Happy Belated July 4!

Happy belated 4th of July to all you patriots! Or as nobody says in German because it's not a holiday over here, Frohe vierte Juli! Looks like the weather cooperated for the long weekend in Chicago at least.

Keeping with the theme, I'll share two pieces of Euro-Americana from the past few weeks. To facilitate complete study, please feel free to click on either picture to examine more detail. Americana Exhibit A lies as close as our neighborhood grocery store, another inimitable U.S. contribution to cuisine--that's right, the bun! You might think that ubiquitous corner bakeries and a huge variety of freshly baked artisinal items in every grocery would have snuffed out the standard U.S. white bread hamburger bun long ago. Well, think again! It's BBQ season and while some fancy Kaiser roll or potato roll or whatever might seem more interesting, the world acknowledges that with most grilled protein, bleached spongy white bread remains a necessary accompaniment--topped with sesame seeds, of course.

Exhibit B comes from a Swedish bar bathroom poster, an exciting Southern U.S. themed July 4 "Day at the Races". The poster's ample English promises delights appealing to grease monkeys (Cadillac, Corvette, hot rods and Harley Davidson) among other highbrow evening entertainment elements (line dancing, Jack Daniels and rockabilly music featuring the band 'Rednex') with ever-popular American cuisine and sport (hickory smoked spareribs and football). Alas, the poster's Swedish words are mostly unintelligible (I'm learning German after all) but Galopplöpningar must be horse racing, although Elektrisk tjur (guitar?), Appaloosa, Westernprylar and Curly are beyond me. One should mean 'mint julep'. The event also boasts och mycket mycket mer!, but I can't fathom what more I'd like to see. Who'd imagine Sweden could host an Americana event where we'd feel like foreigners??

It just proves that given today's rapidly shrinking globe, home is closer than ever even 4,000 miles away. Returning to the U.S. later this month, we wouldn't bat an eye to discover the hip new trends include dried cod, dill schnapps Älplermagronen and yodeling.