Tonight I got home and dutifully climbed my three flights of stairs and as I opened the door to my floor and was greeted to the smell I've come to expect. Now, my building happens to contain a lot folk from India and this is the first time I've lived near a lot of people of that particular ethnicity. It's also interesting that if I come in one door, it's this smell and if I use the other, it's another altogether. All that being said, I'm really struggling to figure out what blend of spices could cause this smell every day. It is even more puzzling because the smell (at least to my nose) is so thoroughly American...

Fritos.

Completely-overpowering-stick-your-head-in-the-bag frito smell. If I could bottle it, I'd bet there'd be a market for it- Junk food perfume! It's a heck of a lot nicer smell to come home to than Pine Sol. The fact that I've not had a frito since I can't remember may perhaps be causing some of my nostalgic euphoria here, but that's okay with me.