What is the Perfume Project?

This blog is a constantly evolving forum for thoughts on perfume, perfume-making, plants (especially orchids and flora of the Pacific Northwest) and life in general. It started out chronicling the adventures of Olympic Orchids Perfumes, established in July 2010, and has expanded in other directions. A big part of the blog is thinking about the ongoing process of learning and experimentation that leads to new perfumes, the exploration of perfumery materials, the theory and practice of perfume making, the challenges of marketing perfumes and other fragrance products, and random observations on philosophy and society. Spam comments will be marked as such and deleted; any comments that go beyond the boundaries of civil discourse will also be deleted. I am grateful to all of you, the readers, who contribute to the blog by commenting and making this a truly interactive perfume project.

Monday, July 16, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO PART 4: MORE LESSONS LEARNED AND A TREATISE ON GELATO


After an intense day on Sunday, both Michael and I were ready for some relaxation. Fortunately we had planned a vacation day into the schedule, but first I had to pack up the leftover items from the show and ship them back to Seattle. Lesson Number 3: If you know you’ll have to ship stuff back from a show, pack a small roll of tape and pre-printed address labels to go on the boxes. We had to start our morning with a trip to the Market Street Walgreen’s to get tape. You might think a hotel would have some basic packing supplies, but they did not, nor had they ever heard of FedEx. We ended up taking the boxes by taxi to the nearest FedEx office after finding the address online, and the whole thing was still much cheaper than checking two bags.

Free at last, we hopped on the BART and headed for Berkeley, where it was likely to be warm and sunny. It was. We first went to visit the Musical Offering Café, which combines a classical CD shop in back with a café in front. Michael’s brother managed it for years when he lived in Berkeley, and the same owner was still there. She and Michael reminisced a lot and talked about the future of classical music, classical CDs, and CDs in general. 

We then went walkabout, enjoying the blue sky, sun, and just being in a beautiful part of the world. As we walked past the Gelateria Naia, I felt something calling my name. Being lactose-intolerant, I don’t usually eat ice cream, and I don’t even like the taste of the sticky sludge put out by most US ice cream makers, but I somehow had a quivering feeling that there might be something here for me.

And was there ever. The case was full of the most enticing array of sorbetto ever, and even the gelato seemed much less milky and sticky than usual. They were happy to provide tastes of anything and everything, and my only regret is not having tasted everything in the store. My first taste was Earl Grey gelato.  It was a wonderful mix of tea and bergamot, just as aromatic as a cup of really good Earl Grey tea, but velvety and cold. Michael the ice cream lover was immediately infatuated with it and ended up with a big dish of the stuff. I went on to taste the rose gelato. That’s right, a floral ice cream in the US. The last time I had anything of the sort was in India. It was true to the flower fragrance, and I’m sure it was made with real rosewater. The aroma was wonderful, but it was a little too creamy for my taste, and I wished it had been a sorbetto. Next up was mojito sorbetto. That was it!! Fresh mint, lime, and no milk anywhere in sight. I ordered a big scoop of mojito on a sugar cone, and had it topped off with a tiny dollop of rose.

That cone was the best thing I’ve had since I was in Florence, where I had fig and plum sorbetto, both of which were available at Naia, too, along with things like mango, cranberry, watermelon, and even prickly pear! Delicious.

I really love sorbetto made with odd things. I don’t mean odd in the sense of “oreo cookies”, which is just disgusting, but odd in the sense of using perfumey materials or spices as flavorings. Two of of my favorite surprises were having thyme sorbetto in Spain, and the rose gelato and mojito sorbetto in Berkeley. Other good flavors would be lavender, sage, saffron (popular in India), rosemary, violet, ginger, basil, oregano, orange flower, cardamom, and lemongrass. Going way out there, how about labdanum, musk, or wasabi?

We have had an ice-cream making apparatus languishing in a storage closet for many years, given to us as a gift, and I’m halfway tempted to haul it out and start experimenting with sorbetto flavors. If the weather ever warms up this summer, it will be tempting. 

After the gelateria experience, we walked about some more, eventually ending up at a local microbrewery for dinner. Then, as we were about to go back to the BART, Michael decided we should check out a game store that we passed on the way. After browsing a bit, he became fascinated by the go players at tables in the middle of the room. One of the players offered to teach him the game, so he sat down, but fairly quickly got tired of it and sat me down in his place. That’s how I learned to play go from Professor Herb Doughty, the president of the Berkeley Go Club, who has been playing every day for the past 50 years and is a master of the game. I’m not big on playing board games, but it was kind of fun, and I now know the basics if anyone ever challenges me to a game of go.

You never know what you’ll encounter on a walkabout. 

[Photos from Wikimedia]

8 comments:

  1. We had a great little ice cream maker in Europe, but of course, it won't work here, so we gave it away when we moved....Our favorites were matcha (green tea), and saffron/cardamom/rose. Yummy! I can find good vanilla and chocolate here, and I confess I love cherry chip, but other than that, I really miss the European style of ice cream. I tried frankincense tea a while back, but...not so good. Haven't tried labdanum, but tulsi is very nice!

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    1. Marla, Green tea, the saffron combo and tulsi sorbetto flavors sound great! I think frankincense might depend a lot on what type was used. Mastic might also be good.

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  2. What a great mini vacation! The thyme sorbetto sounds great. Last week I pulled out my grinder/juicer and made some nice sorbet for guests from various frozen fruits I had on hand. Next time I will try using some herbs in the mix. Do you have any suggestions on how to put that thyme sorbetto together? This week I am on a mini vacation of my own while Brad teaches a chamber music camp on Decatur Island in the San Juans. I decided to stay home, work on my musical projects, practice and rest. The parrot is at the bird borders and all is quiet. Gail

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    1. Gail, I think what you might want to do is chop the thyme and make a light syrup from it, which you would use to sweeten the sorbetto. You might also want to add some lime or lemon, not too much, just enough to give it a little tartness.

      Sounds like you're having a restful and productive stay-at-home vacation!

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  3. We loved gelato in Italy. Besides a different creaminess and different flavors, the flavors always seemed more intense than in US ice cream. We always cringe when the Italian restaurant menu says, "gelato," but the waiter says, "ice cream."

    Are you more tolerant of gelato than ice cream? We have a neighbor who's lactose intolerant.

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    1. Ed, I think the flavors in gelato and sorbetto are more intense because there's less sugar and milk and more fruit or other flavoring material. I can eat gelato in small amounts, I just don't want to pig out on it.

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  4. Those sorbetto deserts sound really good. I know I will never try to make icecream pr sorbeto at home but I would love to find out a good gelateria in NY that sells some interesting sorbeto... Other than those named " Italian ices" homemade.

    I seems you had a great time and made lots of friends. Thank you for sharing the story and the pictures. It is good adding faces to names.

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    1. There must be a NY gelateria that sells good sorbetto. Any readers in NY know of one?

      I had a great time in San Francisco, and you're right that I made lots of new friends!

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