a little bit of this, a little bit of that

As I haven't been good with blogging last week (sorry about that, but I promise I'll write up a post about Cassandra Clare's signing in Frankfurt!), I decided to gather a few blog posts I read during the last 4 or so days.

Chris @ book-a-rama posted her thoughts on nuts, or more specifially nut allergies and other sometimes deadly allergies (you can find Chris' blog post here). Now granted, I'm lucky in that my allergies (food and pollen, mostly) so far haven't been life-threatening, but I can totally understand her outrage about an article in Chatelaine magazine. Having to live with allergies, and food allergies especially, means you have a lot to consider throughout the day. Do I eat food A because it is readily available without knowing how it was made or do I rather pay more, go further away etc. for food B where I know it won't contain any traces of nuts (or whatever other allergy you have)? Of course, having an allergy, I'll go with food B.
Another problem is when you're going out, say to a Christmas party, when the dishes served have been pre-decided. You have to think of every single allergy you have or suspect you have (wouldn't want to risk finding out about a new allergy during an office party now, would you?). And this is only a very, very small look into life with food allergies.
By the way, in case you're wondering: I'm allergic to (all kinds of) nuts, almonds, sesame (cross allergy with the nuts), raw carrots (slightly cooked I can eat them), cucumbers and the likes, and melons. That's it, as far as I know - but you never know, do you? If you have some spare time next time you're doing your grocery shopping, check out the ingredients list, not just for nuts and almonds, but also traces of nuts and almonds - it's "fun" to see what you wouldn't be able to eat if you were allergic!

On a brighter side, I saw a great bench at the blog of A Mother in Israel. It reminds me somewhat of Park Güell in Barcelona. Just click the link to A Mother in Israel to see the bench. Trust me, it is beautiful to look at!

Then I have a youtube video for you - the trailer to Dear John, another movie after a novel by Nicholas Sparks:



To quote Material Maidel: because who doesn't want to see Channing Tatum in uniform? and without his shirt :) (And for those who don't know me in person and therefore have no clue about my desktop background: it's a picture of Duke of G.I. Joe.)