The other day I got up early and felt inspired to bake. (I think I was having a tough week.) So I rounded up the ingredients to make one of my favorite desserts, bread pudding.
Here’s the thing: I actually like smelling bread pudding baking in the oven more than I like eating it. The combination of bread, butter and cinnamon baking is one of my favorites smells in the world. It’s comforting, it’s homey, it’s calorie-free.
And it got me thinking about how connected we are — at least emotionally — to scents.
There are smells that conjure up memories for me: Tokuhon patches, Tiger Balm, Christmas trees, mock orange blossoms, the ink from ditto machines (remember those?), carnation flowers, bread baking in the oven, Irish Spring soap, Drakkar and that smell in the air at Liberty House.
Then there are smells I just love: lemon, roasted garlic, coffee (even though I don’t drink it), toasted marshmallows, sheets right out of the dryer and puppy breath. (Oh, I can’t tell you how much I love that!)
Try as companies might, but you just can’t bottle up these nostalgic smells. Some — like philosophy’s Cinnamon Buns 3-in-1 body wash — come close. But you just can’t perfectly recreate these olfactory sensations.
So what are your favorite smells? Share them here!
***
To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].
30 Comments
Liberty House, wea dat? Nah… nah…
The smell of fresh bread baking when you drive by Love’s Bakery on Middle Street with your window down or even when you bake your own. The smell of Ginger Blossom’s and Pine when you hike up in the mountains. The smell of the clean Hawaiian air after a heavy downpour. Bad smells: well, let’s not go there but following a moped or big tour bus while stuck in traffic in not my favorite that’s for sure.
Ocean breeze. Jet fumes – but, not for too long … yes, I know that is weird, but I love to fly. Also, any baked goods… cookies, donuts, etc.
bread almost finished and still in the oven, teriyaki meats/poultry on the hibachi, and the new car smell.
@aaron_kaneao Ah! Kiawe wood… can’t forget about that one. Isn’t it crazy how BBQs always smell better when the neighbor is grilling and you arent? haha
Oooooo got any extra? I love bread pudding!
@Melissa808 Henri Loui’s bread pudding and vanilla sauce is the bomb!
Awesome post, Cat! Me? I love the smell of Pinesol. Don’t know why, but sometimes I need to force myself not to take a swig while cleaning. Also love the smell of new carpet and rubber cement. Isn’t it strange how when something doesn’t smell good, we tell others to sniff it just so they can have a bad experience with you? haha!
This could bring us to favorite colognes and perfumes. Ladies: what scents do you like on your men? Guys, what scents do you like on your women?
Personally, I like those old-school colognes like Polo Sport, Cool Water, Tommy, Hugo, but some of my favorite “newer” scents are Issey Miyake, Kenneth Cole Black, Armani Mania and a few more. Try to switch it up every so often. For ladies — anyone remember back in the day all the girls used to get “Sunflowers”? haha! Memories…
@johngarcia Pinesol… Hmm…
@Cat I know you didn’t just hmm me! :-p hehe ValDezign on twitter said “Freshly sharpened pencils and magazines”. What about those old school elementary school newsletters? The one that smells kind of like tar? Would that be a ditto machine?
I love how smells remind us of things when we were growing up! One of the things I love is fresh sheets. We didn’t have a dryer, so my my mom hung up all our clothing. Nothing like the smell of line dried sheets! I also love the smell of Korean bbq, coffee, fresh baked Portuguese sweet bread, malasadas, etc. Also, remember Loves Baby Soft? Those of us “old folks” from the 80s should remember that smell. About the bread pudding… now I want to make some! 😉
Nostalgic smells for me are fresh cut grass, when a cool a evening breeze brings the smell of white ginger, bacon frying in the morning and pikake.
@Visitor Oh yeah, the Pikake Farm (when in season) by DH Cemetery when I walk up 22nd Ave. So fragrant in the early morning. Also Pakalana’s that are still growing on the vine.
Am I the only one to call Cat out on the “puppy breath” item, LOL! Cat, let me put my 7 mo. old puppies in your face, you may change your tune, haha! Although I just started feeding them home cooked food (boiled chicken breast, brown rice and carrots), and their breath improve dramatically…
Oh, the post… almost forgot. Like John below, I love the smell of neighbors BBQing. Also, the smell of an Isla region single-malt scotch whisky. Those who drink it know what I mean. That region is known for using peat wood to halt the malting process of the barley, so it has a slight smokey smell to it… For examples, try smelling Lagavulin or Laphroaig! As for colognes, I always loved to wear Eternity by Calvin Klein. To this day my fave cologne.
@MaxMaxMax OK, maybe I should have specified how old… like two months old. Seven-month-old puppies don’t have puppy breath anymore… It’s rank!
@MaxMaxMax @cat ahaha I’m with you dude! Cat was just “hmmmm-ing” me on Pinesol… Puppy breath?! Last puppy breath I smelt was a tiny German Shepard named Axel and it smelt like weed!
@johngarcia — So THAT’S why German Shepards are always hungry… they have the munchies!
😉
Night Blooming Jasmine makes me think of ghosts and graveyards. Don’t ask.
Hilo Macaroni (closed 🙁 ) fresh baked Creme Cracker and Saloon Pilot
Just had the bread pudding at 12th Avenue Grill in Kaimuki last night. The sauce THE SAUCE!!
I really like the way my cat smells. He smells like bread, no joke. But I’m not smelling that breath…
@strobie Your cat? Jack? Really? Interesting. 🙂
@Cat Can’t explain. Jack doesn’t smell like bread fresh out of the oven or anything, but… yeah, bread. Too bad he isn’t more snuggly. 😉
@strobie @Cat ahaha Mel’s old cat China used to be her “popcorn kitty!” because she smelled like popcorn. Not sure if that’s good or bad, but I KNOW she never too a shower. I guess similar to an old blankie or jacket that you never wash, but only wear like once a month… no? haha 0_o
Bread Pudding! it’s so good with a dollop of Double Rainbow French Vanilla ice cream on top and a tblspn of maple syrup on top of that, and maybe some crushed pecans. Help, Help, Help!
Hello Cat!
The smell of marijuana brings back memories….
@M It reminds me of every rock concert I went to at the Blaisdell in the 80s!
CAT,
When I was a toddler of about 4, my mother sent me down the street in my cowboy & indian festooned pajamas at about 5:00 am to pick up tofu and aburage from the neighborhood tofu shop. The smell of freshly made tofu has always been my favorite. The shop was nice and warm and there were wooden tubs of water everywhere. Tofu was 5 cents.
The smell of babies is something nature has bestowed on them that makes mothers and fathers want to kiss their darlings. I don’t know what it is but every baby has this sweet smell about them except when their diapers are soiled!
@Annoddah_Dave I can’t say that I’ve ever smelled that. Sounds like something I need to experience. (Tofu, not babies.)
The smell of a brand new car interior.
Because the Honolulu airport is literally right on the water, I always loved that rush of humid salt air that rushed into the airplane cabin when they open the plane door. When I lived on the mainland, that smell always signified to me that I was home.
I love the smell of the ocean, the farther away from shore the better. Also, fresh ginger. plumeria, night blooming jasmine, and fresh squeezed lemons. In Arizona there was a huge orange grove on the way to campus at Thunderbird and when the blossoms were out OMG it was righteous. BTW: more comments about smells than boobs… now there is a concept.