It’s cold. Cold Season. Colds Season.
Nava has a cold. Tom has a cold. I have a cold. Patty…….Patty, do you have a cold? March. Are you still getting flooded out East? Do you have a cold? Ann, looks like you’re getting ready to get nailed with some rain as well. Bundle up!
It’s 50F here, with a 30mph wind and driving rain. Been raining all day, all night, and it feels like it’s raining all over the world….I’m channeling Brook Benton, though I live in Illinois.. (hey, did I mention I’m stoned on cold meds? ay-yup. snockered. So ….I’m a bit more babblelicious than normal. Sorry)
The majority of the Posse is down for a cold-count. And since colds usually equal stuffed noses and loss of smell…well, you know….the only thing I can smell right now is Vicks Vap-o-Rub! And peppermint tea. And Carnal Flower because, of course, you can smell that on the moon. But it has that camphory-eucalyptus silvery thread running through it, like the sea salt ribbon in Recchiuti fleur de sel caramels, which I cannot taste right now – except for the salt. Why is it that salt seems to be the last taste to go?
So here are a couple of colds-related questions: when you are sick-ish (not ‘flu’ sick, more ‘cold’ sick, like I am right now)…you can barely smell – what perfumes do you reach for? What foods work for you? I thought I would test the Vicks/Salt Theory vis a vis perfume. This is not a scientific test, as I just grabbed three scents that approximated what I was thinking of (Vicks/ Salt/Peppermint). As far as food goes, I am thinking homemade chicken noodle soup – but jeez..can you imagine smelling like that?
Vicks = Carnal Flower. Yeah, it’s a Big White flower Bomb of a scent – but what has always made this one interesting for me is that eucalyptus/camphory ribbon running through the flowers. Now that I’m all stuffed-up, all I can smell is the camphor. Love it!
Heeley Selmarine = Salt. I can’t taste much except salt right now. Hot peppers have no nuance and that’s always a bad thing. Heeley Selmarine …..mostly salt. Little bit of lemon. Perfect for a hot toddy. Wait. That’s not salt. That’s brandy. Never mind. I’m on a strict Nyquil diet and I’m stoned out of my gourd. Sorry. Hey…Nyquil and brandy….now there’s an attractive combination……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Peppermint Tea = Geranium Pour Monsieur because I always put Bergamot syrup in my peppermint tea and it smells persackly like GpM.
At this point, unless you live in Texas or some other drought-ridden place, you are probably sick of rain and stunned by the sudden drops in temperature. I see some Fried Green Tomatoes in El O’s immediate future, as there is no way these dawgs is gonna ripen before the first frost. But I have a couple of pecks of tomatoes. That’s a lot of FGTs, even for El O. Gotta do something else with them.
Any suggestions?
When I have a cold I don’t want any scents except maybe peppermint eo.
For your tomato dilemma, if you pick the green ones and wash them by hand with soap and water, dry them and put them in a cool place (garage or unheated room)wrapped in newspaper they will slowly ripen and you can have fresh tomatoes for most of the fall. My brother-in-law learned this trick from an old italian gentleman and it really works.
I love that idea. And why not? 😕 I will take a dozen or so and try this! Heck, I’mo take TWO dozen! It would be great to have ‘real’ tomatoes through autumn, wouldn’t it? I refuse to eat those awful gassed things you get in the grocery in February. I might as well eat one made of wax!
Tell you b-i-l thanks! for me!
xo >-)
So sorry you have a cold, Anita. Hope you are feeling better soon. I have no creative ideas for your poor green tomatoes. I’ve never even made or tried fried green tomatoes. (Though the movie was a hoot!)
When I’m sickish, I think I like woody scents best. The tried and true ones that aren’t too challenging. Stuff like Bois des Iles, or a woody iris like Infusion d’Iris or VC&A Bois d’Iris. Or maybe a woody fig like L’A Premier Figuier Extreme. I think sandalwood in any form is comforting to me, in particular.
And I’ll bet you smell gooood!
xo >-)
Once upon a time, I used to break up the ramen blocks and nibble them dry, like a less salty version of crunchy junk food. But I have repented my evil ways and eat only real food now. Haven’t had a cold – knock on wood! – since I got focused on real food and exercise. I do use Flonase to head off seasonal allergies, though.
It’s been SOOOO unremittingly rainy and humid here in DC that a) the news media are reporting cautionary tales of area residents hospitalized after cooking the mushrooms sprouting in their yards, which turned out to be Amanitas (death cap) b) even the mushrooms are getting moldy.
Musette, I think you could stir-fry green tomatoes with beef and onions. I’ve read that Southeast Asians actually prefer their tomatoes greenish, for tartness rather than sweetness.
I’d LOVE to see Cousin Freddie’s face when he finds out that Carnal Flower body butter has become the perfumista’s Vicks Vapo-Rub! :-)
😮
Are they insane? I only cook mushrooms foraged by someone (not me) who knows what the hell they are about! 99.9% of the time, if you live in ‘town’ (v. living in the woods) anything sprouting, mushroom-like, in your yard is b-( if not outright 8-x !!
I think Malle would be tickled pink! LOL~ he’s a businessman, first and foremost and I don’t think he would find it all that odd…:-?…it’s one of those things that is so ‘perfumista’, don’t you think?
xo >-)
ps. yes, I stir-fry green tomatoes. But right now I have so damn many of them…..
Oh, poor Posse! Get better, all you guys! :-(
Perfume for a cold: Something really strong so it can get through to my olfactory system for at least a whiff of something good. Rochas Absolu does it just fine.
Food: Top Ramen with a ton of garlic and other additives you probably don’t wanna know about. When I get sick I get what is generally known as a “p*rv*rted appetite” and I crave weird stuff, especially salty food. Okay, since you asked, I add Kraft parmesan cheese – the kind in the green canister -to my Top Ramen. Because it did NOT already have enough salt in it, apparently. :-D
A good bowl of Pho is always nice when I have a cold. Or some great curry.
Yes! A place near me has the best Pho in town, but if I am too sick to even leave the house I make my own godawful brew. :-D
b-(
but to each his own. :)>- I’m with Joanna. I make a mean, green curry and dump tons of it into chicken soup. Yum! Others *cough*El O *cough* might say otherwise…
xo >-)
That’s on the Kraft cheese on the ramen btw, not the Pho!
xo >-)
I figured. ;-)
Agree on the Top Ramen -my fav is Beef or roast beef flavor.
Once while well I made dinner for the family (and a drop in guest)Top ramen beef flavor + Beef boulioun cubes+ soy sauce + a lot of garlic + dried chantrelle mushrooms +egg and maybe some green onion and did I put some lemon juice in too? Extra sharp cheese on the side.
The guest needed to add water to his soup .I thought it tasted fine-I was around ten though..
I also like to crush up the noodle block pour over the powder and mix about 3/4 cup of sargentto 4 cheese blend (finely grated)with it and then put about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice over the dry cheese/noodle/powder seasoning. I call it Crazy Noodles as some former co-workers thought I was nuts or pregnant to eat such a thing.(maybe slightly yes to the former -no chance at all to the latter .) I blame my taste for wierd stuff on my Mom -SHE ate Boysenberry yogurt mixed with peas,Mayo,and tuna fish while she was pregnant for me.Must have done something to my taste development.
Hope everyone feels better soon !
=))
xo >-)
ROTFL – now I feel better! :-D
Allergies are getting the better of me just now. Sore throat? Check. Sinus pressure? Check. Stuffy nose? Check. Stuffy ears? Check. So – can’t hear, can’t smell, and don’t want to eat. Well, maybe ice cream. :-) Purely medicinal, you know.
As for green tomatoes, I’m with StyleSpy – pickle ’em!
Oh, you poor thing!
As discussed above, consider the saline rinse (I snort it like I was at Studio 54! ;)) – gets a lot of the ‘gunk’ out and settles the symptoms down a bit.
Ice Cream is the go-to med for nearly everything, imo!
xo >-)
When I have a cold all I want to smell is Vicks Vapo-Rub. I don’t care if it “really” works or not – it makes me feel better. Rub it on my chest and stuff it up my nose.
And all I want to taste is sweetness. Cookies mostly. Ice cream works too.
Huh. on the sweetness. See, I can’t taste ‘sweet’ at all, when I’m sick – unless it’s got a hit of salt. then I can taste it but mostly it’s just the salt (those buds on the sides of the tongue) so why bother?
I’m ^:)^ the Vicks. Like you I don’t care if it ‘really’ works – it works for me!
xo >-)
When I’m ill, no perfume. Even if I could still smell, why associate a scent with illness?
For a cold, I make up a batch of Mexican vegetable soup. Chicken stock base loaded up with garlic, onion, green chiles, tomatos, potatos, carrots, zucchini, celery. Drop little cubes of jack cheese into your bowl before eating. So healthy – and you can taste it!
You betcha! My boys are eagerly awaiting my ~:> ~o) (that’s a cup of soup 🙂 Just put the carcs on to boil and have chopped up the jalaps and cilantro…..yum!
xo >-)
Oh, meant to ask: who is the dapper, soaked gent? I like his nose. :)
I dunno…..I stole him off the Internet. I am a weasel. A thieving :@)weasel. But I was so out of it when I posted that I didn’t even think to give credit.
So….Rain-Soaked, good-nosed guy: thanks!
:”>
xo >-)
Looks like Noah Wiley from TV show ER.
I don’t think it’s him… I think NW is super-hot, but that guy’s nose, nice as it is, is not anwhere near the Magnificence of Dr. Carter’s Nose. :)
He does have a Nose, doesn’t he? Gives him gravitas. Armand Assante – another magnificent nose!
xo >-)
Armand Assante…even his name is sexy!!! I wonder what scent he’d wear?
Me.
xo >-)
I have finally put two weeks worth of cold symptoms behind me. Neti pot helped. Warm gargles. Steam bath when it got to the nagging cough phase. Lots of coffee and chai tea. For perfumes, I became obsessed for few days with the little Neil Morris Cathedral sample a wonderful person sent in last year’ s swapmania. And
Niki de Ste Phaille at night, for good dreams. :)>-
Glad you are better! I always hate being sick in clement weather. I once had the flu in perfect weather, on the beach, in Santa Monica. I felt like a mutant!
Cathedral is a great colds scent! 😡
xoxoxo >-)
Currently holding back a sinus infection that’s threatening to invade my throat, and a solo in church coming up this Sunday – Aack!! Stand Back – you miserable little microscopic particles! The Diva Wants to sing….
When I get sick, nothing seems to work so I end up just waiting it out. I started taking some supplements that support the immune system (at the advice of my GP – how cool is that?) nearly 2 years ago when I was going through a second episode of laryngitis in 6mo. Not sure what it’s done to prevent laryngigis, but I’ve hardly taken any cold or allergy medications for the past year while DH and the kids suffered.
I also just wait it out when the sniffers get blocked, but warm, sweet, sometimes spicy woodsy scents would also be my choice if anything makes it up to my brain: SSS Winter Woods/Tauer L’DDM might fit the bill. Wearing Carnal Flower when you can’t smell every penny’s worth seems a bit of an extravagance. (Ahem!)
Love fried green tomatoes, btw – Hope you all feel better soon!
a:)
You have tried sinus irrigation, right? Some saline water (body temp), snorf it right up there and hork out the ick. Sounds beyond disgusting but it really does work – and it cannot hurt you At All.
just a thought….:-? …because we, too, want The Diva To Sing!
xo >-)
Yes – part of my daily routine for years. Wouldn’t know what to do without it. Got the husband, MoIL, AND step daughter engaged as well. :)
Excellent! ^:)^
Get thee to singing, Diva!
xo >-)
I like L’eau des Hesperides by Diptyque when I’m under the weather. It’s all citrusy and herbal and peppermint, comforting and refreshing and feels clean on clamy, sickbed skin.
If you bring in those tomatoes and put them in paper bag with a ripe apple, (Like the supermarket kind) they will ripen up for you. You can also place them on a sunny window sill. If you have several plants out there still with greenies you can take the entire plant(s) out of the ground and hang them in a garage or shed, leave some of the root system and shake the soil off.
Excellent advice. Windowsill not applicable, since it’s raining and there is NO sun. But I can bring all the plants in and put them in front of the French doors (southern exposure). They will ripen and I can finish processing and be DONE for the season!
xo >-)
I meant supermaket kind of paper bag, not apple…it doesn’t matter where you get the apple. :)
;))
I knew what you meant! Luckily we have trees full of apples.
xo >-)
I too hope you all feel better soon! My habits don’t change much when I’m sick, unless as Mrs. Honey said, I can’t smell at all. And then I don’t wear anything unless I’m going out out, in which case I put on something I know well so I will know exactly how much to apply.
Thanks!
And I totally agree – go with what you know, when you’re sick!
xo >-)
I always get two ‘season change’ colds a year – one in the spring and one in the fall. Fall hasn’t really happened yet in Denver (it’s expected to be 86 here today), but it will come and so will the cold.
When I’m in the throes of a cold, I want spicy chicken soup. Homemade. With soft noodles and plenty of hot sauce to clear the sinuses (yes, folks, it really does work). I rarely ever wear a scent during the first few days of a cold because no scent can compete successfully with my Vicks Vapo-Rub aromatic aura. I don’t know if Vicks helps in any real way, but the smell takes me back to the depths of my childhood, where someone who loved me would rub it on my chest, sing me a little song, and send me off to dreamland. I lost all my family early on in life, so those are very precious memories indeed.
When I’m past the Vapo-Rub stage, I want my Max Mara. That’s my cuddle-up-sleepy-time scent and always makes me feel better.
And there is absolutely no substitute for Puffs Plus. No other tissue will do.
Ooops, I forgot. I have a suggestion for your green tomatoes. My grandmother used to make a green tomato jelly that was just yummy. I don’t seem to have the recipe anymore, but I’m sure one’s out there on the internet.
oooh! I think I could get with the jelly!
xo >-)
Also from Texas (Dallas area) so it’s still hot and dry here. wish it weren’t. Half the people I work with have a cold, so I’m doing everything I can to stay well. Fingers crossed on that. When sick, I tend to prefer soothing body lotions – lavender based, or SJP’s Lovely, which is my comfort scent. And tea. Lots of tea. yesterday I wore Wiggle’s Jasmine Verbena oil, which is a lovely calming/energizing scent, depending on what you need, and I realized it would be good for those times when one is ailing as well. Wiggle’s on etsy, strongly recommended. Hope everyone gets well soon (and that we get some more rain!)
Sending you rainy thoughts. Gonna check out Wiggle’s – if only for the fabbo name! ;))
xo >-)
Homemade chicken soup: cures the cold (sorta) and testes like home. I live in AZ; rain is just a rumor.
When StyleSpy is done with ours, I’ll have her send the rest on over to you!
xo >-)
ps. I have two ~:> carcasses on the boil as I type this. Hot peppers chopped and ready to go in. Yum!
They asked some famous chef what he ate at home, and he said, “boiled chicken.”
When Charlie Trotter first opened his eponymous restaurant (around the corner from my house) I hung out in his kitchen – was STUNNED! to find that his crew would go to the Belden Deli after work – but after hours of cuisine exquise…..a corned beef sammich sounds grand!
xo >-)
Pickle ’em. Or make relish.
Here in central Texas it’s the onset of fall allergies, made infinitely worse this year by all of the dust caused by our drought. Cold season for us happens later in the year. We would happily take some of that rain off y’all’s hands, believe me. It’s like living on a potato chip around here.
I’m a Texan, so when I have a cold I want spicy food – salsa and whatnot. If I’m not achy, just snooey, Harissa. If I am achy, I always want Ambra del Nepal, which is my snuggle scent.
I’m with you on the spicy. I’m making Thai curry chicken tonight. There will be Draining Sinuses! ;))
We’re pretty well set for water for awhile – you are welcome to what’s looming…I’ll try to blow it down your way, okay?
xo >-)
I don’t have a snuggle scent – except Mitsouko. So I guess that’s mine. It feels like I’m lying/laying under a down comforter, with an open stiletto in my hand (under the comforter). That’s actually pretty snuggly!
xo >-)
First of all – I hope ALL ya all feel better soon!
When I’m sick, I don’t want to smell or eat anything. I’m a tea drinker though, and I do want that. Also, I rub a blend of lavender, chamomile and tea tree essential oils over my sinus passages (straight e.o.’s with no problem and I have very sensitive skin – don’t try this with eucalyptus though). This has broken through solid sinus blockage in six hours.
Winter before last, I came upon the following and I swear it worked! And better yet, I didn’t get anything last winter.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/12/15/Baking-Soda-Used-to-Treat-Swine-Flu-85-Years-Ago.aspx
Need to get me some chamomile EO. :)
All of those oils are antibiotic, tea tree is anti-viral and an immune system stimulant, lavender and chamomile are analgesic and anti-inflammatory. The anti-inflammatory properties are the main reason I put the chamomile in the blend.
The traditional singers’ blend is lavender and frankincense.
Ooh, did not know that about lavender & frankincense. (Am allergic to chamomile, according to my doctor.)
Then I’ll have to get frankincense oil, too…
Oh – yes, I was once told that frankincense is beneficial to the respiratory system.
I take baking soda a lot (stress gives me indigestion and around here I have a LOT of stress 😉 I’m going to try that dosage. It should take care of both the colds AND the indigestion! ;))
I have all three of the EOs you mentioned, though I can’t easily use tea tree straight – I wonder, if I put it in just a touch of jojoba…:-?
xo >-)
A blend of all three e.o.’s in a few drops of jojoba should work. My skin hates jojoba though so I don’t use it!
I don’t know whether we’ve got colds, or if it’s just allergies. The ragweed is running rampant ’round here.
I CAN still smell stuff right now, and over the last couple of days I’ve been wearing aldehydes, of all things! Usually, when I’m just sort-of-sick, I like my comfort scents: Parfum Sacre, Shalimar Light, Mariella Burani, sometimes Le Temps d’une Fete. Lyric would be fabulous right now but I tend to save my decant for special occasions.
Right now I’m smelling vanilla! 😕 in this pre-reform Mitsouko drydown. That’s just weird…unless I put on some hand lotion???
who knows.
Doll, the roadsides are lousy with ragweed. And our harvest is in full swing, so this is a combo allergy/cold event. It doesn’t matter, though, does it? Still can’t breathe.
xo >-)
I’m so sorry to hear you all are not feeling well!
Colds, thankfully, knock wood, have not hit TN too badly yet.
Unless I’m really, reallly sick I like to both eat and smell, bracing things, especially citrus. Maybe it’s the body’s way of trying to heal itself. I also like lots of Lady Primrose Royal Extract lotion because colds seem to make my skin dry.
Hope you are all better soon! :-)
Thanks!
I wore Carnal Flower body butter last night, just for the weirdness of it (it’s not weird – I’m weird – at least right now, amping up the camphor/eucalyptus notes)
;))
xo >-)
I did NOT catch my son’s cold over the past weekend, knock on wood, and all I smelled was the Traditional Medicinals Echinacea tea I was drinking like mad so as not to catch my son’s cold.
Hope you guys all get better soon!
Excellent!!!!
I got this one, I think, from that long, 20-hr turnaround trip to NE. Probably exhaustion, coupled with whatever I might’ve picked up at the nursing home (wanna talk petri dish? b-( )
This is just an ooky cold, nothing serious. I expect to be just fine in a day or so.
xo >-)
I don’t wear perfume when I absolutely can’t smell it, but if my sense of smell is going in and out, I like something comforting. Fleur Oriental usually as this one never bothers me.
As to salt, I put that to use with a neti pot. Nasal irrigation was something I resisted for a long time, despite the fact that my regular doctor and allergist had both sent home instruction sheets. I finally gave in, and it works wonders for clearing my head. Then again, allergy shots have worked wonders. I get sick, but I don’t stay sick for long.
Nasal irrigation! ^:)^ We have one of those giant containers of salt in the bathroom and El O and I use it religiously. Keeps most colds at bay and really does help with allergies.
This one is in and out, so I’m wearing Mitsouko today, to help me deal with my pop, who is having a bit of psychosis. Mitsouko is the most comforting scent I know. Like a broadsword in a silk sheath.
xo >-)
So sorry you, Nava and Tom are under the weather. Hope you guys feel better soon. And look on the bright side: Maybe this will be the first AND last cold you have to deal with (fingers crossed) this year. No scent for me when I’m ailing; I just want to sleep, sleep, sleep it off.
What is this ‘sleep’ of which you speak? 😕
;))
xo >-)
I know, it’s a pretty foreign concept to me, too!
There was a guy at my gym who smelled like home made chicken soup. I mean exactly, and he would always seem to be on the eliptical next to the one I was using. I haven’t seen him in awhile, thank God.
When I have a cold I try to sleep a lot. Hence the big sleep scents, like Tocade and Organza.
When I get this year’s cold, and I always get at least one, I think I’ll go for some Chai I bought at the farmer’s market recently. That market has a big Indian clientele, and the chai mix is really fresh and spicy, with cardamom dominant. Kind of like one of those Ellena fragrances with lots of cardamom and a tea note. Or maybe Declaration.
Isn’t it funny how something that smells soooo good in the pot/bowl smells so b-( in other situations?
I would give a :(|) for some sleep. Alas, the New Moon means I am getting the Dreaded Call(s) from the Nursing Home. Dad is in a state, with Nazis in the parking lot (they were leaving just as I got there) and ….arm wrestling??? I’ve cleared my calendar for the next couple days…:-< That Chai sounds wonderful! xo >-)
When I’m ill –
Perfume: Any dry incense, (Avignon, UFO)
Food: Mac n cheese or Mashed potatoes
As for your green toms, hang a couple of vines of bought ripe ones beside them. If its very cold outside, bring them in to your windowsill and do the same.
Or…you could make Green Tomato Chutney/Relish.
Nobody here is chutney/relish so I will do the ripe thing – I have some ripe vines so I’ll just bring everything in. Thanks!
xo >-)
I’ve got this weird honking cough I can’t shake plus shortness of breath… off to the doctor tomorrow. Someone called my supervisor at work to tell me to go home but I said no so I was advised to sterilize my workspace when I left. Sounds paranoid but we work in a petrie dish (one giant room, several hundred people, no windows).
Wore Eau Parfumée au thé rouge. Reminds me of being sick as a kid and having to drink tea all day. And watching movies on tv all day. It’s pretty light so didn’t make me queasy.
I remember those types of work environments 😮 Petri dish is right!
Take care, sweetie. Get better.
I remember those kid-sick days, too. Don’t get many – any – of those. My customers don’t care if I have a fever of 192 – they want their parts. [-(
xo >-)