Posted by Jessica
on
18 January 2013
Every day for the past few weeks I’ve glanced at the local newspapers and noticed large-type headlines about a FLU EPIDEMIC. I’m generally healthy, so I didn’t bother getting a flu vaccine; instead, I’m just trying to eat healthily, get enough sleep and wash my hands frequently. For moments when I’m on the move and I can’t get to a sink with hot water and soap, I like to carry a CleanWell All-Natural Hand Sanitizer. It’s not a magic bullet, of course, but it lessens my anxiety about germs from stairway railings, subway poles and any other unsavory surfaces I might have touched.
CleanWell offers a range of liquid hand soaps, cleaning products and disinfectant wipes, but the All-Natural Hand Sanitizer is my favorite. This is a liquid product, packaged in a slim container with a flip top and a spray dispenser; a few spritzes into the palm of a hand gives enough sanitizer for one thorough use…
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Posted by Jessica
on
21 December 2012
A few weeks ago, Robin posted an update to her much-loved post 100 Fragrances Every Perfumista Should Try, adding twenty-five more fragrances worth seeking out. Angela has pitched in with a tempting selection of 25 Vintage Fragrances Every Perfumista Should Try, while Kevin has expanded our view with a list of 50 Masculine Fragrances. And what’s my “beat” here on Now Smell This? I’ve always gravitated towards florals, particularly rose-based perfumes, so I’ll do my part with a run-down of some must-try rose scents.
True roses1
Annick Goutal was one of my “gateway” houses into perfume obsession, partially because it offers several rose-inspired fragrances. Rose Absolue is the most “true” rose of the group. It brings together essences of six different roses (May, Turkish, Bulgarian, Damascus, Egyptian, and Moroccan) into a radiant bouquet…
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Posted by Aleta
on
17 July 2012
As far as collaborative projects go, perfumer Mandy Aftel and chef Daniel Patterson totally nailed it with Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food & Fragrance. More of an inspiring manual than a cookbook, the down-to-earth text provides comprehensive information on making fragrance and enhancing food with 27 aromas—from classics like green tea to the intriguing litsea cubeba, distilled from a Chinese fruit.
The brilliance of Aroma is that it provides a good handful of things to do with each featured ingredient, a number of which are readily available at the grocery store. And they’re not all elaborate, hours-in-the-kitchen concoctions, either. In addition to basic dressings and sauces that can be kept for weeks or months, each section begins with simple suggestions for using a fragrance “in the everyday kitchen.” Adding a few dashes of rosewater to frozen strawberries, vodka and seltzer is a particular favorite…
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Posted by Robin
on
20 June 2012
IF you think perfume’s only place is behind the wrist or ear, take another sniff at that drink you just ordered. Scents are starting to show up in martinis, margaritas and much fancier concoctions, thanks in large part to Mandy Aftel [of Aftelier], a former psychotherapist who now makes edible and potable perfumes.
— Read more at Perfumes to Sip as Well as Sniff in the New York Times. Aftel's Chef Essences recently launched at Williams & Sonoma.
Posted by Alyssa
on
1 September 2011
When I explain who Mandy Aftel is to people outside the perfume world I often call her the Alice Waters of natural perfume. Both women are pioneers — influential innovators in their respective fields. Just as Waters combined her passion for local, organically grown food with fine cuisine, Aftel combined her love of botanical essences with a sophisticated understanding of perfumery. And they’re neighbors: Aftel lives and works a block from Waters’ famous restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.
But it wasn’t until my recent conversation with Aftel about her food work that I realized just how deeply involved she was in the culinary world. She has lectured vintners at Coppola Winery and sommeliers at Thomas Keller’s renowned restaurant, The French Laundry. She has taught alongside White House pastry chef Billy Yosses, and worked with a long list of celebrity chefs including Dan Barber, Wylie Dufresne and David Chang. Food scientist Harold McGee has become a friend. McGee’s newest book is on flavor, and he stopped by Aftel’s studio not long ago to sniff a few things and talk about the importance of aroma in food.
“It’s a deep question,” she said, when I asked her about the connections between her perfumery and her food work. “I do go back and forth from food to perfume and perfume to food, but I see them as very, very similar in my mind and I always did.”
“I was eating and cooking before I was a perfumer,” she continued…
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