Cumin

I love curry. London is a good place for Indian food. Even the mediocre stuff is reasonably good. After years of New York's East Sixth Street for Indian, moving here made me realise how subpar the food was there -- no matter which restaurant I visited. There are lots of other types of foods that are great in the US, but Indian just wasn't among them.

I recall many visits during my mid-teen-years, with my best friend, to a place called Shabhag where we always had onion bhajis, vegetable samosas, vegetable biriani, naan and lassis. It was wonderful (but this may also have been the experience of two teenage girls getting to eat dinner on their own -- that frisson of freedom and intimacy), but I know now how vague the flavours were.

My ex-husband, who is British, called this the empire theory of food. So, in the US, things like Mexican are infinitely better than they are here, but the Indian is better here and Indonesian is very good in the Netherlands (if ever you visit Amsterdam, check out Tempo Doeloe on Utrechtsestraat).

And I am told the New York Mexican is not as good as that in Texas or California.

In fact, the Mexican food I've had here is searingly bland (is that an oxymoron?) -- no heat, little real distinction between flavours, an inability to make good guacamole.

But, even the best Indian I had in NY paled in comparison to your basic neighbourhood place here. And then I've never been to Southall in all the years I've lived here. Still, the glorious Keralan vegetarian restaurant in Stoke Newington, Rasa, always provided great taste surprises and enormous satisfaction.

Right. On to cumin in perfume, which is where comtemplating curry this morning has led me.

I love spice notes in my fragrances: cardamon and cinnamon are both appreciated. But I loooooove cumin. It's that pong lover in me. I don't know how many times I've wanted to test a fragrance because someone has said (either positively or negatively) that something has that worn knickers cumin thing going.

Cumin gives animalic in a somewhat different way than musk, civet or amber. To me, it's sharper than musk, a bit lighter than civet and and much less sweet than amber. Perhaps almost nutty as well. So, slightly sharp, slightly nutty, but still a very strong and on the good side of clean dirty, and perhaps ever so slightly manky.

It's great with the plum in Rochas Femme. It's interesting in the mostly, I find, unwearable Diptyque L'Autre, which is curry central. It was quite peculiar teamed with the cola note in a very cultish fragrance that had its five minutes of fame on the Makeup Alley fragrance board around five years ago (I can't recall the name -- I'm completely defeated on this). I know it was included in Alexander McQueen's Kingdom but I haven't ever sampled that perfume.

Where else?

It's a gentle pong in my beloved TF Scent. It's there as support in some Serge Lutens fragrances: Arabie, Cuir Mauresque and Santal de Mysore. Apparently it has a place in two great Carons, Yatagan and Le Troisieme Homme. It makes an appearance in the one Miller Harris fragrance I think is great (but wouldn't wear), L'Air de Rien.

Of the fragrances in the paragraph above, I haven't sampled Cuir Mauresque or Santal de Mysore. The rest I have and at the very least find interesting. I think Arabie would collapse into sweetness without the cumin.

I've said it a number of times on this blog and in a number of different ways: I don't like clean, innocent or gentle in my fragrances. I just don't get the attraction -- in particular of clean. Maybe I'm just hopelessly twisted. 

In any case, no gentle fragrances here. No clean. No innocent. Thank goodness and thanks to cumin.

Thank you, Mother Nature -- and some thoughts on saffron

Yesterday, it was 10 degrees here (that's 50 in farenheit). Positively balmy after what we've had recently. It rained. Who cares. I did a metaphorical happy dance as I went, comfortably, about my business.

Today, it's 10 again, and it's not raining. Hurrah!

The crocuses are up. So, we're gonna talk saffron in perfume.

Three fragrances, in fact: my adored Theo Fennell Scent, L'Artisan Safran Troublant and Ormonde Jayne Ta'if.

Three very different perfumes, the first of which I can wear; the other two I can't.

Theo Fennell Scent gets five stars from Luca Turin in The Guide. It's a very interesting review, noting that the fragrance is rather classical and does some very interesting cliff-hanging. Worth reading. The Guide's brief label for this is 'saffron musk'. On me, it has a bitter aspect (saffron can be bad sour or good sour, I find) which is just glorious, lightening the muskiness in a way that makes the perfume slightly powdery and alluring while still being profoundly animalic. Strangely, to my nose (and my pleasure), this isn't dry or musty. Rather, it lends an astringency that is profoundly attractive. Notes: saffron, cardamom, lily, rose, orchid, jasmine sambac, orange flower, cumin, cinnamon, patchouli, tonka bean, labdanum, sandalwood and benzoin (per NSTPerfume). No musk in the notes. Maybe it is the labdanum-sandalwood-benzoin combo that led LT and TS to label it saffron-musk. Maybe the cumin helps with the musky kick. In any case, gorgeous hot fragrance.

Safran Troublant is a very different saffron story. I am aware many people love this milky fragrance -- and it is beautiful on the friend to whom I ceded my sample. It is a gourmand and lots of reviews refer to rice pudding. But for me in this instance the saffron sours the milkiness in a way that is absolutely strange and almost unpleasant. What I mean is that this isn't a scrubber on me, but it becomes like a milk-based sweet that is past its sell-by date. In the vial, it had a vanillic creaminess. Not so on my skin. Notes: saffron, vanilla, sandalwood and rose (per The Perfumed Court).

As to Ormonde Jayne Ta'if: I had a number of compliments, in particular from men, when I test-drove this. It certainly is a pongy rose, with the saffron and pepper. However, while this seemed to reach some men as hot, I was smelling something slightly sour-metallic on my skin and just couldn't see my way to wearing it after around three test drives. Notes: pink pepper, saffron, dates, rose oil, freesia, orange flower absolute, jasmine, broom and amber (per MUA review by paschat).

"Vampire squid"

The title of today's post is taken from a quotation from the writer Matt Taibbi, writing about the investment bank Goldman Sachs. More fully it descibes GS as, "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity". I just think this is so wonderfully apt I had to share.

And, yes, I'm still at loose ends topic-wise. I feel on the waiting edge of things: for spring, for my decant of Eau Noire. So, I haven't been able to settle to one fragrance topic.

A few things.

I have decided that the new glasses maybe aren't so bad after all. Maybe I can work the librarian look.

I have become obsessed with the smell of anise, as the glassed back room of my house still smells of it from the fennel tea box I left out there. I replaced the fennel tea and have been thinking about perfume with anise as a note. I can't come up with many, and the one I keep returning to I never got to smell before it was discontinued (in 2006, according to NowSmellThis). Slatkin's Black Fig and Absinthe was available at Takashimaya in New York when I still lived there. I recall seeing the bottle but I never got round to sampling it. The reviews I've read are mixed, as befits such a fragrance, I think.

I had to visit the MUA reviews and NowSmellThis for more info on this. This is what is got: a lot of 'rich', 'strong', 'dark', etc. Most reviewers said there wasn't a lot of fig but certainly this smelled strongly of licorice. It's was one of those love it or hate it things -- no middle ground.

Apparently Lolita Lempicka has a strong anise aspect. I have yet to sample this but will now make the effort.

Let me know of others you are aware of, please.

But, you know having written the word 'vampire' that I couldn't post without a short bit on my newest reading material and that, to my delight, the vampires are very into smells.

Having finished the first in the series (I've got at least six more to go), I have to say the writing is very very good (I imagine the author is frighteningly articulate and takes a great deal of pleasure in what she is creating); the vampire characteristics and world are well imagined (and different from anything else I've read in the genre); and the whole thing, to my pleasure, has enough irony to keep it from tipping over into gooey sentiment.

So perfume then. Unlike Edward in The Twilight Series, the protaganist in my current read is articulate and precise in describing the smell of his beloved. Her scent, he says, is of night blooming roses. Well, to me that means lush, dark, animalic. Makes me think of Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit, which is no dewy innocent rose (roses, apricot, musk). Perfect. Agent Provocateur (roses, saffron, patchouli) comes to mind too. Ormonde Jayne Ta'if (roses, pepper, saffron again) is a maybe -- it isn't quite dark enough, I think.

But, you get the gist. A grown up smell for an adult character. Oh, and the vampires in this series like to eat strawberries -- and peaches too. So, maybe someone will smell like Mitsouko as we go along (this makes me think I'm going to have to have another go at MDCI Peche Cardinal, which I wasn't mad about first time round). And then there's Rochas Femme for plum.

Anyway, I am hoping to be able to mine my reading for more fragrant ideas over the next couple of months.

And, no, sorry, I'm not going to divulge what I'm reading. It's just way too embarrassing.

Distracted

I've had a bit of a brain (or imagination) freeze. Maybe it's because of half term and being focused on the interests of the man-cub (my son, who is off school until tomorrow). This all means I haven't managed a coherent blog entry.

According to the weather gremlins, it should rain -- heavily -- all this week. But this is mostly in combination with what I consider bearable temperatures. So, ok. However, I do wonder how the plants will come out of all this: almost four months of freezing temperatures, then at least a week of continuous rain. Am I going to have to cut everything in the garden back and let the plants concentrate on strengthening their root systems?

My perfume jones has been attended to: thanks to a lovely MUAer I will soon be in possession of a reasonable amount of Dior Eau Noire. Immortelle, burnt cumin (I don't see that in the notes list but my nose and brain say it's there): dense, syrupy -- yeah, I know that doesn't sound good, but believe me, it is, it is! One day I will possess a bottle of this, which I finally found out comes in 125, 250 and 500 ml sizes. Wow. Just ... wow.

Many thanks to the commenters who gave me book suggestions. However, I have to confess I've found another vampire series (I'm not going to say which one except that it is marketed at adults -- at least) and am going to go with that for a little while. Not really interested in other mythical creatures but vampires certainly seem to do it for me. Oh, I lie: shape-shifters are fascinating -- I've always meant to read more Tony Hillerman -- but not nearly to the same extent as vampires, not by a mile. I know it's sad, but I can't really dredge up a truly strong feeling of embarrassment.

I collected my new glasses (I've been in desperate need of new specs -- have been doing the 'take off the glasses to read small type' thing for a year now -- and ... I don't like them. I thought they looked reasonably good when I picked out the frames with my contact lenses on. I decided I needed a change from unobtrusive wire frames and picked something along the lines of sexy librarian. However, now I see I missed the mark. I think I'll be wearing my contacts somewhat more frequently...

Finally, on sillage. Walking somewhere over the past few days (they somewhat melt into each other, with highlights of lunch at the Empress of India, being turfed out of the Science Museum due to a fire alert, and having a long lovely afternoon visit with friends on Saturday), a rather average looking middle aged man walked by us at some point wafting the most glorious patchouli smell. More frequently the sillage I've gotten has been an assault rather than a pleasure: too much of anything that doesn't cover up the smell of cigarettes; too much cheap fruity-floral up too close on the bus or tube; too much bad men's cologne. So, it was wonderful to have the clean-dirt, slightly acrid smell of really good patchouli in my nose.

Off to Victoria Park

I finished a set of fennel tea bags recently and stuck the box in the small glassed in area at the back of my house where the washing machine lives. My god, does it smell good out there now. Cold wonderful licorice scent every time I put on a load of laundry.

Yesterday's activity was the Science Museum. However, we got evacuated after 45 minutes -- lots of screeching fire engines arriving soon after we'd exited. So, made for Harrods and Harvey Nicks to try to sample the new Balenciaga which has been getting so much noise. Didn't get to do that either. Managed to re-test Dior Eau Noire at Harrods, which confirmed my absolute love for this dark, glorious fragrance with its almost burnt cumin aspect. It amused me that I had to ask for the bottle, as it wasn't sitting with the other Diors. And, as she was fishing the bottle out from under the counter the very Harrods (meaning overly made up) SA 'warned' me that it was a very strong fragrance. Made me laugh. There is definitely a bottle of this some time in my future, before they discontinue it.

Today, we're off to Victoria Park. I love small journeys around London. While I've lived here for over ten years, moving from Finsbury Park, to Stoke Newington and then Stamford Hill, and now on to Cricklewood, I still get a buzz from a not-yet-experienced set of train and/or bus trips. I prefer being above ground, so I sometimes go to great lengths on the TFL website to find an overground way to get from A to B.

I've not been to this part of East London in ages. The park is great, with a decent playground, including a slide that goes round on itself.

There's an indoor climbing centre nearby -- well, nearer to Mile End -- where a friend of my son had his birthday party last summer. We won't be going there.

Victoria Park also has (or had) a small but choice shopping area. If it's still as good, we'll have a troll around.

But the focus of today journey -- by overground train and then bus -- is this: www.theempressofindia.co.uk. No, it's not an Indian restaurant (have a look at the link). It's probably the biggest of the half term treats, our food celebration. The place was very recently written up in The Times in an article profiling very nice small restaurants.

So, a window of indulgence instead of the usual Pret a Manger.

Not the fragrance of Van Gogh?

Yesterday, we went to the Van Gogh exhibition that is currently on at the Royal Academy. I was very excited about this, having heard many positive things from others who had been. Also, I hoped it was the type of 'picture' exhibition my son, who is anti painting museums, would embrace.

And, I had this idea I could put together a blog post about Van Gogh and fragrance. Not to be.

Indeed, it was the type of picture exhibition my son could enjoy. He commented several times that this was good -- and that he liked the texture of Van Gogh's paintings. He even liked the drawings and the drawings in the letters. He read the labels on each picture and then commented on it being pen and ink, gouache, oil, etc. He noticed that the paintings looked different close up vs farther away -- that you noticed the process more close up and the picture itself from a distance.

But, I was expecting to think about fragrance -- had set myself up for it -- and ended up with colour and texture instead. In some of the drawings there is slight use of colour or different medium, which surprises. The sureness with colour develops over time. And there's the texture, which becomes more pronounced as Van Gogh developed as an artist.

I found myself thinking of light, of places where changes in light make a huge difference in how you perceive them and affect mood.

The show is a very manageable size, but it was hugely crowded when we visited -- and the ticket line snakes through the courtyard of the Royal Academy. On the positive side, there were loads of kids, who didn't appear to feel they were being dragged around against their will.

I think we might go back when it isn't half term, during an afternoon after school, with the hope there will be more room for manoeuvre.

PS We visited the Burlington Arcade, next to the RA, afterwards. Had a look in the window of Laduree and mooned over the Ispahan macaroon, which is a large rosewater macaroon filled with rosewater cream and raspberries. Then, we went to Penhaligon's to procure a couple of samples of Amaranthine, which I've been meaning to try for ages. No dice. Got one of those almost useless 1/4 inch wide blotters. Hard to get a good sense of things. All I can get from it is banana and vanilla, which is not what it smelled like on the woman I smelled it on (on whom it was seriously gorgeous). So silly not to have samples of a relatively new fragrance. I'll have to try another Penhaligon's outlet and hope for samples. In any case, it appears, there's no tying fragrance in with Van Gogh today. Not at all.

Those titchy regrets

I've been distracted by half term rearrangements and thus today's post is done a bit on the fly.

Like my mother, as I've aged I've become a bath addict. It's where I think and, in the continuing cold weather, where I get myself warm enough to function.

Last night, while soaking away a day when it rained cats, dogs and rabbits, among my musings about things that need doing and tweaking, two memories wormed their way to the surface -- and then lingered ... on and on.

Years ago, when I lived in New York I participated in the annual joy known as the Barneys Warehouse Sale (I think they occur more than once a year now, but someone who lives there can comment on this). This was when there was one Barneys on 17th Street. The Warehouse Sale occurred in the autumn for a week or so in an industrial space near the actual store. You usually had to line up and wait to enter. I don't remember most of the stuff I came out with. But two items stick very stubbornly in my mind because one was truly gorgeous and I ended up giving it away (I blame this on the fog in the months after childbirth) and the other, for reasons I still kick myself over, I didn't buy.

Ah, those titchy regrets:

The former was a pair of The.Most.Gorgeous. Robert Clergerie high-heeled black lace-up shoes. These were everything to be desired in a shoe: beautifully made and balanced, so even though they were fairly high they were easy to walk in; just the right side of unusual -- sort of witch's shoes, but the sexiest, sassiest witch around, with oodles of attitude. I think they cost me, I believe, less than $50. I wore and wore them -- they were great with almost anything: jeans, filmy dresses, tailored dresses -- and especially, especially with pencil skirts. But, for reasons I will never ever ever understand now, in a clearout several months after having my son I gave them away.  This has become one of the biggest object lessons ever learned with regard to clothing and clearouts: unless it is falling apart or makes you look like something the cat didn't bother to drag in do not get rid of it -- put it away and leave it there. Revisit it when you know you are thinking clearly.

The latter Barneys sale regret I didn't buy -- and that is the regret: because the non-buying of this object showed a terrible terrible lack of imagination on my part and I pride myself on my imagination. "So, what was it", you ask, "stop stalling". Ok. It was an Yves St Laurent tuxedo jacket. It was a subtle darkest green sateen, so ever so slightly glowing (not shiny, mind). It was a bit fitted, with big lapels and it fit me like a glove. Perfect. I remember putting it on and taking it off; putting it on and taking it off. Over and over and over. It was seriously marked down -- like steeply, steeply, steeply. I've said before I'm not a big fashionista, but even I knew this was not only beautiful, it was a bit of history. I still can't fathom, it remains beyond me, what made me walk away without it.

So, is there a moral to this story? Not really. These remain the titchiest of regrets because I remind myself of all the wonderful (and infinitely more important) things that are in my life. However, I would simply say if it's beautiful and fits like a glove and your heart does a little leap while looking at yourself in it and it's marked down.down.down, then don't hesitate and don't give it away.

Sniffing in Willesden

Several Fridays ago I did a Scent Gathering in the kitchen of a large 1930s house in Willesden in north-west London. It was hosted and organised by the mother of one of my son's best mates. She and her husband run a health food store.

Virginie is somewhat averse to very chemical-smelling, mainstream fragrances, and initially when I explained to her about my site she was very sceptical.

But, in early December, she came along to an event and she was hooked. Numerous discussions followed about the fragrances I stock -- and others like them. After a while, she said she would like to host a Gathering.

She gathered together a number of friends and customers and -- over soup, cheese and wine -- we delved into around a dozen of the perfumes I stock.

The women (I have yet to have a man participate in one of these informal events -- I'm sure it will happen) introduced themselves and talked about what they've worn in perfume and smells they like. Surprisingly to me, at this Gathering, no one mentioned Chanel No 5 as a past or present fragrance preference.

We talked of what a bad idea it is to buy unsniffed and there was murmured surprise when I mentioned how many people I spoke with said they usually purchased at duty free, after sniffing the cap, or only wore perfume received as a gift.

One, Jane, had worked at Harrods and talked of walking through the fragrance hall on the way into work or back from lunch and spraying something new. She mentioned the Prada Amber fragrance as a past favourite, and YSL Opium as one of the first fragrances she ever purchased.

Virginie brought out her bottles of Guerlain Jardins de Bagatelle and Guy Laroche Fidji (Fiji) for us to smell (she'd had both for a good while but each had held up very well).

I've learned to start with the lighter fragrances and work my way towards the deeper smells. Interestingly, to me, the salty-floral Lostmarc'h scent Ael-Mat, which usually gets a lot of love, wasn't popular this time. However, there was interest in the Lostmarc'h citrus Din Dan as a good summer perfume and I Profumi di Firenze's lush, aquatic floral Magnolia Purpurea, which has been a firm favourite at past Gatherings.

But, I think the star of the evening was Hilde Soliani Stecca, which everyone was fascinated by -- even if they couldn't see their way to wearing a fragrance based around tomatoes. An adult citrus, an alternative to all the overly sweet fruity florals floating around the market.

As always, I find participants' reactions fascinating -- their pleasure at discovering these more unusual perfumes gives me a lot of pleasure. And it is interesting to observe (and participate in) their surprise at discovering they enjoy a fragrance genre that in the past they dismissed (eg, someone who has in the past gravitated towards florals finding incense-based perfumes attractive). Finally, the whole process, including participants' consistently positive feedback, reinforces in me the rightness of offering these sorts of informal gatherings as a means of widening the 'footprint', for lack of a better term, of niche perfumes.

Reading help

We are now in half term holidays, meaning I get to sleep around a half hour longer in the morning (well, lie in bed actually, as my body and the light wake me at the same old time). I'm weaving activities for my son in between work (I think I'm one of those rare creatures who actually thrives having to make my own schedule).

It also just happens (nicely, to my mind) that it's my birthday this week (I'm not going to say which day), which means we have an activity geared to that which I'm looking forward to.

All in, I'm thinking that visiting the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy tomorrow will balance out -- reasonably well -- seeing AstroBoy later in the week.

But, on to the key point of today's post: I need help. I am at a reading impasse.

I am awaiting the next Sookie Stackhouse book, which isn't out until May. I have read The Millennium Trilogy. I am awaiting two books that I've asked the library to bring in from other branches, but I am not hopeful. I keep getting books out of the library and returning them after reading 10 pages. I can't find anything I can settle to. Instead, I am rereading things I already have on my shelves (I did The Map of Love and just finished Charlotte Gray) and dipping in and out of Mandy Aftel's Essense and Alchemy (which I really need a proper holiday to get into, but that won't happen until much later this year). At the moment, the books I'm enjoying most are the ones I've been reading to my son (we've been through some stupendous Michael Morpugo and one by Soibhan Dowd called The London Eye Mystery).

An impasse, as I said.

So, please, dear blog readers, could you suggest some books for me. Nothing too arduous (ie, no Dickens and Middlemarch wouldn't work at the moment -- something I won't lose the thread of reading between working, looking after boy, etc), but a read with some substance to it. Well written too.

Just to give an idea for direction, I dislike cynical (didn't enjoy Milan Kundera) and bleak (Virgina Woolf made me itchy) -- I'm afraid I'm too much of an optimist; not at all interested in period piece stuff (someone once ceded me a Philippa Gregory book which languished on the shelf); I enjoyed the writing in a number of Tobias Hill, but gave up because he's not good at concluding his stories (ie, his endings don't hold together) and I find that annoying; I loved The Colour by Rose Tremain, but nothing else she's done has come close; I absolutely and positively adore Michael Ondaatje, including his poetry, though I thought his last book, Divisadero, didn't hold together (I still read it though).

So, a thank you in advance for any and all ideas. Tomorrow, we're back to perfume :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Here's hoping it's a pleasurable day! I got some wonderful dark chocolate covered caramels. Yum!

Winner of the give-away of a bottle of Tauer Perfumes' Lonestar Memories (by random number provided by my son) is Berenice. Congrats.

It's half term now and it looks like it might get a bit warmer late this coming week (please, please). The crocuses are trying to come up (am I correct in thinking there were fewer snowdrops this year?), my jasmine appears to be trying to counter the freeze of the past few months by making loads of new shoots.

We're doing the Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy on Tuesday, which I'll definitely be blogging about.

Loss of beauty

I'm not a big fashionista -- perfume is my thing -- but it saddened me greatly to read about the death of Alexander McQueen yesterday. From all I have read over the years, and the pictures I have seen, he appeared to be someone in whom there was depth and imagination underpinning the beautiful and strange objects he created. I'm with Katherine Hamnett on this.

I was perplexed at how banal most of the commentary from fashion personas was on the news last night. All about his genius but little expression of grief for someone supposedly so important to the industry who appeared to have been in extraordinary pain. Maybe that was shock -- I'd like to think so.

Here is a link to an article in today's Guardian which, I think, is more caring and insightful than most of what I've read:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/11/alexander-mcqueen-death-cartner-morley

The romance of reading

How about some romantic reads for your Valentine? A beautifully wrapped book [along with some samples :)] might be a truly welcome gift, especially if it's something engaging and absorbing that he or she can really get into on the train, tube or bus to work. Something that makes the commute seem less arduous might be very welcome indeed. All listed are novels.

1. Ahdaf Soueif The Map of Love. In the early 20th century a widowed English woman travels to Egypt, is fascinated by the country and finds love. That is a very narrow synopsis of a beautifully written political epic.

2. Joanne Harris Chocolat. Chocolate, magic, love -- all in France. The film, even with Johnny Depp as the male protagonist, doesn't capture the sheer intensity and pleasure of the book. You can taste the chocolate, feel the magic and, well, the romance is quite magical too.

3. Stieg Larrson The Millennium Trilogy. These are not, strictly speaking, love stories, but there are complex relationships in each one. The thing here is the writing and the place (or places) it takes you. All three books are fascinating. They can stand alone as reads, but are best read in order, I think. They'll keep you absorbed for a good while and thus would, I believe, make very welcome Valentine's Day gifts.

4. Michael Ondaatje In the Skin of a Lion. I thoroughly dislike the term 'magical realism' but Michael Ondaatje's novels seem to end up in that category. I find it impossible to provide a synopsis of this sometimes stream-of-consciousness, beautifully written and conceived prequel to The English Patient. It's a much less straight-forward book, the characters are much more interesting, and the whole concept is beautifully rendered. In fact, this is one of my all-time favourite books: politics, love, the big issues of life.

5. Lawrence Durrell The Alexandria Quartet. Four extraordinary books about the lives and inter-relationships of a loose grouping of people in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. Set before and during the second world war, there is high romance, high drama, internecine politics -- all gracefully and intricately described. Un-put-downable once you've started.

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Reminder to enter the give-away posted on Monday

Idiosyncratic ideas about romance

A quick post focusing on romance in films. Below I list five films I think are truly romantic and a little bit about why (this is obviously not exhaustive, so please don't get shirty with my choices :)).

1. John Sayles' Lone Star. A mystery, a political film and a love story all rolled into one. It's adult -- really really adult. An interesting relationship between interesting people and what I view as among cinema's truly great love scenes.

2. The Thomas Crown Affair (version with Renee Russo). Mystery, comedy and another great adult love story. Renee Russo in the black dress and a truly stupendous soundtrack. Oh, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

3. Yes. Love and politics in iambic pentameter. Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian are great together.

4. Moonstruck. A truly strange and wonderful romance. Opera and Brooklyn. Cher can act and she and Nicolas Cage work wonderfully together.

5. Up. I think I was way more enchanted by this than my son. A great relationship, grief portrayed without sentimentality, redemption -- all with attitude and balloons and strange talking dogs. And, it was completely beautiful to look at.

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Don't forget to enter Monday's drawing!

Give-away/contest number 2

From smooth and lush (last week's Il Tuo Tulipano) to spare and resinous.

As promised, a second contest with a perfume as the prize. Today's offering is a bottle of Andy Tauer's glorious leather-resinous fragrance Lonestar Memories.

In order to be entered to win please 1) be resident in the UK, 2) state in the comments section that you'd like to be entered in the drawing and 3) tell us something about the US state of Texas (also known as the lonestar state). Fear not, it can be any strange little tidbit of info you find on google.

Contest ends midnight on Friday, 12 February, with the winner posted on Valentine's Day.

So, good luck and have fun!

Contest number 1 winner

The winner of the bottle of Hilde Soliani's Il Tuo Tulipano (from a number picked at random by my son) is ... london!

Congrats! And please send along your details for posting.

Good wishes for a lovely Sunday and look out for the second Valentine's Day give-away which will be posted on Monday, 8 February.

Give-away reminder etc

A small prod to remind that this week's give-away (a bottle of Hilde Soliani's gorgeous Il Tuo Tulipano) ends tonight at midnight. So as not to miss out a chance to win see this past Monday's post (1 February). Winner of this will be posted on Sunday, 7 February.

I'm doing a scent-gathering this evening, so will report back on that next week.

Off to focus on that now.

Happy Friday!

The sweetness of giving

I desparately wanted a package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups a few days ago. I managed to restrain myself until the late afternoon and my yearning got me thinking about sweets for Valentine's Day. So, some thoughts of sweets for your sweetie (make sure you pair them with perfume to get the best impact!).

If you live in the US, you could do worse than a box with a wonderful perfume surrounded by Hersheys Kisses. Make sure you get a variety (the almond ones are great) and toss them into the bigger box to cushion your perfume.

I'm not sure where to get Kisses in the UK (I bet a google search would unearth some online provider), but little wrapped chocs (Cadburys, etc) would work the same way, though obviously not quite having the implication of a box full of Kisses.

Next up is Lindt bunnies. They're nicer chocolate and have a little bell round the neck. You can get them in different sizes to package with your perfume -- and the bells work nicely as Christmas tree ornaments for this coming December (remember where you put them, though).

My son is obsessed with Hotel Chocolat, which had a small shop at Brent Cross during the christmas period. The chocolate is reasonably good and there are lots of different types. They're online (www.hotelchocolat.co.uk) as well as having shops here and there.

It appears that The Chocolate Society is still trading (I got an email from them a week or so ago -- the website does not yet appear to be running, but you could always call the shop), which is a very good thing indeed. Truly gorgeous chocs: I would suggest a box along with some of my perfume samples.

Back to the US. Do a google search for Gayle's Chocolates. The shop is in Birmingham (I believe) in Michigan and it does the most gorgeous champagne truffles. To.Die.For.

I believe La Maison du Chocolat does chocolate-covered coffee beans in little bags -- fun and wonderful taste -- along with their scrumptious truffles and chocolates, in particular the champagne truffles.

A bit off-side, but I don't think a small box of Laduree macaroons would be rejected (again, along with some samples).

Finally, how about making your beloved chocolate fondue for dessert, with strawberries, banana slices and marshmallows for dipping? Then, you can bring out the gift of perfume as the piece de resistance -- and I expect your beloved will cover you in kisses.

PS I posted a chocolate fondue recipe a bit back. If you'd like it, please send an email with 'chocolate fondue' in the header :)

PPs Make sure to check out this past Monday's give-away post

An appropriate posy

Some brief thoughts on buying someone flowers for Valentine's Day.

Over the years, I've gotten bouquets ranging from the reddest roses to supermarket carnations, with a bit of baby's breath. I've shown appropriate appreciation for all of them. Yes, it's the thought that counts...

But, maybe try pushing the envelope a bit when you think about what to buy. I know lots of people, in particular women, love getting those long-stemmed red roses. However, TheyDon'tSmell. The fragrance has been bred out completely. It's such a shame -- and it seems the equivalent of breeding out a lion's roar.

So, some ideas, if you're going the flower direction, with a difference.

I once got a male beloved several stems of tuberose. He was a plant lover and this was straight up his alley. He talked about it for days. I know that might sound a bit unusual, but it sure got a positive response.

When I lived in Amsterdam, long ago and far away, for a few weeks of the year (I think three or four) you could get bunches of lily of the valley at the flower market and flower stalls. Mind-bendingly beautiful smell -- and, oh, to be offered a small bouquet tied with a satin ribbon. Heart-stealing.

Bulbs in a basket. A wonderful winter gift is a bit of spring. A basket of not-yet-opened hyacinth or narcissus (narcissi?) is a double gesture, as the recipient gets to enjoy the flowers (and their fragrance) and can then replant the bulbs in the ground the following autumn. These baskets are all over the place at the moment: flower stores, M&S, Waitrose.

Finally, some plants -- dwarf or otherwise. You can get varieties of jasmine, philadephus and roses that will grow happily in a pot -- and that have transporting fragrances. The scent of jasmine on a hot summer's day is sublime (the indolic the better, in my opinion).

So, if you're not going to go the way of perfume (what would make you do that -- you should add in some samples, of course), you can still give a fragrant gift.  

PS A reminder to participate in this past Monday's give-away post. You can do this until Friday midnight.

The dark side

Posts for the next two weeks will be in keeping with it being the runup to Valentine's Day, but with quirks.

Several years ago (I'm don't recall how many, but I know it was after 2005 because I had already moved to north-west London from Hackney), someone posted, on the www.makeupalley.com fragrance board, a link to an article in UK Elle magazine called, "Scents of Desire".

This is a long piece and one of the best articles on perfume I've read in the past ten years. To paraphrase the focus: perfumes to get a woman into the best kind of trouble; not light or fresh but things to get you "greedy for satin and lace".

I love a number of things about this article, which I have pasted into my big diary, where I put things I want to be able to find easily -- again and again.

1. It focuses unapologetically, and unusually, on ideas of perfumes for full grown adult women. No cutesy here.

2. It has selections from a wide range of perfume genres: oriental, floral and chypre.

3. It makes the point front and centre about being anti clean fragrances. All of the perfumes cited have a bit of rottenness to them, some pong or animalic aspect. It cites the use of ingredients such as civet, as well as amber, which is said to smell of warmed skin and women's underclothing. Also orris (iris root) described as "woody and soft, a mix of flesh, flower and earth". It points to the use of carnal flowers, such as jasmine, tuberose and narcissus.

To illustrate which perfumes reside within the dark side, the author quoted Roja Dove, now of Harrod's Haute Parfumerie. I am fascinated by his choices, some of which immediately made sense to me; some of which I found surprising.

A sampling of his "directory" includes the following (with some choice comments on his part):

Guerlain Mitsouko ("probably the closest thing you can get to the scent of a woman")

Chanel Cuir de Russie ("sex in the back of an Aston Martin")

Balmain Jolie Madame ("elegant on the outside; sexy underside")

Caron Coup de Fouet (the name of the perfume translates to 'crack of the whip')

Piguet Fracas ("its enormous tuberose makes it incredibly sultry")

Caron Bellodgia ("animalic carnation over a musky base")

It is interesting to note that he chose a number of Carons. Many perfumes from this house have been reformulated, according to Turin and Sanchez in Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, and their depth has been altered and, in some cases, removed entirely, which is sad indeed.

I was fascinated by the inclusion of Bellodgia because carnation is such an over-used flower in cheap bouquets. However, it has this arresting peppery fragrance which perhaps was used to good effect in the original Bellodgia. The version I smelled several years ago was more spicy floral than carnal, which made me slightly sad.

I own some Mitsouko perfume that isn't vintage but is reasonably old. It is exactly as Dove promises. I adore it and am taken aback by both its beauty and the heat of its sexiness every time I infrequently (so as not to use it up) wear it.

So, some fragrant Valentine's food for thought if you're the kind of person who likes to visit the dark side.

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Just a reminder of the Monday give-away post. Go have a look and gain the chance of winning a wonderful fragrance.

Valentine's contest / give-away Number 1

Happy February. This is my birthday month, besides being the month of Valentine's Day and a month that many people grumble about. Still cold and grey. They've had enough of winter, etc.

I see this as a month of possibilities, of the beginning of the shift from winter to whispers of spring. The snowdrops are up, the crocuses are coming, the daffs are thinking about it.

I promised two contests in the runup to Valentine's. This is the first.

I mentioned bulbs. The prize of Number 1 is a bottle of Hilde Soliani's Il Tuo Tulipano: fruity and floral, but in an entirely unique and adult manner. This comes in a lovely red enamel bottle. It's joyous and a bit perverse.

In order to be entered in the contest 1) you must live in the UK and 2) leave a comment on this post saying you wish to be entered in the drawing and answering the following question: What was the title of Deborah Moggach's novel about tulips published in 2000?

This contest runs to midnight on Friday, 5 February. The winner will be picked at random and posted on Sunday, 7 February.

The second contest starts on Monday, 8 February.

Good luck and have fun.