This week i wore mostly incense scents. So i put on Larmes de Desert, Eau Sacrée, Eau Duelle, Memoir Woman (not much incense, but a great perfume), Fille en Aiguilles and finally tested Mystic Incense by Merchant of Venice. I wore Salome to remember Colettes birthday on friday for the NST community project, i think Colette would have liked this bold and feminine scent a lot.
I did cook a bit more this week, starting with shakshuka and eggs, some split pea soup with veggies and a pasta with tofu bolognese. Saturday we had a giant pork chop, weighing 500g to share with savoy cabbage and today i tested a persian recipe with chicken breast, saffron, lots of dill and broad beans, because we had so much of beans in the freezer from a rich harvest last year. This was delicious.
I finished another book, a medieval history romance, which was okay to read, but nothing special. Now i started Geoff Ryman ´s The Child Garden, because one of my first reading preferences was SF. My uncle read lots of it and always left me his books, when he visited us. So i started reading SF at the age of 10 or so and never stopped liking it.
Perfumes this week were nearly all chypres, so i wore First Edt, Paloma Picasso, Chypre Siam, Azurée, Scherrer and Paradoxe. I wore a sample. of Dior Grand Bal for the NST community project, but did not like it at all. The sample got thrown in the bin…
Finished Ishbel shawl, design by Ysolda Teague
We are still trying to loose some weight, but thats no excuse for nice meals. So i made Pasta with mushrooms and feta, potato with turkey, oven-baked veggies with herbed quark, Maultaschen with sauerkraut and sausage and a big pot of vietnamese beef ragout and rice on sunday. On thursday a coworker brought chili and tortilla wraps plus toppings for lunch, this was really nice of her.
I finally finished and blocked my Ishbel shawl and its getting much wear in the cold. We managed some nice long walks, today we went out for nearly two hours and i helped a friend packing up things for her move. I finished reading a romance novel, but it was so bad, that i wont even mention the title. I am now listening to the 5th Harry Potter book, read by Stephen Fry, which is a delight to listen to. Plus i started another book, this time a novel set in medieval times. Hope this is better than the last book. Anyway i get more reading done.
I didnt post last week, but now i am on track again. Perfumes were Eau de Lancaster on a cold monday, because i had a craving for a green and fresh spring feeling, Tuesday was Calligraphy Saffron. Wednesday was Roma, then Bottega Veneta, Fils de Dieu, Dryad und lots of Agent Provocateur on Sunday
Wating for the booster shot, sesame chicken with spinach and a nice view of the public gardens
On my plate there was fish fillets with broccoli, a fish finger burger with a homemade brioche bun, sesame soy chicken from the. slow cooker (easy and delicious). The leftover rice was made into tuna sushi plus miso soup. I tried to bake sweet potatoes in the slow cooker, which worked nicely. Saturday i made a big pot of brussel sprout and potatoe soup with ham plus slow baked legs of turkey. with lots of paprika and caraway seeds plus smothered savoy cabbage. Lots of leftovers for sunday and also next week.
We had our booster shot on tuesday and were both a bit knocked out. The boyfriend had a very sore arm and was tired. I also had the chills and sore muscles, so i stayed at home for two days to recover. Thankfully i was okay again on friday. Most of my sick days were spent watching Emergency Room while lying on the sofa. But i also finally finished my first book of the year – The ten thousand doors of January. If you like supernatural fiction, this is not a bad read. It took some time to get into the plot, but then the story progressed nicely. I now started a novel about some australian settlers, but have not read much of it yet. Plus i finally finished my Ishbel shawl, that is blocking right now on my carpet. I hope i can wear it tomorrow to work.
I did a bit of statistics with my perfume usage last year again. Its always interesting, how much my likings change or stay the same.
It is no wonder, that the top scents are perfumes, that can be worn most time of the year, otherwise they would not have gotten so much skin time. I also do not like fresh and citrussy scents too much, i went from a floral type of scent to a chypre lover. Who would have thought this. Maybe because i remember at least some of the older chypre scents, although my mother was not much into perfume. I remember her wearing Cinnabar or something of Marbert.
On place 6 to ten with 8 wears each, i wore L´Ambre de Merveilles, Camelia Chinois (i tried to thunk it, but failed, maybe next summer, when its hotter), Fils de Dieu and Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose, which i often layered with Coriandre.
Honorable mentions…
Place 5 goes to SJP Covet, because its a great allrounder for nearly every season, maybe not too got in the summers heat. I also wore Biagiotti Roma nine times – i like this especially in summer, must be the opening grapefruit note.
Place 4 went to Agent Provocateur, i love the lightly musty and animalic rose scent. Some people think its a boudoir scent, but i like to wear it to the office. Nobody complains, because of all the mask wearing anyway.
Third place went to Scherrer EdT, a newfound love of mine. I treated myself to a big bottle. There might be a reformulation soon, so better stock up. i wore this 13 times
Second place was L´Air de Rien with 13 wearings. This could be one of my signature scents, but now its sadly discontinued. But i got a backup bottle of this, so i think i am good for the next decade to come.
Aaand the first place goes to an Oldie but Goodie! Aromatics Elixir for the win. I wore this a whopping 19 times last year! I have a backup bottle too, but contemplating another one, you know my fear of reformulation.
The winners
In perfume buying i was moderately behaved, thankfully my love of a good chypre is not very expensive, because its mostly classical scents, that i bought.
L´Air de Rien backup bottle, Cardin Choc and Cardin Paradoxe, Scherrer EdT and and Scherrer One Love (blind buy, sadly not much of love here for this scent), Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose (cheap as chips for 9Euro) and Verveine Cedrat. I found a used bottle of Lily Pulitzers Beachy for the summer holidays and bought Fiore dell´Onda from Erbolario in my holidays in Italy (reminds me of Sandflower or Acqua di Sale, but thankfully not so potent and with a smaller algae note). I also found a half full bottle of Dryad, which made me very happy. The last bottles of the year were Cleef and Arpels First EdT and Paloma Picasso Edt.
I sold some bottles and decants, so i maybe payed 400 Euros for perfume this year. This is much less than the years before, but i stopped longing for a decant of every new and interesting scent and try to enjoy my collection, that i own now. I will maybe buy some other old timer chypres this year and maybe treat myself to a bottle of Salome, because my decant is getting low.
I managed to read 32 audiobooks or books, so this was not as bad, as i imagined. Some books were just chick lit, so nothing to talk about, but others were more interesting.
I listened to some of Stephen King´s books on Audible, just because there is a german narrator, that has a really great voice. I could propably listen to David Nathan reading the telephone book and be content with it.
I also worked through Deborah Harkness All Souls trilogy, which was at least amusing and a nice light reading, but i also reread Anne Rice The Witching Hour, that is in my opinion the better take on the supernatural. I also reread Setterfields The Thirteenth Tale, and enjoyed it a lot.
Hardboiled Wonderland by Murakami was also interesting, but maybe it is better as a book, than as an audiobook, because its hard to concentrate on his strange and multidimensional storytelling. I will propably never be a hardcore fan, but it is really something different.
I also enjoyed City of Girls by Elisabeth Gilbert, although the plot is something that i cant believe in.
For a fun listening i can recommend Matt Ruff´s Me and the others. I tried to get into Petrosyans The Grey House, but i could not finish it, i found it a bit confusing and depressing.
In all, i read a lot of diverse literature and hope to continue my reading into the next year. At the moment i am starting The Ten Thousand Doors of January…
This last weeks perfumes were Zoologist Civet, First EdT, Chanel No5, which still does not suit my style (i dont think it will ever do…). L´ Air de Rien, 4160tuesdays Meet Me On The Corner, Chanel No19 for New Years Eve and i started the new year with Niki de Saint Phalle.
current knitting project, socks as usual…
We are trying to loose some weight, so i am not cooking so many different dishes as usual. But i made pork belly with miso and broccoli, the boyfriend did an indian inspired lentil soup. We had lots of baked pumpkin with feta and a bit of fettucine and the weekend i made a big chicken in milk with lemons and garlic. And a bottle of a nice Cremant from Alsace for the New Years Eve.
I had to work all days between Christmas and new year, so i did nothing special. We just try to get outside for a walk each day, if it is not raining. its a nice time to get connected and talk about the day. And since my boyfriend is working from home since nearly two years because of Covid, its the only time to get outside for both of us.
Old Ladys Musings 