eau de what?

so i bought a box fan last night to improve the air flow in my apartment... no sense in running the air conditioner when it is so nice outside (especially in the evenings), but my apartment still gets stuffy even with the windows open. if you have ever placed a box fan in a window, you know you have two options: have the fan blowing out (with other windows in the house open, of course) to draw cool air in from the other windows and exhaust the warm air through the window with the fan (we'll call this the negative pressure model). option two is to have the fan blowing cool, outside air inward which pushes the old air out through the other windows (the positive pressure model).

i tried the negative pressure model first. after about an hour, though, i began to notice this strange smell. i wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was a little sweet, a little sour -- and altogether unpleasant. took me a while to recognize it, but one i made the diagnosis there was no mistaking it... my downstairs neighbors smoke a lot of pot, and apparently they were really toking out last night. the negative pressure generated by my exhaust fan was pulling the, uh, vapors right up through the floor.

so i switched to the positive pressure model and blew the smell right out.

i also made two bourbon chocolate pecan pies and a double batch of fudge last night. it was my first time cooking in the new kitchen, and it really was a bitch. and those were easy recipes... i can't imagine trying to make something complicated in that space.