Enter the King's Forest: Konig by Yosh

I grew up with wood smoke, mountains, and wilderness. In the winter our coats smelled of wood smoke and for me that is the ultimate evocation of the colder seasons.  If you can also evoke the scent of damp chilly woods even better.

The books I loved the most when I was younger were fantasies with heavy fairy tale/ folk lore elements. I adored the dark primal qualities they had with hints of the sinister and the mystical. These qualities I am describing are not easily found in perfumes. Perfumes usually go with other story lines, the uber-sensual taking up most conversation, yet if you enter the sphere of indie/niche perfumes you find that sometimes a perfumer goes down less known path.

Konig by Yosh is a perfume that goes down a different path. It is a scent that evokes the images of forests at the cusp of before turning into winter. The cold rains of Autumn have come already, there is barely a bedraggled leaf on a tree and only the oldest overly ripe moldering fruit is left on the branch. There are mists at the edge of each day. Yosh has created the dark fairy tale country in Konig.

 The scent begins with the lightest note of  Autumn, a beautiful fleeting apple note. From there the perpetual scent of smoke, woods, and leather enter.  Here I am reminded of lapsang souchong tea that has been mixed with cold woods. As the wood smoke calms down on the skin what emerges is the tangy note of vetiver, it smooths out the leather and smoke. Yosh creates perfect balancing act with the use of vetiver, it keeps the leather and smoke smooth and reigned in. Eventually the evergreen notes of the scent are allowed to emerge, they are natural and subtle. Konig is a wearable dark fairy tale.

Try Yosh's Konig if you like Ormonde Jayne Woman, Guerlain's Vetiver, or Knize Ten.

image Greg Shield

Cooking: My First Pie

So I finally did it, I baked my first pie from scratch, sure the picture isn't perfect, but making a pie from scratch will make you feel a bit like a superhero. As you can not the crust isn't perfect, but I suspect that takes practice. Of course while looking for pie recipes I would choose the more complicated one not really realizing it until I really started sit down and analyze my recipe as I prepared to make it, the pie in question was: Alsatian Apple Pie http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Alsatian-Style-Apple-Pie-105573

It was delicious by the way.

Creating Ambre Narguile in the Kitchen

Sometimes I forget that apples for most of their time in history have been a fruit of sensuality, not the humble everyday fruit it has become. I also often forget their connection to the beautifully exotic quince that must be cooked to enjoy the layered flavor of apple, lemon, rose water, and peach. This all stopped today when I yet again I used another recipe from my quickly becoming a beloved cookbook The Worlds Best Recipes by Mark Bittman, once again it was a recipe the used very little ingredients, only four: apples, sugar, cinnamon, and butter, the recipe: Caramelized Apples. I will say this now before going into more detail I think part of the reason this turned out so gorgeously was the organic heirloom apples I got last week at the orchard.

It began with the scent of the apples caramelizing in the oven, topped with with only a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, the scent was quite dazzling, and immediately an identification came up in my mind, the uber expensive and frankly delicious Ambre Narguile by Hermes. What was also amazing was the sheer aromatic power of the apples, at one point I was tempted to open another window the scent of apples was so intense. Then I took them out and a few minutes later scooped some out into a bowl, the apples at the bottom had becom translucent in the caramelization process, yet remained firm with a candied texture. The color though was what shocked me it become a light pink tinted amber, reminding me of quinces when cooked. Eat this with a splash cream, creme fraiche, thinned sour cream, crema, or greek yogurt. No ice cream (too sweet and rich).

image provided by artmagick.com

image: Venus Verticordia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

SOTD: Light Blue

It's apple season, with all my complaining of the heat in the last couple of weeks, all the sudden on Friday I could smell and feel Autumn in the air, and that wonderful feeling has not stopped. My grandmother for years has been volunteering at the Gerrin Heirloom Apple Orchard, I went up their years ago as a child, and today I am visiting again to go apple harvesting. I can't wait; in honor of this occasion I am going with Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue, although consistently referenced as a summer fragrance, I find that I prefer this as an autumn fragrance. The gentle creamy apple note with hints of bergamot and amber, blooms so much better in autumn weather.
image provided by artmagick.com
image: A Devonshire Orchard by Hon John Collier