"I've walked a lot in the mountains in Iceland. And as you come to a new valley, as you come to a new landscape, you have a certain view. If you stand still, the landscape doesn't necessarily tell you how big it is. It doesn't really tell you what you're looking at. The moment you start to move the mountain starts to move." - Olafur Eliasson - Dutch artist
Iceland joined the Broad a few weeks ago, and ever since, I've been researching Icelandic travel sites and blogs by expatriates. As someone from a tropical climate, who has moved to another tropical area, I have no first hand knowledge of what it would be like to live in winter that has less than 6 daylight hours, with highs in the low 20s and highs in the high 30s. In many respects, Iceland is the extreme opposite of the Yucatan.
What is being shared is the similarity in adjusting to this expatriate journey by fellow blogger, Monika Deanielewicz, a beautiful Polish soul who is now living and working in Reykjavik. Monika aspires to be a writer. As we have been living in our newly adopted countries for about the same length of time, our adjustment phases are similar. Here are a few excerpts from her blog:
wtorek, 6 grudnia 2011 : tuesday, 6 december 2011 : "I just realised that I either write when I'm hot under the collar or a bit sad and homesick, but of course it doesn't mean that my life here in Reykijavik is miserable. ... Everyone goes home for Christmas but thanks to my dear Icelandic friend Ester I have met in Poland , I'm not going to be alone. Takk fyrir!"
środa, 14 marca 2012 : friday, 14 march 2012 : "I rarely cry since I've been living here but today it was probably the last straw I could handle. So I gave up and tears started falling down my face. No shoulder to cry on, all you can do is carry on. I'm full of contradictory feelings. On one hand I miss my country but at the same time I don;t want to go back. On the other hand these overwhelming emotions are just consequence of not knowing what I'm longing for."
So, what's a girl to do when she is blue? Eat chocolate! Here is a lovely Icelandic dessert from Icecook!
Skyr and white chocolate crème brulée with blueberry schnapps
Skyr crème brulée:
100 g cream
100 g pure skyr
40 g egg yolk
40 g sugar
80 g white chocolate
The juice of 1/2 lime
1 vanilla pod
Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and put in a saucepan with the cream. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and add the skyr.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and add to the warm skyr mixture.
Stir together the egg yolk and sugar and add to the skyr mixture along with the lime juice. Put into crème brulée ramekins and bake in a water bath at 120 °C for 30 minutes. Cool.
Sprinkle with demerara sugar and melt the sugar with a crème brulée torch.
Blueberry schnapps:
125 g puréed blueberries
500 ml water
125 g sugar
0,5 dl vodka
Cook together the sugar, water and blueberry purée untilt he sugar is melted and syrup is slightly thickened. Cool and add the vodka. Freeze. Just before serving, purée the frozen schnapps in a blender to a slushy consistency and serve on the side with the brulée.
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