Favourite Scents [Blogtober]

All photos except the bottom row do not belong to me, text by me.

Sometimes we like that smell because it's associated with a pleasant memory, place or person, and other times we just like it because it's really nice. Here's my list:

• Petrichor: the smell of earth after rain
• Peppermint/Spearmint
• Nature, of wood and grass
• Rose. Not the flower itself, my nose somehow can't sense anything from the flower, no matter how hard I try, but from the Tulsi Sweet Rose Tea packets.
• Food. Man, food in general is amazing not only to my mouth and stomach but also my nose. I'm gonna have a subcategory for food, since there's endless options.
• Freshly Baked Cookies. This one is definitely not to be left out. Especially chocolate-chip homemade ones, but all cookies are awesome.
• Kopitiam. Traditional local coffee shops (not air-conditioned cafes, mind you), with smells of freshly brewed coffee, toast, butter and kaya and other foods all mixed together. 
• Milo. Hot or cold, this chocolate malt beverage smells amazing.
• Carrot cake.  No, not the American desert. I really like the black ones, with generous amount of black soy sauce and eggs, chai poh (preserved radish), white radish flour cake cut into chunks, being fried in a big wok.
• Laksa. Mmmm.
• Bak Kut Teh. I mean the soup. Now that I'm vegetarian I guess I'll just have the rice with soup and some vegetables. They're still nice. 
• Cereal butter prawn.
• Books. Old or new books, they're generally very nice to be around. I did some research and found the chemistry behind the smell of old books. 

via

• Library. Maybe it's similar to the smell above, but there's more, somehow. There's the air-conditioning, the carpet flooring, the bookshelves...
• The beach. The cool breeze carrying the slightly saltish air leaves an aftertaste in my nose, if it makes sense. What's not to love?
• Campfire. Whether it's with friends at the beach, made out of a bunch of twigs and newspapers, or at my beloved children's camp with a hundred and twenty kids, fifty instructors and the kids' parents, I always love the smell of the burning fire in the night. 
• Pink grapefruit.
• Mandrin oranges. The smell of them before and during Chinese New Year.
• Night-flowering Jasmine. I'm not sure exactly if this is the one, but I had this growing outside my old house, and I really love walking past that bush at dusk, with the small little flowers starting to bloom.
• My grandma's clothes shop. She used to have that shop, but closed it down and retired. I always loved the smell of fabric and cold air-conditioning.
• Fresh dirt. Nothing like the smell of nature. 
• Clean children and dogs. Call me weird, but after a long day of sweaty, hyperactive kids in camp, there's nothing better than the mild tinge of their clean selves, mixed with different kinds of shampoo and soaps. Dogs and puppies smell nice- only when they're clean.

I might do a list of my 'favourite feelings' sometime later.