Scents and Sensibility

Janet at The Art of Getting By asked what our favorite scents are, and which ones (beyond the obvious) would we rather not smell. So I thought I’d stick my nose in.

I make jambalaya only once or twice a year. But when it’s cooking, the kitchen fills up with this smell that’s pure heaven. Cayenne, cumin, black and white peppers, gumbo file, all combined with sizzling ham and kielbasa chunks and the holy trinity of bell peppers, onions and celery. That’s a smell.

Then again, I also love the smell of pork loin in the slow cooker, creeping its way toward a pulled pork sandwich.

Cooking pig in general, I guess. Nothing smells so good when it cooks as pork.

As for bad smells, well, there’s the smell of the oil refineries around 76 and I-95 in Pennsylvania. It always bugged me that the only way to get out of the airport was to drive through them. “Welcome to Philly! Now old your breath for the next five minutes.” It’s a hell of a first impression.

But the smell that knocks me out more than any other these days is the smell of the olive bars in supermarkets. I don’t know what it is—the olives, the stuffed grape leaves, whatever—but that’s a stench that can knock me over. And yet sometimes I must venture into it. The things I endure for fresh hummus.

Rob

UPDATE: For some reason, ferrets seem to have a different odor when they're drowsy. Sleepy Ferret Smell is a good smell indeed. It's like a yawn for the nose.