processing as we live — but there isn’t the space for that on a platform like Instagram. It takes me back to Guy deBord (our fave lol): our relationships to each other are mediated through images and fragments instead of personal connections.
It’s also really sad to see the culture of “doing it for the ‘gram” seep into truly dangerous and traumatic moments, like what happened in the aftermath of Erlend’s car catching fire.
Personally I love your writing and hearing your perspective on all things food, whether it’s a recipe, a neat trick to getting a pastry to set right, etc. Like Ren, I too enjoy your round-ups with snippets of trends, what you’re reading, what caught your eye, etc. I also want you to find joy in what you do, though! You’ve created an awesome community and built a stunning repertoire of recipes out of a lot of unknowns and with trusting your intuition. Even as the landscape changes, I’ve followed along as you’ve grown to be a proven creative, innovator, and entrepreneur. Those are the kinds of skills and traits that will outlive any social media trend or platform <3
I’m sure I won’t be the only person leaving this note, but I LOVE when bloggers share their stories for their recipes. It adds a personal note, and I think about it when I cook, and oftentimes I tie bloggers stories into my own life, thinking how I can recreate their fun memory on my own. It helps me connect to the writer, which is so important to me, and gives meaning to the food. Food and cooking is about connecting to people, and I honestly get sad if bloggers don’t share enough context or background! I think all true cooks and lovers of food feel this way. It’s so much more than the recipe—it’s the person behind it that matters too. It’s exactly why generational recipes are so special—it’s not only delicious, but there’s a history that people tie it too. Never stop telling your story!
Several years ago I cooked through Molly Yeh’s cookbook, and it felt like I found a friend in her! I learned her go-to ingredients, funny life stories, and more. I then started to notice the personalities in all my favorite cookbook and recipe writers. It felt very intimate and special, and to me this is what stands out over time. I love how Claire Saffitz is insanely specific, detailed, and reassuring , Alison Roman can be a bit fun, snarky, but never serious. I love your bright, unique photography—I recognize that signature contrast anywhere—and how you really think about the regular, weeknight baker.
Long message to say, your stories as a baker are what make you you! Please don’t stop doing that!
I am so so sorry that the world is full of assholes and idiots. I know it’s not my fault, but it’s so unnecessary and a really crappy direction to go when we all should be embracing and celebrating creative folks. I personally have enjoyed your blog and my family and I LOVE your cookbook. I don’t know what Substack is, but I’ll subscribe (cuz you gotta eat) and keep enjoying and encouraging you to do what your heart tells you. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s the best decision FOR YOU. We’ll be ok, no matter what direction you go in.
So sorry Michelle that you have had to deal with such awful and disrespectful people, and with such hurtful comments. I’ve been following your blog for quite awhile, and follow you on IG, and love your individual, unique, intelligent, and compassionate voice, and of course your recipes!
Hopefully you will not let the mean and wackadoodle people stop you from expressing yourself. Everyone’s comments here are so well stated. Hopefully they will provide you with some comfort and solace, and will encourage you to continue…
The internet and social media are easy ways for cowardly, controlling, and bullying people to anonymously spew their bile and venom, without caring about the consequences, or about the harm and pain that their actions cause those to whom they are directed.
Please keep being true to yourself, as difficult as that might sometimes be. Take care!
I’ve been a longtime follower and I absolutely love you cookbook. The last few years, and especially in 2020, I cut back on which blogs I follow and how much social media I use. I keep following you because your recipes are great but more importantly you seem great. Especially when it comes to food blogs I want the personal stories and the face behind the site – I can get a peanut butter cookie recipe anywhere, but I prefer sites with people I like.
But the internet is a weird and creepy and aggressive place (I’m in marketing and basically live online for work) and boundaries/walking away are more and more understandable these days.
Speaking of peanut butter cookies, our offer on a house got accepted last night (AHH, first time home buyer freaking out right now!) and my first though was “I need cookies to celebrate” so I mixed up the cookies at 9:30pm and I cannot wait to have one with lunch while making my giant “we got a house, now what?” list. And better than supernatural brownies are likely going to be the first thing I bake in the new house.
Your February was a lot! I watched the flaming car situation unfold on your IG stories and that was horrifying! I’m really sorry you went through that and I am so glad you and your fiance are okay. Cars are replaceable, you are not! You eat all the takeout you need!
As for where to go with your site, that’s such a tough question. I think it helps to do some reflection about why you have the website and what is the goal for your website. I spent a good month at the beginning of 2020 doing that. Sometimes it helps to do those bullet lists of “what are my goals” “what have I accomplished” “what did I miss out on” and to try and do an introspective look at which aspects bring you joy or money or neither to find the right path of balance. I say this but I regularly have meltdowns where I’m crying over what’s the point and I”m too late and there are 1 million scone recipes on the internet so why bother, lol! Sometimes I make myself powerpoint presentations with slides to map out accomplishments, failures, what I wanted to do vs what I actually did, and it helps me adjust things.
I can’t even begin to grasp how many comments and DMs and emails you must get though. I’m a tiny fish and so I don’t get much of that, if any, but I can see how it can quickly take over life. Some bloggers have completely turned off DMs on Instagram, which seems not ideal either. I would try and find an intern or a part-time assistant who could manage them and weed through it to find the ones that do deserve your attention and to eliminate the rude/mean comments that are draining you. But that’s also potentially another expense….
I love your blog content, even with the changes you’ve made. I think they’ve become more and more helpful. There’s so much info in your posts so I think there’s something for everybody: a recipe for those that *just* want the recipe, and the rest for those that want to go a little further and understand the whys behind the recipe. Also your muffins are VERY impressive and all of your recipe content is so beautiful! I love your style and you are so creative with flavours and the way you decorate your cakes. I’m always floored by what you do!
P.S. thank you for sharing links to my blog with your readers!
I love the idea of a written retrospective including what I’ve accomplished. Another commenter mentioned something similar about how it’s important to remember that, too. It can be easy to lose sight of progress with the constant negativity!
I love your site!! I’ve been with you even before the Saveur awards. It’s your storytelling I love and as a bonus, your recipes I make with success!!! I’m so sorry people can be so horrible. You are such a “thoughtful” person, and I’m not sure that there is sense to be made. Some people can just be horrible. Put up your boundaries, be true to yourself and we’ll stay with you regardless!!!
Take care!!!
i feel the strongest urge to light all the crappy people as on fire as your poor car was.
and as far as “rambling on” goes, my sister and i share the same opinion: whoever comes up with the recipes, develops the recipes, tests the recipes, retests the recipes, styles and photographs the recipes, gets to tell their whole goddamn life story as far as we’re concerned. YOU did the work. YOU allow others to benefit from it. YOU get to present it however you wish, and screw anyone who thinks they’re entitled to only the “best” of you.
thank you for your work. <3
I am very sorry you’re dealing with so much negativity. What is wrong with people these days? I still subscribe to the “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” mantra. I really hope people can find something more positive to do in their lives.
Hi Michelle,
I am so sorry for what you are going through right now. I’m glad you and Erlend are ok. All I can say is for every person out there who is there to capitalize on your pain for their 5 seconds of social media attention, I’m sure there’s also someone who is here not just to consume your recipes but to hear your voice. I have been following you since I think you posted the recipe of the bomb cyclone cake, and I think your honesty and genuine attempt to address the needs of like every modification/question out there and provide context for what you make is what sets you apart from other food bloggers. I do understand that there is a certain pressure to create relevant content that will generate interest and all that since you do this full time. But it’s okay to not be okay and don’t feel like you have to have it all together and placate the internet trolls/jerks. You are amazing at what you do! I guess that’s just a longwinded way of saying, “you rock don’t ever change!”
Hang in there! I love your recipes and beautiful pictures. I think your “small batch” approach is genius! I have great respect for anyone that has the courage to put themselves out there. I am a professional chef with over 20 years of experience who is also trying to promote myself. Don’t let a bunch of douchebag idiots mess with your joy or your genius. Kindness will come back around. I feel it already.
Just wanted to say sorry about your hellish start of the year. I hope the rest of the year is MUCH MUCH better. I’ve been a follower of yours since the beginning of your blog and I enjoy the personal stories and the recipes, both.
I hope you find a sustainable way to do what you love & earn money while doing it.
Oh Michelle, I’m so sorry this month has been so shitty to you. You’ve been through the wringer and deserve a tender, sensitive, delicious break from all of the crap. I love your blog and your social media posts, your presence and beautiful recipes are reassuring and inspirational. Hold steady, and let me know if you want me to have a whack at some internet people for you *cracks knuckles*. I’m home all day, baking out of your beautiful book, I’ve got plenty of time to show up for you if you need.
Just tripped over from Smitten Kitchen and good grief you got troubles! What is with people these days? I live in Nova Scotia, Canada (are we having a butter shortage -yikes) but during the last five or six months if bloggers didn’t at least mention an emotion about the sad state of affairs I didn’t read them anymore. I don’t care if you build doll houses or create art out of garbage or make gorgeous food – I want to know you’re a human. So it goes without saying that I will be reading your chatty stuff as well as recipes – probably more. You sound cool even if currently beleaguered and I’ll be back.
Hi Michelle,
I wish I could give you a big hug right now! I am new-ish to your world but I wanted to give you some encouragement to keep going and to keep your head held high. Don’t let the Insta-Morons get you down; think of this as the darkness before the dawn.
I’ve found that when everything gets too complicated and the outside world is too damn mean it helps me to simplify. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Think back to the passion you had when you first started Hummingbird High and try to recapture that. Don’t worry about pleasing complete strangers on Instagram who will chew you up and spit you out without a moment’s notice – please yourself. Think purely about what you want to do, what you want to say, what YOU want to accomplish and do that. Put “earplugs” in and “blinders” to social media on and do what makes you happy. I know you know all of this, but sometimes it helps to have a complete stranger living across the country tell you.
Full disclosure: my motivation may be a little selfish – I NEED YOU. Your recipes have gotten me through some tough times lately and I don’t want you to stop. I love the way your mind works! I love reading all of the details of the techniques you use (and WHY you use them!) to create the very best of the best baked goods out there. I will never use another chocolate chip again because of you (only chopped chocolate for me!) and I am a much better baker for it. Just knowing you’re guiding me through, step by step, every recipe is so comforting and I need you!
Chin up, girlie. I feel your pain, I really do. But it seems like you’ve got some really great people in your corner here and we need you to ignore the haters and all the horrible annoying posts on social media and keep going. You are loved.
Hey Michelle, I’m one of your OG followers, I’ve been admiring your baking since 2013! That is so unbelievably shitty that people were taking selfies next to your burning car, and then not even APOLOGIZING after you told them to stop? What world are we living in??
I guess you could consider removing the ability to comment on your recipe posts. While it would eliminate the kind or helpful feedback you get, it would also eliminate the ability for people to complain about how your snickerdoodle recipe isn’t truly authentic without cream of tartar, plus the constant questions about substitutions etc. that you already write out in great detail on every post! It helps to put up boundaries, and food bloggers are often a warm, helpful bunch that want to respond to every user, but if it’s ruining your sanity, it’s not worth it.
Hi Michelle! I’ve been following along here for years and your blog has been my favorite. I think/hope I’ve commented this before, but I come not just for the recipes but for the posts. (Of course the recipes are fantastic too, you’re my most reliable online recipe resource and I’ve never pre-ordered a cookbook so fast). So many of your posts resonate deeply with me, sometimes it feels like you’re my older sister guiding me through the tumult of my 20s (and now early 30s gahhh). I’ve shared your posts with my younger sisters to help show them they’re not alone as they navigate early adulthood and post-college life. I’m really sorry this year has been so rough for you, and I’m grateful that you’re still sharing this space with us. I’ve loved watching the space open up from recipes to more general life stuff, including the monthly recaps. Keep doing what feels right for you, and know that we’ll still be here.