Beautiful Smells in the Mail

As a child, I was fascinated with perfume.  I loved when my Mom would give me a squirt of perfume whenever she was putting it on before going out.  My creative side lead me to concoct my own scented creations, usually involving various household products such as Comet, which I particularly loved as it made my "perfume" a lovely aqua color!

As a young adult I started having trouble wearing perfume.  It seemed they would often give me headaches or even mild temporary breathing issues.  So I didn't wear perfume for probably close to 20 years.  Even things such as scented candles or lotions seemed problematic.  This made me very sad.

However, in recent years, I've re-discovered the joy of perfume and all things scented.  I have to be a little careful, but I have learned that spray perfumes give me the most problem, and concentrated perfume oils that lack much alcohol content seem to be tolerated pretty well by my head and lungs.

I have realized during the last two years that a huge world of perfume exists out there, far beyond the cosmetics counters of department stores.  A number of companies decant small amounts (1 mL, for example) of many different perfumes, and you can sample (and wear many times from the sample vial) rare and unusual perfumes for a fraction of the cost of a bottle.  Some of the perfumes that I love most are niche perfumes sold by tiny companies or individuals.  Their perfumes are many and varied, and can often convey impressions of the most amazing specificity.  Some of the perfumes I love mostdon't even smell particularly "good" but evoke a certain mood or environment incredibly well.  There can be true artistry in perfume.

Over the last few years I have amassed an amazing collection of these perfumes, mostly in the form of decants or samples.  And still I want more!  I am constantly discovering new ones I feel absolutely compelled to try.  I love the whole process of reading about the perfumes, imagining how they would smell, then ordering them.  Even the waiting for them to arrive by mail is pleasurable.  Even when they don't work for me, I know I have something that someone else will likely want.

I have also learned that I am not alone, and that many people (not just women) are similarly addicted to perfume and related products such as bath products or candles.  There are large internet communities that discuss, share, sell, and swap their perfumes by mail.   I have met very kind and generous souls in these groups who have sent me free samples of rare and valuable perfumes just because they knew I was interested in trying them.  I have really enjoyed participating in these communities.  It is not just about the perfume, I realize, but also about connecting, and sharing, and giving, and learning about people in other states, other countries, other continents, as a result of a common interest.  I'm sure there are other common interests that have similarly brought people together from around the world (for example, as my husband can attest: antique tractors).

All of this makes me very glad that I decided to give perfume another chance.  And not just because of the considerable pleasure I derive from the product!  I'm not ready to say that perfume can change the world, but I think it can make it a little bit better place for some of us.

Haircut Psychology

I've always hated getting my hair cut. I do some misguided trimming periodically, and about twice a year steel myself for a professional cut.

As I sat in the salon today, I tried to think about my personal feelings about getting my hair cut in an attempt to combat my neuroses with logic. And I have a lot of neuroses that seem to flare in the beauty parlor chair.

The woman who cuts my hair is wonderful. She is sweet, kind, thoughtful, patient, and does a really good job. Is it her fault that I just want to get in and out of there as fast as possible, no body gets hurt? I am even too shy to tell her I don't want the scalp massage she patiently gives me. I appreciate it, but I don't particularly enjoy it, but don't want to hurt her feelings by telling her not to do it!

Another problem is (and always has been) I don't like seeing myself in the mirror while my hair is being cut, and I don't like the way my hair looks (or for that matter, how I look) when I leave the salon. I can never get home fast enough! And I never plan any social event (or even shopping) after a haircut where I might be seen by anyone other than my husband, who never seems to notice any changes in my hair for some strange reason.

Tonight I wore my glasses, hoping that taking them off while I was being shorn would make the whole process less traumatic since I would be essentially blind. I observed that I am much more talkative when I cannot see! This must be somehow related to the phenomena I notice at the beach or swimming pool: when I cannot see anyone else, I have this irrational impression that no one can see me or the various lumps and rolls pudging out from my swimsuit. Getting back to the haircut, being blind during the process made the final donning of the glasses even more traumatic, as I had some expectation, some naive hope, that this would be the miracle haircut that I immediately loved. Alas, no.

Tomorrow morning I'll wash my hair, style it, and it will look a little better than it did this morning, I think. As long as I don't analyze it too much!

Sunshine

Today was another sunny and bright day here in Wisconsin. I love sunshine, and I really love this time of year when each day brings a new sign of spring.

Tonight when we got home from work we checked the box elder trees, and were thrilled to see that each of the three buckets had about 1/2 gallon of sap in it. The sap doesn't seem particularly tasty or even sweet, but I hope by the weekend we'll have enough to start boiling.

It was also nice today to dig up a few sunchokes from the garden and use the last of the over-wintered squash. I roasted them and put them on a pizza with some of the queso blanco I made yesterday. I hope it tastes o.k.!

Later: It must not taste too bad, as my husband asked "how much am I going to have to pay for this later tonight?", referring to the high inulin content of sunchokes, which makes them "low carb", but causes certain unpleasant side effects...

New things...

This has been a weekend of trying new things, although I'm trying to keep my expectations low! There is practically no sap in the buckets we put out yesterday (but some of the tubing had popped off at some point, so it's hard to know if there was anything to lose or not).

Today I tried to make some Mexican style cheese; it seemed to turn out well, and was easy to make. It is still draining, but the texture seems correct (unlike my last attempt at cheese, which required rennet, where the curds were very small and stuck to the cheesecloth). I also tried to make ricotta from the leftover whey, which seems to have worked, although my yield is quite low.

I'm also making ravioli. I have had a pasta machine for a long time, but I used it for polymer clay and hadn't thought of making pasta with it until my friend Liz inspired me with a recipe for sage cream pecan sauce... and I actually had some sage that was somewhat fresh still in the garden! I'm letting the ravioli dry now. We'll see how they turn out....

Box Elder Syrup

We live on 40 acres of land, and I grew up with a copy of "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" on the family bookshelf. I love trying to find culinary uses for wild plants, and have eaten a lot of odd weeds over the years.

In the early spring in Wisconsin, there is not much happening in the wild plant world, but we did plant a few maple trees a few years ago, with an idea that at some point we might be able to tap them and make syrup. The trees are doing well... but it will be a while before we can tap them.

However, we do have a lot of box elder trees, which grow like weeds. My husband has been trying to get rid of a lot of them as they are crowding the oaks and other nicer trees (and they burn pretty well, also, in the fireplace).

We took a "managing your woodlands" class this spring, and learned (to my surprise) that box elders are in the Acer genus, just as maple trees are. And people do tap them for sap to make syrup!

I quickly ordered some tree tapping supplies, and today we started tapping 3 trees. The sap (which flowed quickly from two of the trees) didn't have much flavor, but after boiling it should taste a little like maple syrup.

Well see how it turns out!