by the Stuffed-to-the-Gills Musette

So…the frenzy of Christmas (in the US) is done.  Whew!  Ours was very quiet, which was great.  I have spent way too many years stressing myself into a spasm over the Perfection of the Presentation.  One holiday I took a look at it and realized that it was a weird form of aggression, so I cut it out. Such relief.  The food is  good and my house is clean but if the dishes aren’t perfectly matched and I don’t always have the good silver out, guess what?  My guests still seem to have a good time.  Better yet?  So do I.

Which brings me to the point of this post – sorta.   Okay, not yet but roll with me here – I’m still in a food-coma.

We haven’t focused on big-time gifts in a long time.  We have nearly everything we need and a whole lot of what we want, so getting tons of stuff is just …more stuff.  I mentioned on Ann’s post yesterday that I got one of those Posh Pocket crossword books and was over the moon!  I am an inveterate crossworder and those books are perfect for throwing in your handbag.   I was a happy girl!

What I have focused on in the past decade?  The food!  And guess what?  Everybody else does, too!  We ate like porkrinds yesterday – breakfast was a huge affair, with Pork Products Unlimited (pigs fear me), latkes, cheese souffle, home made yeasted waffles (just take a minute and consider the calorie count of what I just listed there) pots and pots of good, dark coffee and fresh-squeezed OJ ….oh, it was wonderful.

After breakfast, El O broke out the ham, which had been brining in ginger ale and garlic overnight – we got that in the oven for a sloooooow bake  for dinner.  Scalloped potatoes, spinach souffle, homemade Parker House rolls, green beans from this summer’s garden, my mother’s corn pudding…..ah, joy.  Miette double chocolate cake.  Sublime. We count no carbs on Christmas, we just walk a lot, hoping to stave off the poundage with brisk movement.  And every. single. person. we ran into in our small burg talked about….Food!  What they made, what they ate, what they wished so-and-so would quit making because it sucks sooo bad…..all aspects of chowing down were discussed, from one end of town to the other.   Several of my neighbors were unrepentant is revealing the multiple dinners they would  happily ingest that day, often  from the same table!   Leftovers Rule!! Everyone’s eyes shone, as they described some heirloom dish, passed down through the generations, that their own grandchildren are now enjoying each holiday.   The continuity of family and community seems to be so much through food.  Go on Facebook today, see what the bulk of your friends are posting.  I’ll bet it’s mostly food.  Chatted with friends this morning (Boxing Day) – we did not talk about gifts.  We talked about what we ate yesterday.  The Italian pork roast (oh, good grief!  my heart nearly stopped with desire)… chicken meatballs with spinach (and a spirited discussion over the merits of fennel seed  therein (I’m a fennel gal, meself) sweet potato v. pumpkin pie, chocolate, peppermint, red velvet……El O’s cub was here yesterday, having spent Christmas Eve at his mother’s.  No talk of ‘what he got’ .  Instead, pictures of the groaning board, with a beautiful crown roast and this really strange dish with grapes and whipped topping that was kinda freaky-looking – but they love it!  It’s a family tradition.  He brought his best friend to both houses and it reminded me:  food tastes much better shared.

And we are family here…so I wanna know ALLLL about it!  What did you guys EAT?  What are your  fun/goofy/great food traditions?  (mine is:  if you take the last of the corn pudding that’s in the fridge I will Bite you so hard you will cry!).  Are you known for a special dish?  Or are you the one who Brings the Milk?  My cousin is required to bring her mamma’s tamales, no matter what the occasion.  Another friend, whose cooking runs counter to the rural community she just moved to, has been asked to bring the milk to community gatherings – I guess that tofu lasagne didn’t go over too well…

Can’t wait to hear about it.  You can also tell me what perfume you wore: mine was Diaghilev, which was a perfect scent for yesterday’s cooking and eating and walking extravaganza.  Tomorrow it’s back to work.  And oatmeal.  sigh.   I’m wearing Mitsouko to prepare for it.

image:  tolkienlibrary.net

By March

I rooted around in the collection of vials and decants sitting near my computer, I haven’t done a random candy samples review in forever!

Also:  I’m thinking we should do another Swapmania, in June, maybe?  I promise not to do it on a holiday weekend this time.  Would you funsters prefer June or July?  Or never again?  OK, on to the reviews…

Jo Malone Earl Grey & Cucumber cologne: one of the new JM tea scents.  If you can smell either tea or cucumber here, your nose is more discerning than mine.  Seriously, this could be anything summer-musky out of a splash bottle.  This could be Estee Lauder Pure Linen Paradise Eau Légère. Or possibly Marc Jacobs Biscotti Breeze.

Jo Malone Assam & Grapefruit cologne: another one of the tea scents.  Man, am I glad I didn’t buy this unsniffed.  Thanks, Anita, I owe you.  For the first seventeen seconds it smells great – not a ton of grapefruit, more citrus, and a lovely tea note.  Fortunately my internet connection’s kind of slow, so by the time I started surfing for bottles, maybe five minutes later, all the fun tea and citrus had disappeared and I was left with whatever they’re putting in the Earl Grey & Cuke bottle above, only more in the direction of D&G Light Blue.  Apologies to anyone who just had their breakfast spoiled.  Also, I wish they’d make a Light Blue Light (lite?) flanker.  See, I told you I had crap taste.

Roja Dove Diaghilev – I went off to read more about Ballets Russes impresario Sergei Diaghilev but wound up reading about Nijinsky instead (they were lovers), then got distracted by details like: “Then Nijinsky went back to the Mariinsky Theatre, but was dismissed for appearing on-stage during a performance as Albrecht in Giselle wearing tights without the modesty trunks obligatory for male dancers in the company. The Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna complained that his appearance was obscene…”

Eh, where were we?  Oh.  How’s the perfume?  Well… I agree with Anita that it’s kind of a hybrid of (new) Femme and Mitsouko, the scent Diaghilev is either supposed to have worn himself or sprayed on the curtains before performances, or maybe both.  I’m kind of a sucker for Roja Dove’s retro scents, and if I didn’t have Femme or Mitsouko I’d have ponied up for one of the thousand bottles of this limited edition.  It’s a lot like Mitsouko, only with a strong sweaty note, more peach, and less … fangs.  Sadly, Diaghilev is sold out on the Roja Dove website.  I already have Femme and Mitsouko, though, so I’m not crying myself to sleep.

Cartier L’Heure Fougueuse – call me lazy, or crazy, but when you release a slew of fragrances and they’re all named “L’Heure (something or other),” I can’t remember which ones I liked.  I finally got around to trying Fougueuse, which came out later than the first batch, right?  This is “the spirited hour,” composed by Mathilde Laurent around a “horse-mane accord,” notes are bergamot, magnolia, horse-mane note, green notes, lavender, floral notes, Maté, Vetiver, musk, oakmoss, leather.

I throw up my hands, okay?   I agree this is totally worth smelling — because it’s phenomenally weird.  Does nobody else find it bizarre, as strange as Dzing! only maybe even more so?  Here’s my personal list of notes as Fougueuse unfolded, since I gave up trying to construct any sort of reasonable review:

I sure didn’t sniff it and think, meh, I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve smelled that.  It’s unisex, to the degree that eraser dust and horse can be defined thusly.  I’m not sure it’s right for me (I guess I’ll stick to smelling like damp earth or moldy crypt, thanks very much) but if you find the general crossroads of, say, Dzing, Bulgari Black and Fleur de Narcisse appealing…

March

by Musette

When we were in our 20s (back in the Jefferson administration)  my galpals and I  fantasized about our married coworkers’ lives -a permanent partner for Chinese food and Friday Movies, sex every night, total validation on Valentine’s Day…and the cessation of the ignominy of the Blind Date.  One by one, we entered into couplehood, thinking our problems were all behind us, especially the Blind Date.

Then came an even scarier Event: Couples Blind Dating.   When you’re single, blind dating is weird enough – but usually it’s just between you and the date.   But once you are a couple, you end up occasionally dating other couples – folks you Might Not Know But Your Partner Does.   And the stakes are often higher.  Is this an old pal? A friend from work? A Business Connection?  What a pain.  Now try it when you’re older than dirt, you’ve worked all day and you are NOT in the mood.  What do you wear?  I struggled with this in the 20 minutes I had to throw on some lipstick and a heavier jacket  (it was a night to stay in with a hot cocoa and a good book, not go gallivanting off to dinner with strangers).  I toyed with the idea of my new love, Diaghilev but  if the night sucked CheezWhiz  I would be stuck with the association.  Mitsouko was out of the question – I’m working on softening my mien, not ramping up the terror quotient.   I needed a comfy scent that would remind me of me, in case I hated every aspect of them, but a perfume I could kick to the curb for awhile if the association was too tiresome.

I chose Bas de Soie. Just so ya know, this is NOT a review of Bas de Soie.   I think I’ve already reviewed it but in case I didn’t, here it is, in a nutshell:  I like it.  It’s got a facet that I find compelling/slightly irritating (which is the compelling part, I think)…but even though I really like it, I have no emotional attachment to it.  Vi-ola!   A perfect ‘sacrifice’ scent.  I threw it on, it was great – nobody sneezed or threw up and it kept me engaged through the whole evening, which turned out just fine, btw – they’re nice people and I liked them enough to hope they thought I was nice people, too.  But if it had icked out I could’ve shelved Bas de Soie for a few months with nary a tear.

On the way home  I started wondering ‘what scents would I be willing to sacrifice, should a particular occasion blow up in my face?’   Not throwaway scents; these sacrifices would be scents you like/love that you could rely upon to get you through a potentially challenging situation but if it turned ugly it wouldn’t kill you to retire that scent for a long time (this is of particular importance for those of you who have scent/memory issues ).   I thought about the following situations and here is a random list of what might/did/could work for me:

Cold Customer Meeting: Hermes Caleche. It’s confident and ladylike, with a coolness that gives pause…but its very aloofness means I could box it on the way-back shelf if that cold customer broke my day. Ask Caleche if it cares.  It doesn’t.

New Mother in Law: Fracas (I can’t believe I might throw Fracas under the bus; then again, I’ve had great luck with mothers in law – besides, NOBODY can keep Fracas down.  She would be back, like the Terminator)

Job Interview:  TDC Charmes and Leaves. It’s lovely.  I love it.  But it’s innocuous.  Innocuous has a way of being expendable for the time it takes to get my guts back.

Amicable divorce lawyer meeting : Calyx. It was his fave.  If it got nasty, oh well.  If not, it’s a nice memory of a nice ending.  I got lucky on that one, both with the ex and the perfume. I still wear it now and then, 20 yrs later.

Wedding of someone you adore who is Not Marrying You: Shalimar perfume/extrait. It can take the hit and Lord knows, if you put enough on and  wrangle even a quick hug, the wedding night will have ‘you’ all over it.  Grab a slow dance and your aura might stick around through the honeymoon.  Not that I would know anything about that kinda thing…

Lunch with an old rival: Cartier Brillante. It makes me feel thinner and slightly richer…but if it turns out that the shrike is still richer and thinner than you it can go back in its red leatherette box for a Season.  Next time you take it out maybe you will have laid off the chocolate cake!  And you’re in fundages again.  Birkin-level fundages!  It could happen!

What are your challenging occasions?  And what scents would you be willing to sacrifice if the  scent association gods demanded?

photo:  Morning Glory/flower sacrifice

by the drooling Musette

I always wonder why the term ‘diva’ has gotten such a bad rap  – maybe it always has come with that faint tinge of Puritan disapproval and I just didn’t notice it (and it wouldn’t be the first time).  But I like the word diva.  Its Latin origin means ‘goddess’ and if you think about true divas (Jessye Norman, Joan Sutherland come to mind), what it conjures is a massive, almost mystical Presence to match their incredible vocal gifts…..

…which is why I am stunned! that Roja Dove chose to name his new fragrance Diaghilev and create it to mark the Victoria & Albert Ballets Russes exhibit.   This perfume which I fell into, courtesy of WAFT by Carol, is so incredibly, lushly velvet-chypre-y,creamy, swoony-swoopy,  (pant!pant!).….my darlings, I just don’t know how to describe it.  If divas = difficult this perfume might qualify.  But the difficulty will be yours.  I defy you to wear this without incurring a Repetitive Motion Injury.  My shoulder still hurts from the 243 times I lifted my wrist to my nose in one hour alone!

Sergei D. might’ve worn it – by all accounts the impressario was an Imperious Presence – but I doubt any of his ballerinas would’ve.  Not even his prima ballerina.  It’s just a bit too hefty for a ballerina….

Oh!  Wait.    I’m an idiot.  Roja Dove is a genius.  And he’s right.  He created this in honor of an early 20^th Century ballet company. Think everything Diaghilev represented, iron will, outsized ego, Mitsouko-scented curtains.  Think Olga Spessivtseva, considered one of the greatest classical dancers of all time.  A prima ballerina.   Presence.   I see her, emerging from her bath, wrapped in a silk kimono…powdering her shoulders whilst her maid lays out her gown for dinner with a fabulously wealthy admirer….her dressing room filled to the brim with luscious deep pink roses and her chaise longue covered in a cashmere throw, vintage Bollinger on her dressing table, spraying this with abandon….. Sergei and Olga, mirror satellites of fabulousness, each needing the other to achieve the zeniths of their talents..

Shut up about the ballerinas already and get to the perfume! Sorry.  I got carried away with the Bolly and the chaise longue.  You all …..wow.  Okay. (deep breath here)…  You all know how much I adore vintage Mitsouko, right?  And you know I heart current Femme with its sexy sweat…..and Coty Chypre is one of my all-time vintage loves.  Well…imagine that those three are romping in a bed dressed in woven silk sheets and there is a LOT of 1990 Krug (with its  yeasty magnificence)…and a big silver bucket of chilled shrimp with Thousand Island dressing (I’m serious) and a flourless chocolate cake with a warm vanilla crème anglaise….and you have Diaghilev.   Carol and I agree that it is not a ‘modern’ scent at all – this is evocative of the great  50s-60s versions of Coty Chypre.  Like M. Dove I smell Mitsouko (Carol disagrees – for her more coherent review see here ) but the smoothness of vintage EDP, not the current (pre-reformulation) with its gasoline punch.  Roja Dove studied at Guerlain and you can smell the Guerlain influence in Diaghilev – the vanilla that defines Shalimar is evident in the springy roundness  of this scent, which stops just one sugar sprinkle short of crème brulee ( my favorite crèmes brulees incorporate 3 distinct things that flow together:  the bite of carmelized (nearly carbonized) sugar, the sweet followthrough of that sugar and the salty tang of the crème).  Everything about this perfume translates, for me, into ‘mouthfeel’.  Carol uses the term ‘mouthwatering’….and she’s absolutely right.  If I didn’t already adore her, I would hate her guts.   Her evocative review caused a lemming so intense it made my gums ache!  So I schemed and scrabbed and am now anxiously awaiting my leetle bit of it.  And I am willing to share a small sample with one incredibly lucky commenter. Drop a line here letting me know which perfume most conjures up ‘mouthfeel’ for you and I’ll get Pickle to pull a winner.  I doubt this rambling, screechifyin’ post has spawned any lemmings but just in case, you can purchase Diaghilev here . Two caveats:  it has one of those scary bulb atomizers and currently it only ships to the UK.  But everybody knows somebody (or knows somebody who knows somebody) who lives/works/visits London – if you are a chypre-lover this one is an absolute ‘must-try’ for you.

Notes (which I stole from Carol’s post – please do read it (way better than mine)  there’s also a link to a Roja Dove interview…he’s delightfully over the top and I think I am in love!  I carry my own blanket, too!)

top -bergamot, lemon and orange

heart – rose de mai , jasmine

base – oak moss, orris, patchouli, vanilla and vetiver

photo:  frenchchicandshabby.com some rights reserved