Stórafmæli

A big birthday

It's been quiet here on the blog this week - I've been busy celebrating a big birthday in real life. I turned 50 this week.

Since the actual birthday was during the week, we really only celebrated with the family, all four children and grandchildren were here and we had a very cozy evening.

The “big celebration” came at the weekend.

Since I like baking, I came up with something: I would just invite you over for coffee and cake and let off some steam while baking cakes. And since I didn't want a typical birthday, I said that everyone in the family should please bring 2 to 4 surprise guests, just so that it would be a colorful, wildly mixed bunch.

I had planned for around 20 people, but in the end there were four cancellations due to illness, one additional guest came, but all in all it went well and we had a nice, loud celebration.

We had set up an old, discarded desk from the children in the living room and arranged the cake buffet on it.

I had let off some steam with baking the day before; I had actually planned one more cake, but I left it out. A dear guest brought a very tasty cheesecake as a gift! (You can see the cheesecake at the back of the picture, next to the carafe of iced coffee.)

Here in the picture of the buffet you can see the Sítróna bollakökur, i.e. lemon muffins or lemon cupcakes with thick icing on top.

On the second plate there is a sheet cake, an espressó sukkulaðikaka, an espresso chocolate cake. (As a precaution, baked with caffeine-free coffee powder because of the potential for children to eat with them.)

On the next plate you can see a 3-tier birthday cake, an Afmæliskaka. I baked this cake for my husband's birthday 1.5 years ago and last month "in small" as a surprise for a friend in Iceland. I thought it was delicious, so I made it again. I also like beautiful cakes!

I baked the cake here in three springform pans with a diameter of 8 inches (20 cm) - not quite large, but sufficiently filling thanks to the three layers and all the butter cream and the brittle (in this case almond brittle).

And of course there was also a gulrótarkaka, a carrot cake. When my daughter is there, there has to be carrot cake, it's her favorite cake! Here I baked a recipe with grated carrots and canned peaches, chopped almonds and a nice fruity cream cheese cream.

And as a “dessert” after the whole cake there was “Ostakaka í glasi”, i.e. “cheesecake in a glass”, which I had already tried last month. The dessert in the glass actually went down quite well!

Kósý kvöld - a cozy end to the evening

After some of the guests had left, we finally sat outside on the terrace with the lights on, wrapped up nice and warm with jackets and blankets, and talked about God and the world. A nice end to the day!

How do you actually like our “table decoration”? This is a sweet potato that was left in a box in the basement at some point and has been sprouting properly ever since. I thought the potato looked really good as a “arrangement” on the table!

Afmælisgjafir - birthday gifts

I also received many nice presents for my big birthday, thank you again to everyone!

My husband and my daughter had a similar idea for gifts - but both implemented them very differently.

My husband recently took a photo of me: I'm standing on our terrace in the evening and looking up in amazement and the northern lights are dancing wildly in the sky above me. I love the picture, I think it's really beautiful! You can see the original cell phone photo here in the picture on the left.

My husband and daughter also noticed how much I like this picture. So my husband gave me a print of it as a photo canvas for the living room.

And my daughter, inspired by this photo, implemented the whole thing artistically and painted me a picture. Me under the northern lights. I think it's so beautiful!

In this sense:

Happy birthday to me! Thank you very much to everyone who came or who otherwise thought of me. I had a really nice birthday! Takk fyrir!

[Translated from here.]

Sítrónu bollakökur

Lemon cupcakes

In Icelandic, muffins are usually referred to as "múffur". However, there is also the word "bollakaka", meaning "cup cake", in English "cupcake" - a small cake the size of a cup. After baking, such a “mug cake” is decorated with an icing or an opulent cream topping. In contrast to classic muffins, cupcakes are also made from batter, but they usually do not contain any nuts or spices and the icing or topping is complex.

Spring is coming - and I felt like it was fresh, fruity and colorful! This turned into these lemon muffins, with a little yellow food coloring for a more colorful glaze. Of course, you can also leave out the food coloring - or go wild and make really colorful muffins, just as you like!

Ingredients

2 eggs

250 ml milk

80 g soft butter

1 pack grated lemon peel

260 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

120 g sugar

300 g powdered sugar

2 - 3 Tbsp water

1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the eggs with the milk, softened butter and grated lemon peel.

Add flour, baking powder and sugar and mix everything into a smooth dough.

Pour the batter as evenly as possible into 12 muffin cups...

... and bake in a preheated oven at 400 °F (resp. 200 °C) upper and lower heat for about 10 to 15 minutes until the surface has turned golden yellow (test with a toothpick!).

Take the muffins out of the oven and let them cool briefly.

Meanwhile prepare the glaze:

Mix powdered sugar, water and lemon juice in a small bowl.

For more effect you can add suitable food coloring, for example I used some yellow food coloring.

Using a teaspoon, spread the icing over the muffins and then allow the icing to set.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Kjötkveðjuhátið á Íslandi

Carnival in Iceland

I myself grew up Mainz, which is a carnival hotspot in Germany. I actually go to the local carnival parade every year with the kids, and of course I dress up well - according to German carnival tradition. 

Er einhver spes dagur? 

When we posted the photos of the parade, an Icelandic friend of ours was surprised. "Er einhver spes dagur?" he asked. "Is there any special day?"

Carnival in Iceland is nowhere near as special as it is in many regions in Germany. During the Reformation in Iceland in the mid-16th century, the importance of carnival to the people declined and almost disappeared. Only a few traditions remained:

On Shrove Monday it's bolludagur and you eat a lot of carnival doughnuts, on Shrove Tuesday it's Sprengidagur and you eat so much thick pea soup with salted meat until you burst, and on Ash Wednesday, öskudagur, the children parade through the town in costume.

Dressing up at Maskadagur

Until 1900, it was also common in Iceland for children to have school off on Shrove Monday and parade around town in costume. However, this custom was moved to Ash Wednesday towards the end of the First World War. Only in Ísarfjörður and the surrounding area did it continue to be customary for children to dress up in costumes on Monday, bolludagur, and go from house to house in the evening with songs and games - Rose Monday is also called "maskadagur" here, i.e. "mask day".

Culinary traditions surrounding Carnival in Iceland

In the Grágás, the old Icelandic collection of laws that was in force until the country was annexed to Norway in 1262, there were precise regulations as to when one was allowed to eat what food before and during Lent. So you were no longer allowed to eat meat two days before the start of Lent.

Bolludagurinn

However, in historical sources from the 13th century, for example in the Sturlunga saga, it is said that Lent was initiated on the last two days before Ash Wednesday with "fasta við hvítan mat", i.e. with "fasting with white food" (= dairy products). Around 1700 it became common practice to chop up bread or rolls, mix them with milk and butter and eat them. Later, the tradition of “bolludagur” developed from this.

While people first ate rolls soaked in milk, by the 19th century it became common practice to make small rolls from the same dough that was used for Jólakaka (= Christmas cake), although usually (unlike at Christmas) no raisins were used.

These "rolls", often called "langaföstu snúðar" (= Lenten snails) in Icelandic, were then usually spread with butter and jam.

Later, these “rolls” were baked from yeast dough and served with cream and jam.

Afterwards, pastries made from vatnsdeig (literally "water dough", in German "choux pastry") became common - now often real works of art made from cream, pudding, fruit, chocolate, etc.

Recipe for bolludagsbollur

Of course, you can also find various donut recipes for bolludagur here in my blog, for example for the traditional version with the Jólakaka dough.

... for "bollur" made from yeast dough with raspberry filling....

... or for various choux pastry bollur, such as this one with caramel filling and a little lava salt ...

... or this one with strawberry cream and almonds .

Sprengidagurinn

The Sprengidagur, also called Sprengikvöld, is found in a tradition from 1735 as the "Evening of Explosions". Here in the evening there was a sumptuous feast with lots of meat and side dishes and people basically ate until they burst, hence the name.

While people used to eat mainly smoked lamb on Shrove Tuesday to get rid of it before meat consumption was banned during Lent until Easter, since around 1850 it has been customary to eat saltkjöt og baunir, i.e. thick Icelandic pea soup with salted meat, on this day.

With this in mind, I wish you a few nice days, with delicious bolludagsbollur on Shrove Monday, thick Icelandic pea soup with salted meat on Shrove Tuesday and the children in costumes who go from house to house on Ash Wednesday!

[Translated from here.]

Konudagurinn 2025

Icelandic Women's Day

The Old Icelandic calendar only knows two seasons - winter and summer. Winter begins at the end of October and lasts until the end of March. The fifth winter month, the month of Góa, begins in the 18th week of winter.

And just as the first day of the fourth winter month is "Men's Day" (bóndadagur), the first day of the fifth winter month is Women's Day (konudagur).

There are traditions that both bóndagur and konudagur were celebrated in Iceland at least in the mid-19th century. Today, Icelandic women often receive flowers, chocolate or other delicious food for Women's Day. I also received a beautiful bouquet of flowers today!

I feel like spring is slowly approaching. The days are noticeably longer and there is more light again. I'm looking forward to!

In this sense:

Gleðilegan konudag!

Happy Women's Day!

[Translated from here.]

Lummur með jarðarberjum

Icelandic pancakes with strawberries

In Iceland there are two types of pancakes: the larger, very thin pancakes (pönnukökur) and then smaller, thick pancakes (lummur). What is typical for Icelandic pancakes is that the fat is added directly to the dough, but the pancakes are then baked in the pan without fat.

Icelanders like to eat pancakes with coffee, but they are also perfect for a leisurely, late breakfast - especially with cream and fresh fruit.

Ingredients

140 g wholemeal flour

150 g wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 pinch of salt

400 ml soured milk

1 egg

3 Tbsp rapeseed oil

Preparation

Put the wholemeal flour with the wheat flour in a large bowl, add baking powder, sugar and salt.

Pour 400 ml of soured milk over it and stir into a smooth dough.

Add egg and oil and mix thoroughly.

Add a little more milk if necessary if the consistency of the dough is still too thick.

Fry the Lummur in a hot pan without additional oil until they are golden brown on both sides.

The Lummur is best served fresh with fruit or jam and cream.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Bless bless, Þorri!

Goodbye, Thorri!

The Old Icelandic calendar only knew two seasons, winter and summer. Winter lasted from mid-October to mid-March, summer was from mid-March to mid-October. However, summers in Iceland were always short and often not particularly warm, while winters were long, cold and full of hardship.

Accordingly, back in Iceland, a person's age was measured by the number of winters they had already survived. We have just been practicing this in Icelandic class, where we are currently reading a children's version of the Egils saga, when the great Viking killed his first man at the tender age of 7: "Egill var á sjöunda vetri", Egill was in his 7th winter when he committed his first murder.

The fourth winter month of Þorri

The Old Icelandic winter month of Þorri begins on Friday between January 19th and 26th, with the 13th week of winter. This “drought month” was the month in which all supplies were finally used up and there was still nothing new and fresh to eat.

This month used to celebrate a great pagan sacrificial festival, the Þorrablót, the sacrificial festival in the month of Þorri. Or for the month of Þorri, with which an attempt was made to make this cold winter month a little milder, so that it wasn't too grim. People decorated their houses, similar to Christmas or Easter. There were also special customs. So on bóndadagur, the first day of the month of Þorri, the farmers skipped around the house barefoot in only their shirts and one trouser leg, dragging the other trouser leg behind them and thus marking their farm and their property, and afterwards their wives gave them particularly delicious food such as pickled mutton testicles or singed sheep's head. And freshly baked Flatbrauð.

Flatbrauð in the Viking kitchen in Haitabu (May 2024)

In addition, there were celebrations again on the farms, with all the traditional dishes that had a long shelf life in winter - foods such as black pudding and liver sausage, pork testicles, whale meat or seal fins, which were marinated in acidic whey and thus preserved for a long time. The “guest of honor” at Þorrablót was always the winter month of Þorri itself, which was intended to be merciful with this sacrificial festival.

Vikings in Haitabu (May 2024)

These traditional Icelandic customs surrounding the sacrificial festival of Þorrablót were apparently largely suppressed in the course of Christianization.

The first recorded Þorrablót of modern times only took place in 1873, organized by a group of Icelandic students. From around 1880 onwards, the Icelandic Society for Classical Studies celebrated a festive Þorrablót every year. In the 1950s, local heritage associations also held festive Þorrablóts to mark the occasion. From 1958 onwards, the Naustið restaurant in Reykjavík, on the initiative of one of the owners, Halldór S. Gröndal (1927 - 2009), offered Þorramatur in order to give city residents the opportunity to get to know these traditional dishes.

Today, local associations hold their Þorrablót festivals all over the country. But you can now easily get almost everything you need for a hearty Þorrablót at home with friends or relatives in the supermarket:

You can buy various súrmatur, i.e. meat products marinated in sour whey, in a 2 liter bucket. And if you don't dare buy the 2 liter bucket, you can also buy smaller quantities, for example a Þorrabakki, i.e. a tasting tablet with various traditional Þorramatur dishes.

Typical Þorramatur dishes include lamb smoked over sheep dung (hangikjöt), salt meat (saltkjöt), brawn such as sheep's head brawn (sviðasulta), pickled ram testicles (súrsaðirhrútsprungar), various blood sausage and liver sausage dishes (blóðmör og lifrapylsa),

and rolled meat (lundabaggar), but also fish dishes such as dried fish (harðfiskur) and rotten shark (hákarl).

Traditional side dishes for Þorrablót are often mashed turnips (rófustappe) and mashed potatoes (kartöflumús), as well as the typical Icelandic sweet rye bread (rúgbrauð) and thin flatbread (flatbrauð).

In addition, people used to drink plenty of high-proof alcohol, such as Brennivín.

I found a recipe for a typical Þorrablót dish in an old cookbook, but for various reasons I didn't actually try it myself:

For the pickled ram's testicles in brawn (here on the right on the plate), the testicles of the freshly slaughtered sheep are placed in boiling salted water in autumn and allowed to cook for about an hour. The cooked testicles are then removed from the broth with a ladle. The jelly is then prepared from a little broth with salt and aspic. The cooked testicles are then placed in a large container (e.g. used 2 liter bucket from súrmatur), poured with the jelly and placed something heavy on top for pressing. When the jelly has set, cut the brawn into thick slices and pour plenty of whey over them. The whey is then changed regularly, first after about 2 weeks, then after about 6 to 8 weeks, and in January the pickled hrútsprungar are ready to enjoy. Or for consumption, however you take it.

Honestly, to a taste of a Central European, many of these traditional meat dishes aren't even that tasty. But of course we tried it anyway!

And on February 23, 2025, the next, fifth winter month begins, the month of Góa. This month starts on Sunday in the 18th week of winter, i.e. today between February 18th and 24th. On the first day of this month, Iceland celebrates konudagur, or “Women’s Day”.

By the way, there is a weather rule in Iceland, it is said that if Women's Day was stormy and the weather was bad in the first days of this month, it should be a good summer. Let's see what the weather will be like on Sunday - and what summer 2025 will be like.

[Translated from here.]

Norðurljós um helgina

We had good weather at the weekend and the last few days we had the Northern Lights four nights in a row. The northern lights were particularly beautiful on Saturday evening.

My husband took this photo of me on Saturday evening. We were actually tired and wanted to go to bed, but just to be on the safe side, my husband took one last look at the terrace and saw how wonderfully the northern lights were dancing above us. So let's get out for a moment...

Here in the picture I'm just standing there, looking at the moving images in the sky above me and staring and marveling. And I'm happy. Like Bolle. And I think that's exactly what this picture expresses. I love this photo of myself!

What are Northern Lights?

Northern lights (Aurora borealis) occur when solar winds penetrate the atmosphere, i.e. electrically charged particles from the sun hit the earth's atmosphere above the earth's poles, creating this very special glow in the sky.

With the human eye, weak northern lights can often only be seen whitish-gray, but as the intensity increases the color actually increases and I, like many other people, see the northern lights in green and sometimes even in magenta tones.

I once tried to visually show how a camera perceives the northern lights and how I see them with the naked eye, here using the northern lights, which are not so strong. I took the photo on Sunday evening. I saw the Northern Lights clearly with the naked eye, but more as a white-greyish veil with a very slight green cast. On the camera, however, the bright green was much more impressive.

The Kp index

The Kp index is a planetary indicator and also serves as an indicator of possible northern light phenomena. The numbers refer to geomagnetic activity. The lower the Kp index, the weaker the activity is likely to be. The higher the Kp index, the more intense the auroral activity (movement and formation) and also the further south the northern lights are likely to be. The Kp index is represented in whole numbers and ranges from 0 to 9.

To see the Northern Lights, it must not be too cloudy. In addition, the environment should be as dark as possible. Full moon nights are therefore not ideal if you are hoping for the Northern Lights.

However, a high Kp index is no guarantee that you will actually see the northern lights. Even with a Kp index of 6 (i.e. relatively high) and a starry sky, I didn't see any northern lights. However, with a Kp index of 2 (pretty low), I have seen beautiful northern lights.

Saturday evening, Kp index at 3

On Saturday evening the Kp index was only 3, so it wasn't actually particularly high - but the Northern Lights were very intense, bright and dancing quickly and in wild formations across the sky.

Here seen from our terrace...

...and the view of the neighboring house...

...as well as straight into the sky.

Our kids thought there was something “Harry Potter-esque” about it and “Wow, the Dark Mark has been spotted over Iceland!” Yes, I know what you mean, I can understand the comparison with the scene in the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" when the dark mark of the evil wizard Voldemort is summoned in shades of green in the night sky over the wizarding world...

But even without a magician, the northern lights are often simply magical!

It was beautiful and I enjoyed it so much!

On Sunday morning the Northern Lights were no longer visible. Thanks to the moonlight (there was a full moon on February 12th) it was already pretty light at half past five. After taking the photo I went back to bed...

[Translated from here.]