stinky but delicious.

the other day work was busy so i had to pick up foods to eat at work... and i really wanted  banh mi, but had serious trepidations that it would smell up the office.  funny right?  it's not that banh mi smells bad, but it's asian.. so it smells... different.  and i didn't want to be THAT person at work.  you know the person who smells up the office with their foods, like the person who burns popcorn in the microwave.. i hate that person.  
i ended up ordering the charbroiled pork one on the reasoning that it would smell the most normal.  while i normally get the combo or pate version.  but really they probably all just smell the same.. this got me thinking about other stinky but delicious eats.. and thinking that people probably just think it stinks because they don't know what it is or how it tastes, although some foods are unargumentatively smelly.  if they knew that it was delicious would it still be a bad smell?  i've decided that stinky foods are foods that i don't want my house to smell like (actually i don't like my house to smell like food at all.. baked goods are ok though so this is probably not a good method of judgement), but prior to eating these foods.. smell good. real good.
for instance.. curry.  if you like it, it smells delicious.. but you want that smell to go away after you eat it, and you certainly do not want to smell like it or your house.  then there's shrimp paste..  salty deliciousness.. goes well in chinese/vietnamese/malaysian foods.. this also goes to pretty much all dried/preserved chinese things.. like dried salted fish.. and there's fish and the fermented items like kimchi, soybean paste, stinky tofu... (this list could go on)  why is it that asian foods are so smelly but delicious.  i guess some cheeses smell.. and the more pungent the more i like it.  also some charcuterie can be a bit unpleasant as well as offal.
but in the end all these smelly foods... smell delicious to me.. at least until after i've eaten them.. then it just goes back to being smelly.

ad hoc adventures - chicken pot pie

this was the second recipe i made from thomas keller's ad hoc at home.  i cheated slightly by purchasing my pie dough, but still it created a delicious meal.  the hubby was quite impressed, and i was surprised at how easy it was. this is not your generic frozen pot pie. the flavors were rich yet simple with béchamel sauce and fresh herbs.  i decided to serve it with a side of cucumber salad.. a perfect light, fresh dinner.