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Coriandre



What can one expect from a scent with a name so unassuming as Coriandre? Would it be green? Rustic? Funny? Refreshing? There is nothing particularly intriguing, mysterious or fashionable about that. You just have to try it on your skin to find out.

Coriandre is a great perfume, which I have overlooked for years. Despite the many good things I've heard of it, it did not appeal to me when I tried it for the first time. It simply didn't register. Years later, I came across it on the forgotten shelves of the neighbourhood parfumerie; and noticed that they had some stray old bottles pre-IFRA reformulation frenzy. Which is always a good news for a scent that is very likely to rely on oakmoss for its appeal, being green and all.

Well, as it turns out - IFRA or no IFRA - it would have probably not made much of a difference. Unless what Robin is saying is true, and this is already been reformulated beyond recognition by the early 90s.

Coriandre is not really a Chypre in the classical sense of the word. I don't even think I would classify it as a Chypre at all. Nor would I classify it as green, either. To me, Coriandre is a big, dirty, dusty rose. Maybe not that big either. And if it smells like any colour at all, it would be brown, not green. It is brown. And bitter.

Unbeknown to it, it is the mother of all of those godless, oakmossless modern "Chypres" - Agent Provocateur, Narciso Rodriguez, SJP Lovely and Chloe. A Chypre that relies on musk, patchouli and vetiver to tell its dry, bitter jokes and poke fun at rosy-cheeked naïveté, all the while being doused in rose itself. If you're into herbaceous, earthy floral perfumes, such as Aromatics Elixir- Coriandre is a very good (and affordable) substitute. It can be had for $38 for a 30ml bottle (and that's probably a rip-off, actually, comparing to how cheap you can get it elsewhere).

Top notes: Coriander seed, Angelica Heart notes: Rose, Jasmine, Orange Blossom
Base notes: Musk, Patchouli, Vetiver, Sandalwood

Mexican Inspired Cabbage Salad

We're enjoying an Indian Summer in Vancouver, which is most welcome as summer didn't start till August this year!

So I'm taking the opportunity to share with you 3 salad recipes that I've been immensely enjoying all summer long - celebrating the flavourful fresh herbs that mark the season.

This cabbage salad was inspired by two things: the Mexican cuisine that I've been really craving since my last few visits to California. There is really nothing quite like this food when it's an authentic recipe, made from fresh seasonal ingredients. far departure from the boring jarred salsas and bags of chips...

The other important part of the inspiration was the beautiful cone-shaped cabbages I found at the farmers' market. Only one farmer grows them, and they are not only smaller in size (which is more doable for a small family of two, for instance), lighter to carry home, and are so crisp, tender and delicious that they can be easily eaten up within the week (and if not that's ok too, as they keep really well).

We've been mostly eating dinners at the beach all summer, so non-leafy salads, which keep well till dinner time (or even the next day or two, while marinating in flavours) are much preferable over tossed greens (which are also mostly air in volume and are not nearly as filling).
Cone cabbages by Ayala Moriel
Cone cabbages, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

I've made this salad with a few variations, but the best of them was when my cilantro plant came to seed and had those fresh green corianders as you can see in the picture.

1 head cone cabbage (or half a larger cabbage), finely shredded by slicing it as thin as you can get with a chef's knife
1 carrot, grated
1 sweet yellow pepper, halved and sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 sweet white onion, thinly sliced (or use scallions if you prefer)
1-2 green fresh jalapeno, sliced thinly with seeds (the seeds are the part that gives the most heat! So that's your way of controlling the heat level as well).
2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro leaf (if you have some fresh seeds growing on your plant, feel free to use them as well - simply chop them with the leaves)
1 Tbs fresh peppermint leaves (you could use spearmint, but I like the sharper taste of citrus mint or English mint in this recipe)
1 tsp Korean pepper (this is a hot pepper with the seeds removed; it has a deep, sweet flavour but not nearly as spicy as other chiles; if you can't find it you can use crushed chiles or non at all - this part of the recipe is mostly for the colour anyway).

For the dressing:
Juice from 1 lime
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp agave syrup
1-3 Tbs vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil, but you may also use sunflower seed oil, almond oil or avocado oil for a more intense flavour).
Sea salt to taste

Prepare all the ingredient and add to one large bowl. Dress immediately (you do not need to mix the dressing ingredients separately, by the way) and let the salad marinate in the fridge until serving time - at least 1/2 hour, and up to 2 days. Makes a perfect picnic dish, alongside blanched almonds or roasted hickory smoked ones. Also goes well with vegetarian quesedillas, corn-on-the-cob, or as an additional topping for fish tacos or any other white fish dishes.

Coriander and Other Discoveries

I know everyone is mad for Coriander by Kiehl's, and since I was working on a coriander themed perfume this morning (more on that at another time); I went to check it out again only to find out their entire fragrance line except Original Musk is being discontinued. Probably to make room for the shiny and new Aromatic Blends aka body mists that do not seem particularly promising, though I'm sure they will be very inoffensive.

The only essence roll-ons they had at the Robson location were Pear and Grapefruit (neither of which I like - overpowering fruity notes are only fun in shampoo, in my humble opinion). But they still had testers of a few other things, including Coriander and Cucumber.

I'm still not "getting" Coriander (it remains, to me, overly fruity - see my above comment), with a slightly floral treatment on the coriander-linalool theme, drying down to a nondescript woodsy raspberry... But fell in love with an unlabeled scent which I suspect is Pour Homme. There couldn't be a less imaginative yet more descriptive way to name it...

Pour Homme begins with a brisk, decidedly masculine surge of aromatics: pine, lime, lavender and hay. An undercurrent of musky-woody-tobacco notes keep it from being just another fougere. It's very bold, and in my humble opinion the only well-rounded, true "perfume" composition among these scents (although, Original Musk is also brilliantly constructed). While the other scents feel more like different "smells" to amuse one's nose, inspire blending and mashups, or more likely - functional uses (add to this lotion or another); Pour Homme has a beginning, middle and end like a classic perfume. Even though, most North American men will object to labeling it "perfume" and would call it "cologne". It has the classic fougere boldness that could give either a man or a woman an unlikely dosage of courage. That dry tobacco note, melding with woods and hints of raspberry ketones is intriguing and sensual and masculine in the best possible of ways.

P.s. Tomorrow's 1st task: going back to the store to beg for the tester, since no one seems to want it anyway...
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