What is it about certain smells that evoke such strong and immediate memories or sensations? Case in point, I just opened up a bottle of white vinegar and got one whiff. Immediately, my brain translates into Easter Egg dyeing. Something about that smell just makes me think of dying Easter Eggs.
BTW, the vinegar was for steaming the iron. My iron decided to spew icky stuff out of it yesterday, which it does from time to time. I think it’s all the stuff in our water. I always fill the iron with water and use steam to iron Tim’s clothes for work. After a while, I think deposits and stuff in our water build up in the iron, for it “throws up” from time to time. I use an old trick of Dodie’s – steaming the iron with a strong concentrate of vinegar and water. I hope it works. If not, I’ll be out the door later to get a new iron.
Back to the smells. Coffee is one of the other two that springs to mind. Most of my life, I never liked the smell of coffee. Growing up, I was around it. Worked around it and even made huge pots of it when I worked in a restaurant. Been many times to Cups or some such coffee spot with Tim and friends and couldn’t stand the smell. Then, suddenly, out of the blue, last summer, it actually started smelling good to me. Smelling coffee brewing in our kitchen is now incredibly comforting to me. It reminds me of Tim, it reminds me of home, and it’s an incredibly warm fuzzy for me. Smelling it in a store or coffee house is a very heady experience for me now, too. 
The other smell I can think of is a bad one. And, like the coffee, it’s one that I used to have a completely different reaction to, when I smelled it. Growing up, I have always loved red meat. Still do, love to eat it once its cooked. But, in the last few years, I have had a growing dislike for seeing and smelling red meat when it’s raw. I think it’s something about the blood. It just totally disgusts and nauseates me now. Has really made me feel sick to my stomach to open up a ziplock of red meat and smell that smell. Ick. Makes me sick just thinking about it.
OK, time to end on a good note. I have a chicken stew in the crockpot. It’s already starting to smell good, and I know that by late this afternoon, it’s going to smell divine. It’s one of those comfort foods that I love to make in the winter. And, it makes me so happy when Tim walks in the door and smells it (he has an incredible nose, and a very intuitive palate too, he can pick out seasonings, foods, etc in all kinds of food) – Tim will walk in after work, and say “wow, that smells good. Is that x or y” — and most of the time, he’s right! 🙂 He loves to come in and smell fresh bread baking too. Another favorite scent.
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