Hi every-one,
I'm still busily working on my photos from Iceland so I thought I'd share an Icelandic recipe with you. Iceland is a bit like New Zealand in one way. There are many more sheep than people so it was no surprise to find Icelandic lamb on the menu just about every night. One really popular item was the ubiquitous meat soup, made of course with lamb.
Food is really expensive in Iceland so for lunch I'd either have a sandwich or a bowl of soup. The soup always came with bread and butter and best of all, a refill. Now as it happens I didn't actually try meat soup when I was in Iceland. I mainly had the vegetable soup and on one occasion, a very disappointing bowl of fish soup.
Last Thursday when I returned to Sydney, I found a recipe for meat soup on the SBS website and went to the shops for the ingredients. I figured even with jet lag I could manage to put together a pot of soup and that pot of soup lasted the week.
The recipe called for lamb on the bone but all l I could find in the shops were lamb shanks. I had to extend the cooking time by a few hours, close to 4 hours in the end. In return - a very large pot of meaty soup loaded with chunks of vegetables.
Here's the recipe for you which adds kale to the soup just before serving. I didn't see kale in any of the supermarkets I visited in Iceland so I get the feeling cabbage would be used. The kale does add nice touch of green to the soup though.
Icelandic Lamb Soup – serves 6
Ingredients
1 kg lamb chops, or 1 kg lamb shoulder, bone in, cut into 4 cm pieces across the bone (ask your butcher to do this for you)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 large turnip, cut into 2 cm cubes
3 waxy potatoes (such as desiree), cut into 2 cm cubes
3 carrots, cut into 2 cm cubes
2 leeks, sliced
5 thyme sprigs
2 fresh bay leaves
30g (⅓ cup) rolled oats
1½ cups shredded kale
Place lamb, onion and 2.5 litres of water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, skimming impurities from surface. Season with salt and pepper, then reduce heat to low and cook for 1 hour to allow flavours to develop.
Add vegetables, thyme and bay leaves, and cook, topping up with 400 ml extra water if necessary, for a further 1½ hours or until meat is meltingly tender and starting to fall off the bone. Remove lamb from soup and set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, add oats and cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Once lamb is cool enough to handle, shred meat from bones, discarding bones, and return to soup. Stir through kale and season.
See you all again with more travel photos from Iceland.
Bye for now,
Jillian
I downloaded the trip notes for my Iceland holiday before I left Australia but I had a really punishing schedule so didn't bother reading them before my arrival. With great surprise and delight I discovered there are many glaciers in Iceland and we were going to visit a few of them during our round trip of the island. I suppose the name 'Iceland' should have clued me in but I was on holidays and my brain not quite switched on so please don't judge me too harshly.
There are no glaciers in Australia so my first sighting was on a family trip to New Zealand when I was nine. I remember visiting Fox Glacier and climbing Franz Josef Glacier with my sister. She fell over heading towards a deep crevasse but we managed to stop her from falling into the abyss. Fast forward to my time living in Alberta Canada where glaciers were aplenty. They filled and continue to fill me with awe.
So on our first day when we walked to the Sólheimajökull glacier and there it was in all it's dark glory, I was blown away. Apparently the glacier is covered in ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010 hence it's colour. I looked on a little enviously at the groups who were going to climb the glacier. Apparently our time schedule didn't allow time for a glacier walk so instead we took photos to mark the occasion.
The next day we headed to the Skaftafell National Park to walk to Svartifoss, a black basalt waterfall but first we stopped at Laki, the site of a major volcanic event more than 200 years ago.
It's a black, black, black lunar like landscape with the only thing growing, a particular kind of moss.
Once we arrived at Skaftafell National Park, we found it a hive of activity. Again this was a really popular place with loads of tour buses, campers, walkers and climbers and best of all, free public loos in the information centre.
Once we arrived at Svartifoss we found people picnicking at the base of the falls and wading in the water at the base of the falls. Are they supposed to be doing so? No, I don't think so.
Instead of continuing on with the walk back to the information centre, I headed towards a glacier I could see in the distance. I realised I was running out of time and wouldn't be able to reach the glacier in time so I had to sprint back the remaining 2.5 kms to reach the rest of the gang. I didn't want to incur a time penalty or the wrath of our tour guide.
The next stop was Svinafellsjokull, another glacier. This one we couldn't get up to quite as close and personal as Sólheimajökull glacier but it was still an impressive sight.
There was a memorial to climbers lost on the glacier just to remind us that Mother Nature can be a ferocious beast at times.
Our final stop for the day was Jökulsárlón, also known as the Glacier Lagoon, a fact I would have known if I'd read the trip notes. Apparently we were going on a boat ride across the lake as well.
As we drove by we had out first glimpse of the lake and it's floating icebergs. The sight was just magical and yes, I took far too many photos. While were waiting for our boat ride we wandered over to the nearby black sand beach to see the icebergs that had washed onto the sand.
Then it was time to board the amphibious boat for our ride across the lake.
Once I saw the craft, I instantly renamed it the 'rubber duckie'. I hummed 'rubber duckie you're the one' the whole time we were on the boat.
The boat ride was loads of fun but we all decided we'd have preferred to have been in the zodiac to get up close and personal with the icebergs. This whole portion of the trip was an absolute highlight for me for not only did we float amongst icebergs, we spotted a seal frolicking in the lagoon.
As you can see glaciers are my thing.
See you all again soon,
Jillian aka, the glacier hunter!
I'm back! Unfortunately I'm still waking at 2.00 a.m. for no reason, then not being able too get back to sleep again. In January I started thinking of places in Europe I'd like to visit once the conference in Glasgow had ended.
I thought about visiting Italy as I'd not been in 10 years and Iceland because I'd heard so much about it in recent years. Initially I thought I might be able to visit both places but finances and logistics got in the way.
I looked at prices in Iceland and realised I couldn't afford to hire a car and go solo for 10 days so I found a tour that matched my travel dates and booked it.
After that I thought no more about my holiday until about 10 days before I flew out. Even then all I did was buy a rain jacket and a fleece to cope with Iceland's changeable weather.
I don't think I've ever done less prep or research before undertaking a trip, ever.
I flew into Reykjavik Friday afternnon and we left on the tour the next day. Our accommodation was 2 minutes walk from the Hallgrimskirkja so I went up early to take some photos before the bus left.
The church has a very spare interior so I focused on it's exterior, modelled on basalt columns we visited later in the trip. We began the day with a short walking tour of Reykjavik before loading the bus and heading on our way.
Before we left Reykjavik we visited 'The Pearl' for views over Reykjavik.
I thought 'The Pearl' was more interesting than the view so I photographed the building instead.
Our first day was spent visiting the Golden Circle, which everyone and I mean every-one who visits Iceland comes to see. It's a UNESCO heritage site and is the location of the Silfra fissure, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates slowly pull apart.
Then it was back on the bus en route to Geysir, the geothermal area, to watch Strokkur do her thing. Well let me tell you that geysers are unpredictable creatures who erupt the moment you lower your camera. I didn't get one decent shot.
In the end I gave up trying and climbed the hill for a better view and yes all those people had come a very long way just to watch steam and hot water.
We drove to Gullfoss for lunch (delicious mushroom soup that I'd love to recreate) followed by a walk to see the waterfall.
I loathe crowds and Gullfoss was the most crowded location of the day. Rather than fighting the crowds I decided to photograph the plant life. There are very few trees in Iceland and not many plants manage to survive the wind and the lava.
We thought we were done for the day but we managed to sneak in another waterfall and a visit to the Skalholt Church. Skalholt was the ancient seat of the Icelandic bishops, and was the centre of ecclesiastic and worldly power, culture, and education for centuries. The original church(s) have been replaced by a fairly uninspiring white building.
We couldn't enter the church as a concert was taking place so we visited a traditional Icelandic grass hut in the grounds.
By this stage it was getting late and the crowds had gone. I love how quiet and peaceful this scene is.
The following day we were up bright and early because we had a big day with many waterfalls to see. The first waterfall we visited was Gluggafoss. There must have been some kind of miracle happening that day because we were the only people there.
It was a lovely and green and I found some more pretty flowers and this lovely bridge.
The second waterfall of the day was the Seljalandsfoss. I was more impressed with the climbing abilities of those sheep than the waterfall.
I did take a few photos of the waterfall before we were back on the bus to visit the third waterfall of the day, Skógafoss.
As you can tell by the second day I'd already reached my waterfall threshold and they were all starting to look the same to me.
This waterfall was really popular and if you climbed up to the next level you might see a rainbow in the falls.
Now these guys were determined to 'get the shot' not realising that by standing in the river they were preventing the rest of us from getting our shots. I can't tell you how often this happened.
Next stop was the nearby Skogar folk museum, which was fascinating. We were given an insight into the hardships endured by those Icelanders with no access to wood, because there were no trees in Iceland, no nails or metal utensils because they had no ore and the list goes on and on. They were incredibly resourceful and relied on wood and metal from shipwrecks and created items from antlers, bones, animal skins etc, etc.
A number of houses built in the local style had been recreated in the grounds of the museum or moved from nearby villages, which were longer populated. People no longer want to live the hard life of their forbears and have moved to the city.
The houses were tiny and often built over the barn for warmth and the grass roofs provided insulation.
These pretty lupins were growing every-where.
We had a huge day with a punishing schedule, so it was back on the bus to travel to Vik for a lunch stop and to see the black beaches. The wind was blowing a gale and the sun was in the wrong direction to take photos, so I didn't bother. All was well because just around the corner was Reynisfjara.
As well as black beaches this was the location of the basalt columns which inspired the design of the Hallsgrimskirkja.
See what I mean.
It was blowing a gale that day when we spied this poor model/bride having a photo shoot in a skimpy red silk dress and without shoes. Note every-one else in the crew is wearing a jacket or long sleeves. Oh the price of beauty!
There was just one last stop of the day, Dyrhólaey.
The black beach was spectacular and so was the Dyrhólaey Arch, which we braved despite the wind.
We all agreed that the second day of our trip had been a very good day.
When I have a chance to sort through some more of my photos, I'll be back with Iceland Part II and my favourite part, glaciers
So until then,
Jillian