Maple Syrup

For those of you who may be outside the NYC area and haven't had the pleasure of either first-hand experience or constant exposure to the local news, it smelled like maple syrup all over the city on Thursday night.

I came home from work and my first thought when I walked into the door of the apartment was that it smelled like cookies. I couldn't quite place the scent; it wasn't as distinct as the chocolate chip cookie smell that used to pervade Streeterville in Chicago periodically, but it smelled sweet. Alvin told me that he thought he smelled maple syrup around the table, and then it all clicked - that was what the smell was! Maple syrup!

But it was so bizarre - I hadn't smelled it outside at all (probably because I was rushing home and it was cold; on the way home, I also think I walked by Jai from QE on the street), but it was so strong in certain parts of the apartment. I was so confused - I don't own any maple syrup! And all the windows were closed, so it was a big mystery.

Yesterday, I started finding news stories about the "maple syrup mystery." Apparently, the scent stretched all the way from lower Manhattan to Harlem. That's a huge area for a single smell to pervade! It's actually kind of alarming, and with everything going on in the world, I did have a thought that maple syrup might be the perfect way to cover up some sort of biological agent or something. But apparently the authorities have determined that it is nontoxic. Who knows. No one knows where it came from still. How could this still be such a big mystery?