November 12, 2007

Barbara Barry giveaway winner!

We were blown away by the quality and quantity of responses to our Barbara Barry giveaway, in which we asked you to tell us about your most favorite smell.

We had one reader insist that "the greatest smell in the world is the Narcisso Rodriguez perfume", whereas another prefered "blooming roses, hibiscus bushes, stargazer lilies, purple lilacs with such a brief but dazzling life, all combined with the freshness of newly-mown grass and the chirrup chirrup of crickets as they communicate under the glistening stars."

It was a very tough choice but the winner had to be "biltud", a former frat boy with a rather sensitive and poetic side. This is what he had to say:

"The smell of memories... Coffee on my father''s breath as he kissed me goodbye in the morning and we went our separate ways, he to his law firm and me to junior high. Ralph Lauren''s Polo on the skin of my first love, high school, unrequited, 1982. Summer, fresh cut grass, Coppertone, low tide, Michelob, cigarette smoke. The smell of bong hits at the fraternity where I spent most of spring, 1986, pining for the guy who ignored me the following semester. Wine, garlic and butter melding in a stainless steel skillet, a combination salivatingly strong enough to draw out the whole family from all parts of the house, to see what was cooking. My mom, fresh from a shower upstairs, blow-drying her hair, that particular sizzled smell mixed with Tiffany, the perfume she still loves these many decades later. The smell (and taste) of her lipsticks I’d try on when she wasn’t home, while I was still in junior high school. The crackle of kindling, ancient wood logs, that heady, hearty aroma, sleeping in front of the fireplace in the family room the night of the ice storm in 1973 (made famous in Rick Moody’s “The Ice Storm.”) The warm rich tones of cream, lobster and sherry in my mom’s lobster bisque that she only makes in winter. Chocolate chip cookies. Slow-cooked spare ribs. The unmistakable aroma of a whole chicken in the oven. Disintegrating leaves in the fall that call up visions of apples, pumpkins, and harvest moons. The smell of the tee-shirts left behind belonging to the guy who walked out that one night and broke my heart."

Lobster bisque, bong hits and Tiffany perfume?

Wow!

If this was you, please email me at caroline@carolineryder.com to collect your well-earned prize, a Barbara Barry bedroom candle worth $48.

November 12, 2007 in GIVEAWAYS | Permalink