smells

Like Trina, the first thing I thought of was Christmas smells. All the cookie smells and warmth, the fireplace, a real tree. Because my birthday is Christmas in July, a friend of mine got me a really cute Santa decoration for my birthday last week, so I was thinking about Christmas anyway.

Another odd smell that reminds me of childhood is gasoline. Whenever I'm at a gas station, it reminds me of being on vacation, and waking up in the van (the sound of the door opening usually woke me up), and smelling the gas. The smell wasn't as pungent during the day, or at least not in my memories. It was always night, and I was always waking up.

On Sunday I made some pelmeni. Pelmeni is a Russian stuffed pasta (like ravioli or dumplings). It was my first time making it since actually being in Russia, and although it didn't smell as strong as it did then, the familiar smell was there. It made me think back to the tiny apartment kitchen with wood floors, and the clear green glass plates we would eat off of.