French pastry chef Pierre Hermé and Rochas in-house perfumer Jean-Michel Duriez are collaborating on a book that explores the relationship between perfume and food. Hermé is often called “The Picasso of Pastry” for his unconventional flavor combinations. He has been using fragrances such as Guerlain Shalimar and Rochas Eau Sensuelle as inspirations for his desserts. More recently, he created a “Rose and Jasmine” cake inspired by Jean Patou Joy and a “Peach, Rose and Cumin” tart suggested by Rochas Femme.

“For the edible version, Hermé began with a sweet biscuit pastry, garnished with an almond cream infused with rose petals, and fresh yellow peaches dusted with cumin-flavoured sugar for the right balance of fruit, flower and spice.” The book will be released in October 2012. Read more about the collaborations between a chef and a perfumer in Edible perfume, when chefs follow their nose.

Now I would love to taste the Femme inspired tart!

I recently thought about one of the first lessons I had as a ballet student–a lesson on falling. The idea is that the fall will be inevitable and that without falling, you will never learn to dance. Even when the solid earth vanishes from under your satin clad toes and you find yourself falling, you should retain your center of gravity.

So, thank you for being my center of gravity. I was so touched by all of your incredibly moving and supportive comments and emails in response to my Perfumed Comfort post. I read and re-read your comments, made lists of your various suggestions and before I knew it, I felt less disoriented. Many of you have been following my adventures and perfume explorations since the inception of Bois de Jasmin seven years ago; some of you have discovered me fairly recently, but all of you are the reason I enjoy writing and sharing on these pages.  I guess I’m feeling a bit too emotional right now to write a coherent Saturday post, so I will just say again, a big thank you to all of you!

Photography by Bois de Jasmin, a towering pile of fragrant peonies at the market–for you!

As I described in my post on sandalwood fragrances the other day, I’ve always had a romantic and exotic association with sandalwood. Its perfume of roses and cream–so rich, so haunting, so long lasting–seems like a whiff from some other world. Scheherazade’s palace in the Arabian Night Tales must smell of sandalwood. If so, who would be better placed to create a fairytale sandalwood perfume than the man who made a career out of worshiping beauty–Serge Lutens.

Like a modern day Scheherazade, Lutens weaves one tale after another, with the leitmotif of a fantasy running through the collection. Perhaps it is for this reason that his large range doesn’t feel redundant. Or perhaps I’m too much of a fan of his tales to be tired of them. Whatever the case may be, Santal Majuscule is the latest fragrance to cast upon me the Lutensian spell.

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The more time I spend in Brussels, the more I understand why the Surrealist movement gained a momentum here. The fact that a city of less than 2 million people contains a dozen governments should already tell you something. There is the European Union government, the Brussels region government, the French Community of Belgium government and its Flemish counterpart, each of which has its own representatives. If that weren’t enough, Brussels consists of 19 municipalities, each with its own mayor and laws. It’s no wonder that each trip to city hall leaves me with a minor nervous breakdown.

On the other hand, the diversity of people that Brussels attracts is the best thing about the city. You can cross the city on foot in a couple of hours, but sometimes turning onto a new street makes you feel as if you are in a different country. When it comes to food, the choices are limitless. Whether you have a craving for moules frites, the famous Belgian specialty of mussels and fries, for Sicilian cannoli or for something as exotic as mwambe, a Congolese chicken stew with peanuts, you can discover it all quite easily.

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My first whiff of real sandalwood came from a necklace my aunt’s husband sent her while he was working abroad. As fate would have it, he had to leave for the Middle East just as they got married, and his letters and gifts were always a big event for us. As my aunt read one of his passionate love letters, the necklace was forgotten on the table, and I came closer to inspect the small carved beads. Tan brown and small, they didn’t look like much, but their perfume of roses, warm milk and incense was so vivid that today, more than two decades later, I can recall it perfectly.

This early romantic and exotic association with sandalwood inspired my love for this materials. When I look at the notes I took during my perfumery training, the part on sandalwood covers about 10 pages. Although classified as a wood, sandalwood smells of cream and flowers. It has none of the raspy sharpness of rosewood, the pencil shaving bite of cedarwood or the earthy or damp tang of vetiver. Sandalwood is reminiscent of something one can enjoy in a dessert sprinkled with candied rose petals, and in some parts of India sandalwood flavors milkshakes and sweetmeats.

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