So we’ve been playing around with scents in the house ever since we got here. On our first trip to the store we picked up a couple scented candles to give important rooms a pleasant smell. And I’ve been burning incense, which I do wherever I go, which always makes rooms smell interesting. However, while picking up upholstery supplies from a craft store with Nishi, we noticed these cinnamon scented pine cones they sold (for quite a bit of money). They definitely smelled good, but it made me think of a nice and cheap alternative that we hadn’t yet tried in the house.
Growing up, I’ve always had a wood stove in my house. My parents would sit a iron kettle on top of the stove, which would boil and keep the air in the house from drying out. They would throw little bits of spices or potpourri in there as well, cloves and cinnamon especially, which would fill the room with the scent. I picked up some sticks of cinnamon while doing groceries, and figured I’d try this here.
Now, we don’t have a wood stove in this house. But I have heard of people doing this on a kitchen stove, and that’s what I decided to try. In a pot half filled with water, I dropped two sticks of cinnamon and brought it to a boil – and it worked just perfectly! Today, Nishi was looking at the pot and thought, “I wonder how that tastes.” It was only cinnamon and water (and a dash of vanilla), so it should be alright. She tasted it and told me, “This tastes just like wassail!” She added some Tang and sugar to a mug of cinnamon water, and settled back in her chair.