True story: I spent the first ten days of 2018 without my sense of smell.
I developed a really bad cold that turned into a sinus infection and then one minute I can still smell eucalyptus oil and the next minute, I can’t smell anything.  I had horrible headaches and I was so congested and my nostrils felt raw because I kpet blowing my nose and I was just so, so uncomfortable, but the WORST thing was not being able to smell anything. I couldn’t smell Tiger Balm (it’s like a potent, Asian version of Vick’s Vaporub). I couldn’t smell chopped onions. I couldn’t smell roast chicken. Nothing. Breathing was laborous. Eating felt like a chore, deprived of joy.

One day I made chicken noodle soup (Matt was starting to get sick, too) and when I instinctively leaned down to smell it, I got a very subtle waft of chicken and veggies and stock. Oh I was so happy! Throughout the day I kept sniffing things and sometimes I can make out whispers of smell, like ghosts of their former selves. But eventually, like most sad and dramatic stories, I got better and things returned to normal. I mean, I knew I would eventually not be sick anymore, but when you’re in the thick of it, you’re mind sometimes get cloudy, no" I kept thinking about Molly Birnbaum and her book “Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way” and I kept thinking, “I can’t be the next food blogger to lose my sense of smell for a yea...