My apologies for the sporadic posting here at Allergizer during the last few days, and perhaps the coming weeks. I'm currently on travel, visiting my folks and staying until the Christmas holidays.

During my flight, we were served -- guess what?-- mixed nuts for snacks. And though my son wasn't accompanying me during the flight, alarm bells started ringing. It was as if over the last few years, I have been programmed to avoid nuts at all costs. I can't remember the last time I ate, or even touched peanuts and peanut-containing food products. As I opened my packet of nuts, I was confronted with two reactions.

On one hand, I was critical of the airlines' choice to serve nuts. Out of the thousand and one possibilities, they had to serve a food product that is responsible for the most serious cases of food allergies?

But on the other hand, belatedly realizing that well, I don't have nut allergies myself, I have to admit to the guilty pleasure of munching on 'em nuts. It isn't often, rare even, to find myself in a situation where I don't have to read the labels, or mind where the person seating next to me disposes his wrappers. It's not like I have been craving for nuts, nor was I feeling deprived, but I have to say it felt good simply not to have to worry about food allergies for a moment.