I have this little tradition. Every time I visit a new city I pick an ice cream from a convenience store to try (the store bought kind not the posh fancy kind). I choose one that I have never seen before, preferably with different language writing and name, and something that visually might represent the place that I am visiting. This is something I have done for a long time. Long before this blog was even a flicker of thought in my mind.

Last weekend I was in Oslo, Norway, and for my little experiment I chose the Hennig Olsen Båtis. It looked Norwegian, it had a picture of a boat on the front, with fjords, and little mini anchors. It was supposedly shaped like a boat, with a biscuit outer and vanilla ice cream, with raspberry and chocolate on top. This was to be my choice, my representative ice cream. I was excited.

Do you remember that episode of Grey’s Anatomy where Dr George O’Malley decides to inexplicably join the United States Army, and leaves the hospital, then they get a John Doe admitted with a mangled face and he keeps trying to communicate with them but can’t because, well, mangled face, and then they find out that John Doe is actually George, who then dies and leaves everyone feeling sad face? (Sorry, long sentence that one).

How I felt when I watched that episode isn’t too dissimilar to my feelings when I opened my Hennig Olsen Båtis. Dejected. heartbroken. Bad for Meredith (oops, sorry still dwelling on Grey’s)…

Serious disappointment. I can’t even be bothered describing how it tasted to you. A picture really can represent more than words. It looked like a woodlouse (see woodlouse below for comparison). Also, not worth the inevitability of my lactose intolerant reaction.

I took one bite and then passed it along to someone else, who ate it, though not particularly with any real sense of joy.

The end.

ADDENDUM

While I was googling ‘Woodlouse’ just now I came across an image of a tiny and very thrilled little turtle. It gave me joy. Now I am passing on the joy, because I am just that kinda gal. Giving, and generous, and very, very modest.

Enjoy and have a fantastic weekend.