wahm tonic

You'd think in a country whose name conjures up images of an actual Land of Ice that you'd be able to get a cold soda. Not so. In fact, Icelanders seem to prefer their soda at nearly room temperature. When I pop into 10-11 (or competitor 11-11) for a guilty-pleasure weekend Pepsi Max, I find myself moving aside 3 or 4 rows of soda containers, reaching to the very back of the refrigerator case to find the one bottle that's been sitting directly in the blower. That one is sometimes almost cold enough, although even then it's the kind of cold that is suddenly warm back in the car, not the bone-jangling I-don't-want-to-hold-the-can-too-long I-need-gloves cold of an American-retailed soda. Of course anything forward of that back row is absolutely piss-warm. Isn't at least half of the point of soda that it's cold? Even at the semi-ubiquitous American Style hamburger chain, there is no cold soda to be had. There is a soda fountain, yes, but despite the promise implied in the name there is no "American-style" ice machine. In its place is a watery bowl of a few sad ice cubes and a pasta spoon. Come on, Iceland, I know you can do "cold" better than that.