I'm obsessed with purple in nature. Right now, fields and leaves are rusting into deep purple. I see a purple rain of farmer's market vegetables: cauliflower, carrots, Peruvian potatoes, yams, radishes and of course eggplant. Purple is the color of royalty, but it's also a sneaky disrupter. Add purple to a pastel bouquet or dinner plate and it looks sexy and subversive. I once knew a teenager, Alice, who painted her room from floor to ceiling in dark purple. Surely she'd appreciate the rebellious cauliflower above.