What a pleasant surprise it was to find out that Scent Bar moved just a month ago to a roomy and beautiful location, AND is also exactly 7 minutes walk from where I'm staying in Los Angeles this weekend. It was also a very pleasant surprise to find out that this strip of Beverly blvd has experienced a transformation and is now buzzing with nifty little boutiques of vintage clothing and vintage shoes, antique furniture stores, and awesome restaurants. Randomness sometimes just pays off...

Selling fragrance is an art all on its own. Luckyscent is one of the ultimate online destination for finding fascinating fragrances - from niche and obscure brands (A Lab on Fire, Hilda Soliani, Xerjoff) to classics such as Caron and Creed - I was always wondering how such a space would be in real life. So with that in mind, I had no idea what to expect from the

As it turns out, much better than online: it's organized beautifully, and with a team of perfumista staff that are far more knowledgeable and responsive than any fragrance database.

Some collections and brands have their own display areas around the shop; but the best part is - all of the fragrances are arranged by categories on shelves along the walls: some predictable like fragrance families, unique notes (i.e.: Oud, Patchouli and Incense each receive a shelf of their own); and some more surprising (such as an entire shelf dedicated to "Avante Guarde"), and of course - a Chypre shelf, which brought me back there today, tagging along my students from my Chypre intensive weekend I'm teaching at Persephenie's this weekend (if you missed it - you might want to sign up for my Citrus Week July 30th - August 3rd).

Some fun finds for me there were Keiko Mecheri Bespoke, in their beautiful presentation of black and gold; Santal de Mysore (Serge Lutens) and Tubereuse Criminelle (Serge Lutens), which I haven't caught a whiff of since my visit to Salons Shiseido; Odalisque (Patricia de Nicolai) which was a new chypre discovery for me, Andy Tauer's Rose Vermeille (congrats on the new octagon bottles, by the way!) and my most unexpected find - 100% Love by Sophia Grojsman, which I recently noticed I ran out of my decant and had to leave with a full bottle of.

But ultimately, I was most impressed with the staff, who really know their stuff and make visiting there such a fun experience. They can carry a conversation, give genuine recommendations, and spontaneously list the notes of any given perfume, not because they memorized it - but because they actually know what they smell like.

As I write this, the sun is shining full-blast on a beautiful Vancouver morning. It seems I've done the impossible - pack some sun in my suitcase to Vancouver, even if just for a two days, the weather has been summer-like (i.e.: around 18c. I know, I know, this is ridiculous comparing to the heat wave of 32-34c that I experienced the beginning of the day I left Los Angeles - but in Vancouver terms, anything approaching room temperature is hot, and anything over 25c is sizzling hot!). But I was able to pack a couple other sunny things from California that got here fresher than the usual produce we get on the grocery counters in BC.

Just around the corner from Blunda on 3rd street there are several good places to shop and eat. One of them is the Little Next Door on 8164 W 3rd St Los Angeles, CA 90048, United States - (323) 951-1010 (Open Mon-Thu,Sun 6pm-10:30pm; Fri-Sat 6pm-11:30pm). Just across from it on the sidewalk grows an olive tree.

This is a French deli-café that concocts her own preserves, jams and fabulous desserts. The salad and breakfast menus are to die for. I came back with the Meyer Lemon Marmalade below (spiked with cinnamon, coriander and vanilla) which almost tastes like yuzu!

The couple of lemons right next to it are not Meyer lemons, but they are really special because they grew on the tree of my friend Taly. Contrary to public belief about smuggling fruit into Canada, since lemons cannot survive our weather, there is no problem bringing them in as they pose no agricultural threat to the Canadian crops. So all I needed to do was declare them. Just thought you might want to know in case you come from Hawaii and want to bring me fresh mangos and pineapples! ;-P

I also got this seemingly mouthwatering Earl Gray Tea flavoured dark chocolate for a mere $10 USD only to find out that it hardly tastes like Early Gray Tea AND it can be found for an even merer $7.25 or so (probably plus taxes) at Urban Fair. The conclusion: Dolphin Chocolate's Earl Gray chocolate squares are still the best. I can only wish that Urban Fair will bring them as they do exist!

This one does look quite impressive though, don't you think?


And last but not least - a dessert worth trying: a sandwich made of two strawberry macaroons with fresh halved strawberries in the middle and, of course, whipped cream!