Right Under His Nose

Having a partner who grows and makes wine is pretty great, I must say. Because Carl found his craft and we committed ourselves to fostering it, we've had twenty-five years here of agricultural stewardship and good tastes. However, being with someone with a refined palate and keen sensory perceptions can come with its own challenges, as I found out yesterday.

What happened? I had the brilliant idea of baking a cake as a surprise for Carl's belated birthday dinner using a stout beer brewed by Dylan. After Carl left for the winery yesterday morning, I started getting my baking stuff together, then stopped to realize what a futile thing I was embarking on, trying to surprise a winemaker with a cake after baking it in his own kitchen. There was absolutely no way, I thought, that I could disguise the aroma of the cake enough to keep Carl from knowing that a cake was in his future. And not just any cake--a gooey chocolate stout one!

As I started working, the part of me which loves a challenge tried it on for size: Was there any possible way that I could cook other things AFTER the cake whose aromas would keep him from being able to find the "pea beneath the mattress" of his chocolate surprise? As the morning kitchen started to warm with the smell of butter and Dylan's dark beer, I decided to amuse myself by giving it a try.

As soon as the cake was out of the oven, I ran it down the hall to a bedroom and put it on a tray to cool behind the closed door. Then my other tasks began. I started by thin-slicing five white onions and starting them to caramelize to become toppings for the pizzas Dylan was planning on making for dinner. That gave a lovely warm umami undertone aroma to the place.

As the onions stewed, I baked banana-chocolate-oatmeal bars, so that any lingering scent of the cake could take cover underneath the sweet baked goods' signature. Then, I put in beets to roast for a salad.

When Carl came home, he opened the door to a spill of scents designed to get him off the scent of my motive. He commented on how good caramelizing onions always smell. I thought I had actually pulled it off--and right under his highly-trained nose!


P.S. When the cake came out after dinner, after we had sung and Carl blew out his candles and we described the collaboration behind this chocolate-stout cake, he said, "Ah! I thought I smelled something like that!"

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