8 responses so far ↓

• 1 Charissa // Nov 30, 2015 at 3:18 pm

  I thought of you and your blog this weekend – we stopped by the Pet Grocery for the 1st time and finally realized where Tin Umbrella is! Remember you writing about it a long while back.

• 2 KC // Nov 30, 2015 at 4:19 pm

  Just a note on the vinegar-simmering technique: it does tend to have a deodorizing effect, *but* 1. your home may smell like pickles for longer than intended and 2. if you breathe in the fumes from boiling vinegar (by, for instance, bending over the pot to check that it’s not going to boil dry), you are likely to start coughing pretty vigorously. So, take care and ventilate as needed, and also be aware this is not a “people coming over in a few hours” sort of smell solution” unless smelling like pickles is preferable to the current odor, in which case, go for it!

• 3 megan // Nov 30, 2015 at 4:52 pm

  Charissa – Yay! You were right next to the brand new parklet as well. We are planning on sipping hot chocolate out there soon.

• 4 megan // Nov 30, 2015 at 4:54 pm

  KC – This is great information, thank you! I like to slow cook things in the winter and sometimes that means our house smells like bolognese a little longer than I’d prefer. I’m hoping the vinegar solution works but I won’t do it right before bedtime just in case it creates dreams of pickles.

• 5 megan // Dec 1, 2015 at 5:41 pm

  Update: the simmering of vinegar seemed to work well. The smell from some chili I made last night was still lingering so I boiled some white vinegar for about 20 minutes and the vinegar smell faded after four hours or so leaving no hint of chili.

• 6 KC // Dec 1, 2015 at 6:19 pm

  That is great to know! Thank you for testing it out and timing both the length of boiling and the time it took the vinegar aroma to quit!

  I only knew the vinegar smell stuck around for a while due to boiling vinegar for pickle brine (dilly beans are one of the local favorites), but I’d never thought to time how long it took to Go Away Again – I just knew it was substantially longer than my usual haphazard “oh, dear, guests are coming in half an hour and the place smells unfortunate and I’m not cooking anything” sort of range – for that kind of thing, boiling up some water with a cinnamon stick and some cloves can cover a multitude of ills without provoking allergies from most people, but it doesn’t fix lingering cooking smells – it only covers them.

• 7 megan // Dec 1, 2015 at 7:27 pm

  KC – I briefly wondered if cinnamon and cloves simmered in vinegar would smell good or horrible. It’ll be my next trial!

  I’m really happy to know the vinegar thing works, cooking smells seem to seep into our bedroom and linger there, and it’s somehow the most difficult room to air out as well.

• 8 KC // Dec 2, 2015 at 10:22 am

  I’d be curious as to whether boiling cheap lemon juice would work instead of vinegar (still acidic, but slightly different properties, so I don’t actually know whether it would do the job). The generic “lemon” juice would be more expensive than cheap vinegar, but still sufficiently cheap for a “why does our home still smell like enchilada sauce” fix, and it might be a more pleasing smell while it lasts.

  Some pickles do have the “sweet” spices in them, so it *might* work to toss cinnamon & cloves in vinegar… or it might really, really not work. A good thing to try some day when you have somewhere you could escape to easily for the four hours if it turns out to be a bad combination, perhaps. I’d love to hear more on your experiments and results, if you do any further. :-)

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