Sometimes, you just gotta kick back
After the big Golden Circle tour yesterday, it was good to have a “lazy day” today. We slept in and took naps a lot.
At breakfast, we noticed that the sun was shining a suspiciously-Canadian-maple-leaf design on the water close to where our cruise ship would be docking later today.
Reminder, you can click any image and see the whole thing on your screen at once
We headed over to Kolaportið (“coal yard”), the indoor flea market. Rob wanted to find a votive candle holder made from a chunk of lava.
He found one - no pic, though, because the shop lady (who makes them) wrapped it up really well before we left there.
We passed the world famous hot dog stand…
…but didn’t get one because we had one on our last trip and honestly, we didn’t see the big deal. Yes, they’re different: it’s a lamb/pork wiener and it’s dressed with chopped raw onions, mustard, and remoulade sauce. They’re fine… but we were still full from brekkie so we took a pass this time. Perhaps we’ll get one before we get on the ship Monday. We’ll see.
Saw a Mexican restaurant(!) but as with everything here, the prices were so astronomical that I’d have been pissed off the whole time I was eating - especially if it wasn’t great Mexican food. I mean… $19.90 for guacamole and chips? Two tacos for $28.90?
Hard pass.
We remembered a souvenir shop from last time that had a couple of trolls out front. It’s no longer there, but they’ve moved to a new place close to the harbour. They also moved one of the trolls inside.
From there, we went to the Plaza, a square with mostly artisan shops and a couple of food trucks. The architecture here is fun, as some of the buildings are 100+ yrs old
We took residential streets back to the main street, and enjoyed seeing the houses. We especially liked this blue/white house.
They did a nice job colour-coordinating the flowers at the front door, too
As busy as everything has been all week, we were surprised to find this Saturday morning to be really quiet, especially on the side streets
Back on the main drag, a Viking wannabe was busking
We found a little shop called Flying Tiger Copenhagen that had these cool little tiny storage drawers that will be perfect for 1x1 Lego plates and tiles. I can finally sort out those mixed colours!
We skipped lunch entirely, but went back to the little coffee shop from a couple days ago and I got another liquorice latte. Still delicious!
We passed the National Gallery on the way back to the hotel - we didn’t go in, but I like the building.
Speaking of the hotel - the bed situation is strange. It’s a double bed, but the comforter isn’t double - it’s two twin comforters. Even stranger, when they make the bed, they put both of them across the foot of the bed sideways. So you have to take them off, rotate them, and put them back down longways.
Once back in our room, we made use of the spa down in the basement (no pics). It was fairly sparse in terms of equipment, but it was pretty and we had the place to ourselves. There are a couple of chaise lounges, a table and two chairs, a shower, a sauna, and a geothermal pool. It was nice.
Like the socks on the airplane, though, the “one size fits all” slippers the hotel provides don’t take size 14 feet into account!
Then it was off to dinner at a little place we’d seen earlier. We read the menu and I went in and asked them for a reservation for 6pm for two people. He said “OK, no problem.”
That was it. He didn’t ask for my name, he wrote nothing down, just “OK, no problem.”
I half-expected him to not remember.
It’s a charming little place and we got a table at the window facing the street.
Since the place is on the main shopping street, the people-watching was first-rate and we had a front row seat for it.
Just outside the door, there were some beautiful black flowers. Rob told me what they were, but that was a few hours ago and he’s already asleep now, so I’ll just call them “beautiful black flowers”
We both had the fish and chips, which I loved. I think it’s the best F&C I’ve ever had, although Rob liked the one from a couple days ago better. The coleslaw was delicious as well.
Afterward, we split a piece of skyrkaka (Icelandic cheesecake) that was fantastic. Rob’s new fave cheesecake, he said.
Considering the name “skyrkaka” I’m assuming that it’s made with skyr, the yogurt-like thing I mentioned the other day.
(I just looked it up - it is made with skyr and it’s super easy! I also learned that skyr isn’t considered a yogurt, but it’s actually a fresh cheese! Go figure.)
We liked this place so much I went up to the host and told him we’d like to make a reservation for tomorrow night at 6pm at the same table.
“OK, no problem!” …and nothing written down. I’ll trust him this time.
On the way back to the room, we stopped in a little store called “A Taste of Iceland” and picked up some crowberry jam - it’s a relative of the cranberry, but it’s black and grows only in extreme northern climates, including Canada. They look like blueberries, but are even higher in antioxidants.
I also picked out a bottle of hot sauce.
I had narrowed my hot sauce choice down to two - luckily, they offered a tasting because one of the two was nasty. It was all heat but hardly any redeeming flavour. The other one was delicious - it has a base made with apple cider vinegar, yellow onions, raisins, dates, and other ingredients that closely resemble those in HP Sauce.
But ingredients are listed on labels in order of the percentage found in the product and the third and fourth ingredients are Carolina Reaper and Habanero peppers.
OK, you’ve likely heard of habanero - it shows up in lots of stuff because it’s delicious and it goes really well with fruit. You’ve likely seen habanero-mango sauce or habanero-peach stuff before. Those items have very little habanero in them, usually. Check the ingredients and it’s probably near the bottom.
This stuff lists it as the fourth ingredient.
Why is that a big deal? Habaneros are HOT.
Not “hot to a Canadian palate” but actually HOT.
How hot? Peppers are measured in Scoville units. The more Scoville units, the hotter the pepper.
You’re likely familiar with a jalapeño. It comes in at 2,500 - 8,000. There’s a range there because peppers can vary in their heat due to climate, soil, etc. So this says that a jalapeño could be as low as 2,500 and as high as 8,000.
Let’s just go with the middle of the range and use that number… so a jalapeño would be 5,250.
A habanero comes in at 225,000.
Yeah. It’s hot.
But wait… the ingredient just above that one is the Carolina reaper. It sits at 1,800,000 - currently the hottest pepper in the world.
But wait, there’s more! Ingredient #5 is “7 pot primo” - I had no idea, so I looked it up. It’s another pepper and another hottie: 1,300,000 and the fourth-hottest pepper in the world.
I had about a BB-sized dollop on the tasting stick and I was struck by the smoky, fruity, HP Sauce-y flavour.
And then I was struck.
WOW, it’s hot. But really tasty. I felt it on my tongue for about an hour afterward.
It’s not the kind of sauce you’d shake onto something, not unless you want to sit on a block of ice the next day, anyway.
It will go really well in a bowl of chilli or a hearty stew, though. I’m looking forward to using it. It should also last awhile, as you’d likely only use about a quarter teaspoon in a pot of chilli.
Tomorrow we’re back on the road with Pétur for a part of Iceland we’ve never seen: the south coast. Fingers crossed for good weather again.
Till then...