What I Love, #2

The olfactory edition of things I love:

I love the smell of jacaranda trees. There is a short stretch of 183rd Street, near my parents' house, that is lined with jacarandas. They bloom suddenly and with violently purple flowers in the spring, and the smell is completely overwhelming. I miss those trees.

I love the smell of strawberries just after they are washed. Strawberries are one of the few foods that I will eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. It's amazing that I'm not allergic to them, I've eaten so many in my life. I adore strawberries, fresh, frozen, baked, pureed, in ice cream ... yum.

I love the smell of ragu after it's been cooking for five hours. The smell of success! It's also the most complex, deep smell, something that can't be achieved unless all five of those hours are invested. It's a commitment, but so worth it.

I love the smell of Dior Fahrenheit, it reminds me of Dear John. I've been talking about him a lot lately, I'm not sure why. As soon as I catch a whiff of Fahrenheit, I am immediately reminded of him, the good, the bad, the drama, the mundane.

I love the smell of Acqua di Gio by Giorgio Armani, it doesn't remind me of anyone. I only like the men's scent, not the women's. I'm very much biased towards men who smell like Acqua di Gio, for no reason other than the fact that it smells like springtime and rain and freshness and deliciousness.

I love the smell of rice cooking. When rice is bubbling away in a ricecooker, steaming, just before it is fully cooked, it suddenly smells wonderful. I am hungry about two seconds after I can smell cooking rice, it's that powerful to me. It probably helps that I really love rice.

I love the smell of a freshly poured glass of red wine, before it develops its real scent, when it's still tangy and shallow. I don't like to drink the wine until it's had a chance to breathe, but I like the smell of it while it's still suffocating. Odd, yes.

I love the smell of synthetic engine oil, it reminds me of my dad. He has explained the different between traditional and synthetic oil to be many times, but I still don't have it quite clear. I do like the smell of the synthetic stuff, though- metallic and unctuous, and not at all bad.

I love the smell of cheese. I love cheese! I really like the smell of cold Brie, room-temperature Camembert, and slightly melted grated Parmigiano, just before it's cooled into crisp-chewy cheese crackers. Cheese is glorious. I feel nothing but pain for lactose-intolerant people in the world.


It's amazing how evocative different smells are. I've always had a very good sense of smell, and it's strongly tied to memory- one whiff of a certain combination of scents and I'm immediately taken back to whatever moment it was that I am reminded of.

This exercise, listing what I love, is sort of working. I keep thinking of things that I like, rather than spending time fretting about things that are frustrating or annoying.

I've started doing yoga, so that's probably helping, too, though I'm half asleep when I put myself through the paces at 7:00 in the morning.

Carrying on over here, trying not to freak out about turning 28 in a week and half....