哪家的楓糖香

入秋以來有一件奇事。週四晚間，紐約空氣裡到處都是甜甜的香味，像是楓糖或黑焦糖打翻了。

這甜香無所不在，我下午在辦公室裡就一直聞到楓糖香，以為是自己太想吃美術館餐廳替員工準備的新早餐---麥片加乾果和黑焦糖。秋雨連續下了兩個星期，又濕又冷，早上看到熱麥片真是幸福。只是一早吃甜甜的麥片跟打起精神工作不太搭調，麥片感覺是週末早晨看報紙時的點心。美術館的麥片早餐的確讓人印象深刻，但愛吃總不至於在腦袋裡製造香味幻覺吧？

晚上和朋友約在曼哈頓吃川菜。走在街上還是一陣陣的楓糖味，心想自己真是沒救了，明天來買麥片早餐好了。

進家門第一件事老公就問我，「妳有聞到糖漿的味道嗎？」喔，原來不只是我。還好我腦袋沒問題。我們看新聞，上網查，都沒看到相關的報導。整個晚上屋子裡都 是濃濃的楓糖漿味。第二天一早NY1 News有報導，說曼哈頓市民打電話到新聞台詢問焦糖香的來源，最北邊是從哈林區打來的。到星期六都沒人知道這壟罩紐約市的甜香是哪裡來的。

pic: Belgian waffles with strawberry, Petite Abeille, 134 West Broadway, Tribeca

以下是www.NY1.com的報導：

Maple Syrup Anyone? City Investigating Source Of Sweet Smell

October 28, 2005

In a city full of foul aromas, a mysterious sweet smell is receiving a lot of attention after residents throughout Manhattan began reporting it Thursday night.

Calls have been pouring in to the city's 311 hotline and to 911 from Manhattan residents wondering just what the smell is.

Many describe it as smelling like maple syrup. Other say it smells like flavored coffee or roasted nuts.

NY1 has been receiving calls from as far south as Lower Manhattan and as far north as Harlem.

"It started at work about 8:30 Thursday night,” said one aroma-witness. “I was at the computer and I felt like, I don't even know, maybe someone had some maple syrup and they were typing away and I was typing and it got on me somehow. I was laying in bed last night and I felt like I had maple syrup in my nostrils."

"I have no idea where it came from,” said another New Yorker. “I thought it was like a baker was making sugar or something and they left it burning."

Officials from the Office of Emergency Management have been running tests all night to try to figure out just what the smell is.

A spokesman says air samples aren't showing anything hazardous, the source of the smell is still not clear.