Pleasant House

One of the things that bothers me when I dine out is if the service staff wears too much perfume or cologne. It can interfere with the natural aromas of the food and spoil my appetite. I remember having to send a server home once because of this. It was 10 a.m. I was in the kitchen setting up for lunch and kept getting this massive waft of perfume that I could literally TASTE. I pinpointed the source of the Eau de Toilette and very calmly broached the situation with her. I explained that the amount of perfume that she had applied to her body was beyond a reasonable level for anyone working at a restaurant. She told me that many people have actually complimented her on her scent. I asked how many of those people were customers at the restaurant, and she failed to mention even one.  She was instructed to leave the restaurant and return without a proverbial cloud of artificial scent.

Just today, a representative from the digital music system (of all companies) that I use at the restaurant stopped by to try and get more business out of us. She mentioned that they offer a hold service for the telephone that will play music. No thanks. She mentioned that they also offer some visual media for the TV screens. They will show our logo mixed up with some imagery and broadcast it on the TVs. No thanks. Then, she started to explain their “scents” program. That’s right, they have expanded from the digital music world to the olfactory world! I couldn’t believe my ears. She had no idea where she was heading with this one. There was talk of chocolate cake scent in the BATHROOM to stimulate chocolate cake sales. There was other talk of “natural” scents to be used throughout the restaurant for “scent recognition” purposes. This was scientific jargon I wanted to have nothing of.

Negativity aside, there is a positive side to all of this. Day two of Chelsea’s lilac project has taken a sweet turn. She has set herself up with some egg whites, superfine sugar, a tiny paintbrush, and lots of lilac flowers. The result? Candied lilacs that taste how they smell. There are few foods that I can think of that can accomplish this. Durian is one food that I can think of that tastes how it smells and trust me, that’s not a good thing. The lilacs, especially the heartier white ones, taste just like candy. And the perfume fills your mouth with flowery goodness. This can only get better!