Even more fish...and waffles

This is how bright it was at 10.30pm. The sun doesn't go down at this time of year, so we worked up an appetite for dinner cycling. A tour guide was supplementing his income by leading free Reykjavik bike tours and working for tips. 6 of his tours in the summer were cancelled because there was a drop in demand for tours and more people were showing up and doing their own thing or camping. So he and his wife/girlfriend bought some bikes and decided to give free tours around the city! He took us through Reykjavik neighborhoods, pointing out hotdog stands, ice cream shops, burgers, lobster soup shacks and finally by the ocean and Bjork's house. (you can allllmost see it in the picture. It is a small 2 storey black house, off into the distance)

Also where the new opera house by the sea to rival Sydney's, which is under construction, designed by Olafur Elisasson. We cycled through the university where it costs NOTHING to go to school. Our guide had 7 degrees, 5 of which were masters degrees, costing him a grand total of $300. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!! Maybe I should move to magical Iceland and get some education. That means that every degree costs about half a monthly MTA metrocard.



Anyway, earlier in the day, a shopkeeper gave us a recommendation for dinner at a place by the lake, Við Tjörnina, which means..."by the lake", that serves meat and fish. They handdraw/write their menus everyday.



It isn't traditional Icelandic food – most people can't stomach real Icelandic food. How about ROTTEN SHARK? Neupe, I'm giving that a miss. BUT, what was special was that this place was decorated like an Icelandic house and we were told that going there was like being invited to dinner in someone's house. So when the bike ride went about 45 minutes longer than anticipated and 40 minutes late, we started getting verrrry antsy. It was 10.45pm and we bolted out of the drop off car even though our guide assured us that Icelanders were very flexible with time and burst into the restaurant apologizing profusely since the kitchen was closing in 15 minutes.







Their menus had some sort of bizarre cover.



And on the inside were more drawings of fish!



All the tables had different decorations and tablecloths. Ours had cross stitch on it. (Hand stitched, NOT printed)



When I went in to make a reservation earlier in the day, I asked what fish just came in and the chef told me that they had gotten some artic char, cod and monkfish fresh in that morning. Candice and I both had the char.



It was HUGE!



It came with some root vegetables and a skinned tomato with some sort of cilantro corridander mix hiding under it. I've never had fish so good and so fresh. I was enticed by their cookbook that was in the lounge where we were waiting for our food and I bought it, captivated by more fish drawings and beautiful photography, despite the fact that I can't understand a single word it says because it is all in Icelandic.

Earlier on the bike ride, I met some people that were looking for the Waffle Wagon earlier in the day. It only makes an appearance late at night, so you have to be patient. It stays open for the late night weekend crowd so it closes whenever people go home early in the morning. 6am? We emerged from the restaurant past midnight, having saved room for waffle.



mmmm tasty waffle. I ate it too quickly to post pictures. But here is their menu:

fish and chips in the artic & an ode to skyr

You can't be in Iceland and not eat fish. All my of meat meals were fish save for a lamb lunch. Icelandic Fish an Chips has been on my want list for a long time and I was finally here. EXCITING TIMES. The best thing about this fish and chips place is that it is completely organic, they fry their fish in a healthier spelt & barley batter (crunchy), they use a dip made out of skyr (Icelandic yogurt that only contains 0.2% fat and doesn't have the lovely green tinge that American nonfat yogurts and milks do, yet it has all the flavor of a full fat yogurt and is as light as a feather), and their desserts are made using mostly agave syrup and not processed sugar.







I had the ling, which is a long skinny fish similar to cod, with cilantro skyr and Candice had the wolf fish which had a lovely texture, with basil and garlic skyr. I'm usually not one of sauce and dips, but with this skyr dip I wanted to eat a whole gallon of it.







Then I had skyr with berries.

If I could eat skyr everyday, I'd be a happy girl.

good baked goods

Any map of the city center in Reykjavik is a little deceiving. Everything looks like it's a bit of a trek when actually it's a 5-10 minute walk. Reykjavik is a tiny and low lying city. So when Candice and I set out for what we thought was the long walk to Sandholt bakery, the oldest bakery in Reykjavik, we stumbled upon it unexpectedly quickly and it was right opposite the record store that launched Bjork & Sigur Ros's careers.





On the second day of eating and nature, I had a twisty cinnamon and chocolate pastry that comes in a long braid and you can tell them how much you want. I didn't realise they weren't in serving size portions, so the lady who was serving me looked quite horrified when I said I'd like 1 piece and I'd like to eat in instead of taking it away.



It's the most cinnamon crammed into a pastry I've ever tasted. Candice got a meat and potato quiche which was tasty tasty tasty. We both had a bad case of food envy and ordered what each other had had the next day.




They also had some earl grey ice cream, the best tea flavored ice cream I've had. The other ice cream that makes my top 3 favourite ice creams of all time was a tiny scoop of lavender honey Cornish ice cream at Borough Market in London.



These were some confections at the bakery. I have no idea what the chocolate bottomed cream boat was, or the curious green flying saucer like thing chocolate around it was, but I was sadly too stuffed to be tempted.







Icelandic pastry is yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy. It doesn't look as golden and toasty as its French Croissant counterparts, but it is infinitely more tasty.


This is a picture of Mr Sandholt.

I met a couple who were raving about the gas station pastry they bought when they were driving around the perimeter of the whole country....mmmmm gas station food.



INCIDENTALLY, Icelandic gas stations have to be the most picturesque pit stops. This was the view from a gas station at Vik, which means bay in Icelandic. Reykavik means smokey/steamy bay) at the south coast (Suderland). Iceland is a hotbed for geothermal energy, so streets are heated by hot water that leaves the heating systems in the house so in the winter, they don't get icy. Verrrrry efficient. In older times, bread was baked not in a fire or coal oven, but in a cave heated by a hot spring.

Speaking of gas station food, this cafeteria was connected to a gas station and was where we stopped for lunch. I was a little hesitant about ordering lamb chops at what seemed to be a semi fast food joint. But all Icelandic lamb ranges free, and I am free to order it without too much of a how-was-this-food-raised struggle. In fact, this has been the one place where I can stop worrying about where the food comes from since land and fish are so abundant and there aren't that many people to feed – so enormous, crowded, dirty and unsafe farm monstrosities don't exist. I saw tons of sheep happily munching with tails wagging on artic herbs and grass on the way down and a happy sheep makes a tasty lamb. If you lived outside by enormous waterfalls, drinking glacial melt and eating angelica flowers, lounging in artic grass, you would be tasty too.





It was incredibly juicy!!!!!!!





I'm not sure what is up with the Zorro/Incredibles powerguy on the lime green juicebox, but there are plenty of weird food characters here. These jumpy frogs on ice cream boxes for example:



Finally, we had dinner at Fishmarket. I'm not sure if it was the surprisingly wonderful lunch that we had, or my tepid feelings towards Asian fusion food, but it was a litttttle bit of a disappointment. There is no reason to oversauce and over salt fish so fresh, and even though it was good, this restaurant was plenty hyped up and if you are ever in Reykjavik, there is better fish to be had.



They do make a mouthwatering passionfruit cocktail though!

Love from Reykjavik

I've been in Iceland for just about a day and I am at once bewildered, excited, astounded and all around floored. It is a bizarre and delightful place and now that it's the summertime, the sun doesn't set. Today, after a long wallow in the blue lagoon, Candice insisted on eating at Orange. I'd heard of it, but truth be told, I wasn't very excited. Since the collapse of the Icelandic economy, I was more keen to milk it for what it was worth and eat at Vox or Fish Market. But I was persuaded to go to Orange and persuaded again to order the 5 course surprise 'Lets Go Crazy' menu and I nearly fell out of my chair.



The starters arrived in little buckets: Haddock lollypops. Too cute, but wait!



The bucket just hovered at the table and was tied to a big orange balloon...



that was three times the size of my head. The weight of the haddock pops were just enough to keep the bucket on the table and once we'd gobbled them up, the whole helium contraption floated to the ceiling.




the starters also came with these curious jars, resting on a box of coffee beans



we popped it open and inside was a spicy leaf, tuna, some sort of celery compote, mushrooms and mushroom foam. absolutely delightful.



then, this was supposed to be a lagoustine and artichoke milk soup with parmesean crackers, but was substituted with cod because of my unfortunate shellfish allergy.



then on a lava rock plate there was barely cooked salmon with citrus and pineapple, potato puree and a naga foam. there were these green sturdy furry leaves that looked very endearing but tasted like super green grass. Candice loved them and I tried hard to, but couldn't. Instead I slurped up th stripe of pesto.




This is the one that pushed me over the edge: beef with truffle and mushrooms and pumpkin puree. Annoyingly enough, the green watercress imposters made a comeback. I think it was this course where the food stopped being so inventive and started to play safe and tried to win me over with quantity. I was teetering in my chair.



INTERMISSION: pineapple sorbet palette cleanser



And this sealed the meal. I'm not sure what it was exactly because I was too stuffed to think properly. It was vanilla ice cream on brownie crumbles and some hazelnut chocolate moussey something with strawberry gel and strawberry sauce, mystery fruit on the side. Good thing it was an uphill climb to get back to the service apartment.

Tomorrow we're roughing it out on a 10 hour bus ride to the south coast of Iceland armed with tons of premade sandwiches, running on toast and scrambled eggs and filter coffee before we descend onto Fish Market for Reykjavik Dinner #2. Stay tuned!

Ode to the Artichoke

By Pablo Neruda

The artichoke
With a tender heart
Dressed up like a warrior,
Standing at attention, it built
A small helmet
Under its scales
It remained
Unshakeable,
By its side
The crazy vegetables
Uncurled
Their tendrills and leaf-crowns,
Throbbing bulbs,
In the sub-soil
The carrot
With its red mustaches
Was sleeping,
The grapevine
Hung out to dry its branches
Through which the wine will rise,
The cabbage
Dedicated itself
To trying on skirts,
The oregano
To perfuming the world,
And the sweet
Artichoke
There in the garden,
Dressed like a warrior,
Burnished
Like a proud
Pomegrante.
And one day
Side by side
In big wicker baskets
Walking through the market
To realize their dream
The artichoke army
In formation.
Never was it so military
Like on parade.
The men
In their white shirts
Among the vegetables
Were
The Marshals
Of the artichokes
Lines in close order
Command voices,
And the bang
Of a falling box.

But
Then
Maria
Comes
With her basket
She chooses
An artichoke,
She's not afraid of it.
She examines it, she observes it
Up against the light like it was an egg,
She buys it,
She mixes it up
In her handbag
With a pair of shoes
With a cabbage head and a
Bottle
Of vinegar
Until
She enters the kitchen
And submerges it in a pot.

Thus ends
In peace
This career
Of the armed vegetable
Which is called an artichoke,
Then
Scale by scale,
We strip off
The delicacy
And eat
The peaceful mush
Of its green heart.


Sent to me by a friend today.

Marmite Love

I have always had an insane craving for all things salty, spicy, and sour (someday I will tell you about my pickle fetish, or my S&M relationship with kim chi, or how many extra hot pepperettes I am embarassed to consume in a day). Other people love cupcakes, I love all things strange and savoury.

(I recently named the groundhog who lives on our property Polskie Ogorki, and I think if I ever got into meditation, UMAMI would be my chant word. UMAAAAMI UMAAAAMI.)

This morning, I made my idea of heaven on a plate: my new favourite breakfast is an open-faced toasted sesame bagel with a runny overeasy egg on either face, both bagel and egg slathered with MARMITE (a present from my sister who currently lives in the land of Marmite-lovers). A slight touch of sweet under the egg was the secret ingredient - a few very small dabs of President's Choice Spicy Szechuan Peanut Sauce rounds out the flavour and gives it a heavenly oomph.

Ooo, yeah. MArMIte, baby.

random gourmet: Shrimp, Olive and Fennel Orzo

My absolute favourite thing in the world as a cook is when a meal gets spontaneously invented with nothing but the random things in my fridge and my own creativity. There is nothing more satisfying.

Last night, I made this:

Shrimp, Olive and Fennel Orzo
served 2

Ingredients:

2 big handfuls of frozen shrimp
leftover orzo from last night's ratatouille
1/2 leftover fennel bulb
a big handful of canned black olives
leftover brine from marinated artichokes (i.e. oil and vinegar dressing)
1 lemon
1/3 lime (would have added more lime but that's what was in my fridge)
garlic
salt
fresh ground pepper

Directions:
1. Cover frozen shrimp with water in a pot and bring to boil. By the time it boils, the shrimp is probably defrosted and cooked.
2. Break up leftover orzo and season with artichoke dressing (or any other oil and vinegar).
3. Roughly dice up the black olives and garlic (as much as you like).
4. Slice the fennel as thinly as you can.
5. Cool the cooked shrimp and peel shells off.
6. Toss the shrimp in a hot wok or pan with chunky bashed black peppercorns, salt and oil till hot. If you have cumin, I think that would taste nice (I was a bit sore that we were out).
7. Throw in olives and garlic and toss for 30 sec or so.
8. Throw in fennel and toss for 30 sec (doesn't need much if you've sliced it thin).
9. Throw in the orzo and toss for another minute or so (just for warming).
10. Transfer to serving bowl and dress with citrus juice and a splash of olive oil. Serve with reserved fennel tops (I forgot to use them with last night's ratatouille).

Adapt as desired or necessary.

Beautiful.

(P.S. Sorry, no pics. Sometimes spontaneity doesn't allow for that.)

Tasty Cephalopods

I wanted to pay tribute to my all time favourite food blog: Deep End Dining, by showing you two posts that changed the way I look at food forever (for good or bad).

Eddie Lin, you are one deliciously sick man.

The first is imprinted forever in the cookbook of my brain as a piece of blog writing perfection. A lasting classic. In this piece, Eddie invents the peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich as a demonstration of environmental activism (with the rise in sea temperatures, jellyfish have begun to choke out all other underwater life):

Peanut Butter and Jellyfish



The video where he feeds the pb and jf sandwich to his unsuspecting wife is gold. You gotta love her for liking the stuff. She is adorable.

pb & jellyfish sandwich from eric alba on Vimeo.

Then there's the time Eddie eats live octopus tentacles. This was my first radical encounter with live food. It blew my mind. Since then I have discovered that people eat all kinds of things live: snake, lobster, whole octopus... all still wriggling. I don't know if I could do it.

Rude food. Live Octopus Tentacles.

Live Tentacles (High Res) from eric alba on Vimeo.

Would you? Have you?

bacon vodka

I am drawn to this recipe like a car accident. Would you try it if I made it?

via Brownie Points