Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

Our apartment has an occasional odor problem.  It is common to notice the aroma of meals being prepared from other apartments in a building.  The difference here is that the meals being prepared are not ones I would commonly choose to ingest.  We live on the ninth floor of a fifteen floor apartment building.  My guess is that we are the unhappy recipients of the kitchen smells from above us as well as below us.

From time to time there is a gurgling sound that comes from the kitchen area.  When we hear this sound we have to plug the drains quickly.  The plugs will help muffle the smell that inevitably comes after the sound.  The smells we receive from the building’s plumbing are similar to the smells from an unhealthy animal’s plumbing.  In the warmer months we like to leave our windows open to enjoy the ‘fresh’ air.  It is also important to remember to close the windows at meal times.  If we forget to close the windows the apartment smells like ‘fish and mystery’ for a long time afterward.

These are not the sweet smells of cooking that remind you of childhood or days gone by.