*See What I’m Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses is one of my favorite nonfiction reads in recent years. In it Lawrence Rosenblum, a perceptual psychologist and professor at UC Riverside, explains how our brains are so often taking in more of the world than we are aware, that we are perceiving much more than we are conscious of. From echolocation to our multisensory appreciation of food, Rosenblum makes connections between the super senses of exceptional cases—like blind …
Tag: Flavor
The Marvelous, Unplanned Life of Mandy Aftel, Author, Perfumer, and Museum-Creator * Interview
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve just followed what I’ve been interested in. I’ve never had a plan, I have had no plan about any of this.” – Mandy Aftel Mandy Aftel started making natural perfumes almost 30 years ago. Her passion and artistry have won Aftelier Perfumes many awards and accolades. She’s been featured in countless magazines and blogs from Vogue to Forbes, Now Smell This to Bon Appetit. In 2003, Mandy launched Chef’s Essence, which supplies natural flavor oils and …
Cake Vodka * Fiction * M. Leona Godin
There was this blind kid, a really young large kid, but very sweet, very sensitive kind of soul. He’d walk in and come straight to the counter. He moved fast. The bells on the door would just finish jingling and he’d be in front of us saying politely, “Hey how’s it going Could you grab me a bottle of that Cake Vodka?” In the beginning, he always came in wearing a shirt and tie. He said he worked at some …