What IS that smell?

My mom is here for Christmas!  She does not like driving in the snow, especially in the mountains, but she braved the scary conditions (with only 2 screaming voice mail messages as she was driving down from the Eisenhower Tunnel and down Vail Pass) and arrived late yesterday afternoon!

She brought a gingerbread train for the girls to make, 3 winter coats, 2 pairs of boots, her electronic mahjong and a GIANT plastic container of kimchee.

If you don't know what kimchee is...it is Korean fermented vegetables.  And it smells like...feet.  You only eat it in small portions with your meal, so a giant plastic container can last for MONTHS.  Usually, if you keep it in an airtight container, the smell can be kept at bay and stays confined to the refrigerator.  However, my mother always manages to find kimchee that can surpass the smell of an entire high school football team's pile of dirty socks and cannot be contained inside any type of airtight container!

I never understood how ANYONE would want to eat some of the things I've seen in the Asian markets.  Ever since I was a little girl, going to the Asian market with my mother meant taking a big coat that I could shield my nose and mouth with and try to use as a filter so I didn't have to smell.....WHATEVER was making those smells.  Was it those black 1,000 year old eggs?  Maybe it was the display of dried....fish?  The small shiny things with the heads still on them.  Could it be the..."meat"?

Part of the reason I love to cook, is because I love having people linger in the kitchen "ooh-ing and "ahh-ing" over the sights and smells of the food.  The smells of Thanksgiving meals..the turkey, pumpkin pie...all of those things can quickly stir up memories of family and friends.

So...now my house smells like cinnamon pinecones, our Frasier Fir Christmas tree, the almond poppy seed bread that is baking...and dirty feet.  And it makes my heart happy, because it means my Mother is here.