Exams, Are You Done Yet?

Good luck to everyone who is writing finals right now and congratulations to those of you who are finished! Enjoy your Christmas break and find time to relax this holiday season with friends and family! 

Layering Scents

Etiket hosted its very first in-store engraving event this past week! Gerard Camme, from Atelier Cologne in New York came to our boutique to engrave and give us a sneak peak of the newest fragrance – Mistral Patchouli. (Stay tuned for its arrival in Spring 2013). He engraved beautiful leather pouches while answering all of our fragrance related questions. My burning question was the following: Can you layer scents without smelling overpowering?

Scents are created to be worn alone and smell different on every person once they have mixed with each individual’s natural body chemicals. Of course, there is neither a limit to how many perfumes you can wear nor a correct way to wear them. Gerard and I experimented with a variation of colognes until I found my favourite. First I sprayed the Vanille Insensée onto my pulse points and then spritzed the Orange Sanguine on top. This lightened the overall smell and created a sophisticated and spicy yet flirty and fresh scent on my skin. I found this mixture perfect to wear in the winter months or even in the spring. 

Nocochi

I have grown up drinking tea from a very young age. My mom always told me the answer to any problem was tea. If I was sick, the easiest cure was tea. I learned quickly that if I was tired the cure was tea, and if I couldn’t sleep the cure was simply a cup of tea. For many years I couldn’t start my day without tea but ever since I moved to Montreal for school I have broken out of that habit. My blogging journey has opened my eyes to many different flavours of tea – herbal, spiced and green teas to name a few. It took me a while to learn that there were more kinds of tea then the classic Orange Pekoe by Tetley and Red Rose. I never knew the world of tea was so extensive! 

I had a very special visitor this weekend. Mama Baz came to Montreal to celebrate her birthday with me this year. I couldn’t think of a more fitting place to take her for afternoon tea than Nocochi, which is located on Sherbrooke and Mackay, right by the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

            The atmosphere was very relaxing and had an art-gallery inspired environment. We noticed many couples, friends and families enjoying small pastries, tea and European-style coffee. All of the pastries are made by hand following traditional Persian and Middle Eastern recipes. They also have an extensive breakfast and sandwich menu. This cozy little patisserie also offers catering for both meat-eaters and vegetarians.

We both ordered the most delicious almond croissants that melted in our mouths at the first bite. After pouring over the menu for at least 10 minutes I decided to go with the Casanova tea, which was a blend of black teas from Ceylon and China with vanilla, cinnamon, mango, berries and rhubarb combined with flower petals and dried fruit. My mom also chose a black tea called the Shining Star. This tea was scented with spices, vanilla, cloves, citrus fruit, cardamom orange peels and golden nuggets. It was the perfect choice for a celebration and I’d love to go back for their Afternoon Tea. 

Stella by TOCCA

For a long time now I’ve had my eye (and nose) on this scent by TOCCA. There was just something about Stella that drew me in immediately.  Most citrus scents are best suited for casual, outdoor summer days but Stella stands out in the citrus category. It is chic, modern, and elegant in addition to being refreshing, pleasant and bright. It can be worn in the spring or summer to add some glamour to any occasion. Despite being a summer scent, I plan on wearing this throughout the holiday season to make my Christmas aura classier. I find Stella to be very sophisticated, and it smells beautifully natural when spritzed on my skin. Rather then being overpowering, all of the notes complement each other perfectly.

This fresh and flirtatious fragrance is composed with top notes of Bitter Orange, Blood Orange and Water Accord; middle notes of White Freesia, Wild Diamond Orchids and Spicy Lily; and bottom notes of Sheer Musk and Sandalwood. Once again TOCCA has successfully drawn from Italian and European influences to create another whimsical and magical fragrance.

Café Vasco de Gama

My latest coffee adventures led me to Café Vasco de Gama – a treasure of old-world food in a traditional Portuguese store (counter setting) located on Peel and Maisonneuve. Their mouth-watering display shelves are stacked with fresh, authentic products and their extensive breakfast and lunch menus with the wine and spirits list makes your decision making process very difficult.

After contemplating my order for a long time, I finally decided on the Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Panini, which came with a Greek Salad on the side. My mouth is watering all over again as I’m writing this and thinking about the delicious meal!! Naturally, I had to order a coffee as well and after much deliberation settled on the Viennois Coffee – a Viennese style latté with whipped cream on top. I also tried my friend’s Sental Iced Tea, which was absolutely incomparable to any other Iced Tea I’ve ever had.

Aside from being an amazing café, Vasco de Gama’s gourmet market sells olive oils, wines and spices. They also offer a catering service. Every review I’ve read has amazing things to say and if that’s not enough for you, explore some articles here where they’ve been featured in the news. My visit to Café Vasco de Gama lead me on a voyage of exciting tastes and new discoveries. I can tell their fresh food captures flavours from every corner of the world. I can’t wait to go back and explore some more!