Wacky (and Delicious) America

While waiting here at the airport for my flight back to Oslo, I have had a chance to reflect on the last couple of weeks in the U.S. I had a great time and am still very happy and excited to be moving back, but with all due respect, the U.S. is kind of food-crazy! On our Delta flight out to the midwest, our rather eccentric flight attendant made a speech about juvenile diabetes...she then proceeded to hand out sugary candy to further raise awareness about the disease. Isn't that akin to handing out cigarettes to raise lung cancer awareness? I cracked up (as I gobbled down the sweets)! In Iowa, we went to a restaurant that advertised deep fat fried macaroni and cheese nugget appetizers. As I was laughing about the insane amount of saturated fat that must be in each congealed, cheesy morsel, my friend Cathy told me that she had recently seen a Paula Dean cooking show where Paula taught her viewers to whip up deep fat fried pats of butter! Seriously!?!? And I still can't get over how many new candy products have emerged on the market since I first moved to Norway. Mint flavored 3 Musketeers, Take 5 bars, a soft, cakey version of Oreos...the list goes on and on. (No, I didn't actually sample all of these treats, I just noticed them in the grocery store. I swear.) Anyway, I'm off to the land of rakfisk and lutefisk now...hmm, maybe that deep fried butter doesn't sound so weird after all!