WWTBAM Bored

Okay, so yesterday I was hoping to get a free Slurpee in Scandinavia, since the date was 7-11 in the local format, and the 7-11 stores in America give out free Slurpees on July 11th each year, so it seemed as if the Europeans should get their free Slurpees on November 7th. I was impressed with the high number of 7-11s in Norway, and there was also at least one 7-11 at the airport in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, they don't appear to offer many of the fine products we've come to know and love at American 7-11s. As near as I could tell, they don't sell Slurpees, or Squishees or any local equivalent. They didn't even have Big Gulps, Super Big Gulps, or Double Gulps. However, they did have a nice variation on the 7-11 Big Bite hot dog, called The Bacon Bite. This is apparently their signature product, featured in all their display signs for the (relative) bargain price of only NKr 29. It is an extra long hot dog, spiral wrapped with a big piece of bacon, lovingly served on a bun with a choice of fixin's. The clerk asked me what I'd like her to add to my Bacon Bite. I surveyed the array of mostly unfamiliar toppings and recognized the chopped onions, so I requested that. She seemed eager to please, and she suggested an additional topping of "dry bacon" (chopped bacon), which I gratefully accepted. The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

The country would be almost perfect, if the bars didn't all charge 13 bucks for a beer. Most items are insanely expensive.

TheConfessor wrote:Okay, so yesterday I was hoping to get a free Slurpee in Scandinavia, since the date was 7-11 in the local format, and the 7-11 stores in America give out free Slurpees on July 11th each year, so it seemed as if the Europeans should get their free Slurpees on November 7th. I was impressed with the high number of 7-11s in Norway, and there was also at least one 7-11 at the airport in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, they don't appear to offer many of the fine products we've come to know and love at American 7-11s. As near as I could tell, they don't sell Slurpees, or Squishees or any local equivalent. They didn't even have Big Gulps, Super Big Gulps, or Double Gulps. However, they did have a nice variation on the 7-11 Big Bite hot dog, called The Bacon Bite. This is apparently their signature product, featured in all their display signs for the (relative) bargain price of only NKr 29. It is an extra long hot dog, spiral wrapped with a big piece of bacon, lovingly served on a bun with a choice of fixin's. The clerk asked me what I'd like her to add to my Bacon Bite. I surveyed the array of mostly unfamiliar toppings and recognized the chopped onions, so I requested that. She seemed eager to please, and she suggested an additional topping of "dry bacon" (chopped bacon), which I gratefully accepted. The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

The country would be almost perfect, if the bars didn't all charge 13 bucks for a beer. Most items are insanely expensive.

BDM would have asked for pepper bacon.

TheConfessor wrote:Okay, so yesterday I was hoping to get a free Slurpee in Scandinavia, since the date was 7-11 in the local format, and the 7-11 stores in America give out free Slurpees on July 11th each year, so it seemed as if the Europeans should get their free Slurpees on November 7th. I was impressed with the high number of 7-11s in Norway, and there was also at least one 7-11 at the airport in Copenhagen. Unfortunately, they don't appear to offer many of the fine products we've come to know and love at American 7-11s. As near as I could tell, they don't sell Slurpees, or Squishees or any local equivalent. They didn't even have Big Gulps, Super Big Gulps, or Double Gulps. However, they did have a nice variation on the 7-11 Big Bite hot dog, called The Bacon Bite. This is apparently their signature product, featured in all their display signs for the (relative) bargain price of only NKr 29. It is an extra long hot dog, spiral wrapped with a big piece of bacon, lovingly served on a bun with a choice of fixin's. The clerk asked me what I'd like her to add to my Bacon Bite. I surveyed the array of mostly unfamiliar toppings and recognized the chopped onions, so I requested that. She seemed eager to please, and she suggested an additional topping of "dry bacon" (chopped bacon), which I gratefully accepted. The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

The country would be almost perfect, if the bars didn't all charge 13 bucks for a beer. Most items are insanely expensive.

It looks like you were lucky that the Danish 7-11 were still a viable franchise:

COPYRIGHT 2005 United Press International

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Convenience store 7-11 has finally turned a profit in Denmark, after trying for 11 years.

The Norwegian-owned chain's 46 stores in Denmark booked a profit last year of $420,000 on revenues of $75.43 million, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, the...

While researching 7-11's in Scandanavia I came upon this factoid in wiki:

7-Eleven is a worldwide chain of convenience stores. It is, since March 2007, the largest chain store in any category, beating McDonald's by 1,000 stores.[1] Its stores are located in eighteen countries, with its largest markets being Japan, the United States, Taiwan, and Thailand. 7-Eleven is a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings Co. of Japan.

But I also found this item:

http://www.plime.com/l/16866/1/

TheConfessor wrote:The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

You had to go Norway to learn that? Pittsburgh and Cleveland teach that at much lower cost.

TheConfessor wrote:The country would be almost perfect, if the bars didn't all charge 13 bucks for a beer. Most items are insanely expensive.

My sister has lived in Stockholm for 20 years. - There is nothing like a burger and beer for $33 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Stockholm.

gotribego26 wrote:My sister has lived in Stockholm for 20 years. - There is nothing like a burger and beer for $33 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Stockholm.

Swedish prices are high, but not as bad as Norway. Norwegians like to go on shopping expeditions to Sweden to take advantage of the lower prices there. Norway is by far the world leader on the annual Big Mac Index.

By the way, the prevailing price for gas in Norway is around NKr 11.70 per liter. That works out to about $6.45/gallon, which didn't seem too bad, once you get used to the idea that everything costs about three times what you'd pay in America. I was driving a Ford diesel engine car, which got good mileage. (They quote comparison data in liters per 100 km.) I got home last night and found gas in Austin at around $2.03, which seems too cheap if we ever hope to have competitive energy options.

ulysses5019 wrote:BDM would have asked for pepper bacon.

BDM would have no problem making his own pepper bacon, using locally produced ingredients. The most prevalent brand of pepper and other spices I saw in several restaurants was "Black Boy." I especially liked the Black Boy Piffikrydder, sprinkled over meats or fried taters.

TheConfessor wrote: Swedish prices are high, but not as bad as Norway. Norwegians like to go on shopping expeditions to Sweden to take advantage of the lower prices there.

And the Swedes go to Denmark, and the Danes go to Germany...and everyone knows someone from Poland who imports this, that, or the other...

TheConfessor wrote:The most prevalent brand of pepper and other spices I saw in several restaurants was "Black Boy." I especially liked the Black Boy Piffikrydder, sprinkled over meats or fried taters.

We use Black Boy gryllkrydder on most of our grilled stuff. I think we need to stock up next time we are there, though...I hear they're changing the name.

My sister had a tough go of it when she visited Norwegia. But that's what she gets for being a vegetarian.

Life is indeed better with extra bacon...

TheConfessor wrote:I surveyed the array of mostly unfamiliar toppings and recognized the chopped onions, so I requested that. She seemed eager to please, and she suggested an additional topping of "dry bacon" (chopped bacon), which I gratefully accepted. The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

Now I want to know what all the unidentified toppings are!

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:I surveyed the array of mostly unfamiliar toppings and recognized the chopped onions, so I requested that. She seemed eager to please, and she suggested an additional topping of "dry bacon" (chopped bacon), which I gratefully accepted. The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

Now I want to know what all the unidentified toppings are!

Dried onions and shrimp are two common ones. What I want to know is if Ed went with the regular bun or for the Norwegian lumpe?

marrymeflyfree wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

TheConfessor wrote:I surveyed the array of mostly unfamiliar toppings and recognized the chopped onions, so I requested that. She seemed eager to please, and she suggested an additional topping of "dry bacon" (chopped bacon), which I gratefully accepted. The Norwegians have taught me that everything is better with extra bacon on it, including a Bacon Bite.

Now I want to know what all the unidentified toppings are!

Dried onions and shrimp are two common ones. What I want to know is if Ed went with the regular bun or for the Norwegian lumpe?

I went with whatever she gave me. We didn't discuss terminology, but I'd call it a bun (see photo below). I wasn't informed of any possible alternatives. As I recall, one or two of the other toppings looked like variations of chopped bell peppers, which seemed to be pretty common during my stay. I don't think shrimp were an option, but in Norway, any food you don't recognize is likely to be some form of salmon. The breakfast buffets at the Oslo hotels I stayed in were amazing in variety and abundance. I'm not sure what to do with the little toothpaste tubes of "Kaviar" that were included on the breakfast spread, but I brought a few home for when I'm feeling adventurous and ready to try something other than Crest.

I apparently misremembered the price of a Bacon Bite, judging from this photo I took. It was even more of a bargain than I thought.