City of Big Shoulders and Noses

I work accross the street from a Garretts Popcorn, and hoo-boy does it smell incredible every morning!  The fear of getting fired is the only thing that keeps me from hopping in line behind the hoards of tourists clamoring for that magical Chicago Mix.

I love that certain bridges and streets smell like chocolate, particularly in the winter thanks to the Chicago chocolate factories just outside of downtown.

Walking home through my Lincoln Square neighborhood it is all I can do not to steal bites off the tables of the al fresco diners.  Each patio smells different--bar food, Indian, Italian, Mexican.  (You'll notice, all of this mouth watering smell business happens after I've departed from the CTA.  Those are smells of a whole different nature and I chose not to go into it so close to dinenr time.)

Today was entirely different, and I hope temporary.  I swear, the entire 700 block of North Michigan Ave smelled like EasyMac.  I know it smelled like EasyMac because EasyMac has a very distincitve smell that is altogether different from that of regular Mac N Cheese.  I think it's because of whatever they do to the cheese powder that makes it not need butter. 

The toursists didn't seem to notice anything.  Maybe they brought the smell with them?  Maybe as countless cars from Wisconsin parked for the day and opened their doors, the fregrance of EasyCheese was released into the city air.  Maybe it was one VanGelder Bus full of retirees who brought the smell with them?  Perhaps there is a Kraft Convetion in town?

I take pride in the fact that you can breath deeply in Chicago.  That we don't have the summer garbage smell that NYC is known for, nor the smog of LA.  But somehow, I was deeply unnerved by the EasyMac smell.  And also nostalgic for my freshman year dormroom.