Great Britain -

30 Jun

Eton Mess with an Icelandic twist

11539196_10205856922076300_1370616124779925279_o I had guests over for dinner the other day and decided to make a dessert dedicated to both islands, Great Britain and Iceland. The outcome was Eton Mess with an Icelandic twist, using skyr. If you want to know more about skyr I wrote about it in an earlier blog post.

Ingredients

450 gr/15.8 oz skyr

100ml/3.4 oz double cream

dash of Ribena blackcurrant juice

3 x 7.5cm/3in meringue nests, crushed

300 gr/11 oz blueberries

almond flakes

coconut flakes

Preparation method

Roast the almond and coconut flakes in a dry pan, until golden. Set aside to cool.

Whip the cream lightly and fold in the skyr and blackcurrant juice.

Add the crushed merengue and blueberries.

Divide into four glasses or bowls.

Decorate with almond flakes, coconut flakes and blueberries.

Bon appetit!

28 Jun

Gin O’Clock

Sometimes one needs to laugh. And when one needs to laugh, one turns to the Twitter account of the Queen. Countless times I’ve cried with laughter reading it and if I feel irritated or sad for some reason, reading it always helps. It’s not the real Queen Elizabeth II tweeting of course, but one doesn’t really care. It’s funny!

So, good people. Check THIS out! You will not be disappointed!

23 Jun

Bambi

20690_10205078130927008_7467613870083942491_n I noticed this street art in my neighbourhood a while ago and I like it. There is something about the little kid that fascinates me. Can’t quite put my finger on it.

I did some research and found out it was made by a street artist called Bambi. Rumours say Bambi is female and a former celeb in the music industry. Nobody knows. Some call her ‘the female Banksy’.

Bambi is from North London and in 2010, the vandalism of a popular Bambi stencil in Primrose Hill reignited a long running London debate over the preservation of street art and resulted in Islington Councillors proposing a community committee be established to rule on the future protection of street art. Her best known work is probably when she commemorated the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton with the satirical slogan ‘A Bit Like Marmite’ across their chests.

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Her website

22 Jun

My beloved Primrose Hill

11415470_10205826143266849_1252669487698795569_o In the words of William Blake ‘I have conversed with the spiritual Sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill’. It’s my heaven as well. One of my favourite places in London. It’s such a privilege to be able to take a stroll up Primrose Hill most days. It has one of the best panoramas the capital has to offer, but also fields of green, beautiful trees, and yes… tourists. However, they usually just visit the same spot so it’s easy to walk a bit further and be alone with your thoughts. You can read more about Primrose Hill here.

WILLIAM BLAKE (1757 – 1827)

Poems and Prophecies. Everyman/Dent, 1950.

From Jerusalem, Chapter 2 (To the Jews) p.190

The fields from Islington to Marybone,

To Primrose Hill and Saint John’s Wood,

Were builded over with pillars of gold,

And there Jerusalem’s pillars stood.

Her Little-ones ran on the fields,

The Lamb of God among them seen…

The Jew’s-harp-house & the Green Man,

The Ponds where Boys to bathe delight,

The fields of Cows by Willan’s farm,

Shine in Jerusalem’s pleasant sight.

[Show slideshow]

18 Jun

Harper Beckham’s dresses

I quite often buy my clothes from a charity shop in my neighbourhood, Mary’s Living & Giving shop for Save the Children. When some of the posh Hampstead ladies get bored with their dresses, even after a month or two, they donate it to the shop and then women like myself can buy a nice designer dress for £15. Best of all, my money goes to Save the Children.

I was doing my morning stroll when I saw a lot of people waiting outside the shop. When I got closer it was obvious that there was a media craze going on, lots of people armed with cameras. Tiny, adorable dresses in the shop’s window reminded me of news saying that the Beckham’s were selling their daughter’s clothes for charity. Harper, this lovely little girl, is already a fashion icon. I hope she will be alright when she grows up, in spite of all the attention.

[Show slideshow]

16 Jun

Hilarious football fanatic

Iceland and England are among the most dedicated football nations according to Sporting Intelligence. Many Icelanders are devoted supporters of English leagues like United, Arsenal and Liverpool. They save up to go to matches in London, have all the gadgets and sing along while watching a match on TV.

Do British football fans support Icelandic teams then? Nah… not so likely. In these fantastically funny comedy sketches we meet Stuart, a fanatic supporter of the Icelandic league KR. It’s taken from the series Drekasvæðið on RUV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) but don’t worry, it’s in English!

14 Jun

Travelling back in time

Pincurls and Pout If you like vintage clothes and antique, going to a Vintage Pop-Up Fair is time well spent. A bit like travelling back in time. It’s perhaps not as cheap as the markets where you have to go through a lot of rubbish to find a pearl in the sand, but definitely not as expensive as buying from a posh vintage- or antique shop.

More importantly the atmosphere is amazing, live singers performing songs from the past, a tea room with old fashioned baking and a vintage beauty parlour. That’s what they promise on their website:

“All the fairs are choc-a-bloc full of handpicked, quality, vintage traders who offer a wide range of genuine vintage goods. From ladies & menswear, both designer and affordable, to a stunning array of vintage jewellery, fashion accessories, haberdashery, retro furnishings, homeware, vintage posters, antique maps, collectables, curiosities and more, all from the 1920’s – 1980’s.”

Fortunately it’s all true. I’ve gone to so many of those fairs and never been disappointed. I’ve bought gorgeous German 50′ earrings for 6 pounds and beautiful handbags for a10-15 pounds.

You can read more about those fairs on their website Pop Up Vintage Fairs London and check out the amazing Pincurls and Pout as well.

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31 May

It’s scone crazy!

When it comes to traditional British food, I’ve promised myself to try everything at least once. Marmite. Yeah, once was enough. Cream tea on the other hand is something a lady must have regularly. Good thing I’m not a lady then, ’cause it‘s really rich and leaves you feeling like a stuffed puffin. Tastes good though, can‘t deny that.

The reason it‘s called cream tea is not that they pour cream into the tea. Cream tea is a combination of a scone with clotted cream and jam and a cup of tea. However, Cream tea should be served with milk. It got its name from Devonshire cream, or clotted cream as it‘s usually called, produced in the county of Devon. The texture of clotted cream is somewhere between whipped cream and butter and it is not as light as whipped cream. It‘s a bit like what you get when you whip the cream too much.

Fun fact. It matters to some people whether you spread the clotted cream or the jam beforehand. This has been the subject of a long standing rivalry between Devon and Cornwall. In Devon, you traditionally spread cream on the scone first, then you top it with jam. In Cornwall, it‘s the opposite. Jam first, then cream. I’ve tried both methods and haven‘t been able to decide which is better myself, so I’m not taking sides.

The debate doesn’t end here though. They can’t even agree on whether the pronunciation of the delicacy should be “skoan”, or “skon”. So what do you think? Clotted cream or jam first? Skoan or skon?

29 May

Bad weather… really?

This morning my neighbour moaned about the weather. The spring has been so different from last year and even the year before, he complained. He went on about how cold and windy it was and said he couldn’t wait for the summer, although he was beginning to think it would never turn up.

I’ve heard so many talk like this during the last weeks and usually I just bite my tongue so I don’t compare the spring over here to snowy Iceland. But this morning I couldn’t resist showing him a photo from Iceland on my mobile. June is almost here, but it’s still snowing from time to time and really cold everywhere. It’s the coldest May in Iceland since 1979 and the third coldest since 1949 as you can read about in this article. My neighbour smiled and told me he was slightly happier now with going for a walk in the rain.

I’m constantly happy with the weather here in the UK. But everything is relative. I can imagine how a person from Greenland feels when she hears an Icelander moan about the weather in Iceland.

19 May

Trip down memory lane

The year is 1975. I’m 14 years old, standing in front of my grandparents radio singing loudly to a tune that’s been played in the weekly show “Óskalög sjómanna” (Favourite songs of the sailors). The song has come second in The Eurovision Song Contest and is popular in Iceland.

And now let’s fast forward to 1999. The song All Out Of Luck, sung by Selma Björnsdóttir, has become really popular in Iceland, even before it’s Iceland’s entry in The Eurovision Song Contest. On the night of the contest I was visiting Sweden and had a bad fall on the way to a Eurovision party. I twisted my ankle and in the waiting room of the hospital, accompanied by Icelandic doctors working there, I watched Selma perform. Fortunately I made it to the party before the results were in cause Sweden won and All Out Of Luck came second. It’s not unlikely that Sweden will win the contest next Saturday as well.