The way we see things

Two of our downstairs neighbors at Europa came up the other day to investigate a weird, foul smell drifting down from our 2nd floor office.

Apparently, the smell had separated into different strata. The air was more foodlike at our 2nd-story altitude but much, much worse (like moldy mozzarella) below nose level in the downstairs lobby. And there were certain lobby areas that smelled far worse than others. Maybe it was something to do with vents and the natural variation of airflow vs. dead space in an indoor area.

Our neighbors originally suspected some kind of grease trap or sewage problem. I hadn't even considered that when they knocked on our door, it was because of the smell. I actually thought maybe Ninja (my friend who works downstairs) was here to introduce a new girlfriend. Or that he was just coming up to say hi.

No such luck. The first thing he said when I opened the door was, "It is RANK up here!"

"We're having a cheese party!–" 

"OK, no more cheese parties, Thuy."

I laughed, even though, fundamentally, it's not funny to the neighbor. L10n Tamer left the office momentarily for something, came back with a refreshed nose, and compared the return smell to getting punched in the face with a gym sock.

"Wanna come see it?"

Ninja nodded, I guess. They came in to witness the culprit, a 15-pound full-size wheel of Raclette cheese that Anagram Manager and Preying Semanticist had special-ordered for this cheese-melting party – also called a raclette. To give an idea of what we were up to, here's a demo from user TheThirdShift on YouTube: 

According to our Preying Semanticist, who lived in France for more than a decade, this feast is a classic winter tradition using a cheese from the Savoy region. The idea is to cut up this giant wheel to meltable size, lay pieces into small trays placed into a raclette grill...essentially a cheese broiler... The cheese turns into gooey/chewy goodness, you scrape it off to cover your potatoes or your French bread, and then it goes into your stomach. The cheese actually tastes very delicious, despite the pungent odor.

It took hours to air out the smell from the office, and the place still smells slightly of cheese. Maybe CAT Juggler timed his paternity leave to avoid this holiday party... He might have gotten wind of such holiday plans 10 months ago. 

We'll probably "faire une raclette" again (nearly three-quarters of the cheese wheel remains, despite lunch for more than 10 people).....but word is we'll be doing it outside on the patio.