Actually, the recipe deserves a special mention because look at this German magnificence.

This is the sort of sleuthing I like to see in Reddit threads. #typography

"This seems Spanish to my eyes" means "this looks strange" in Icelandic. I thought you should know that before I stop procrastinating and go back to doing the thing I'm supposed to be doing.

I've read this in Icelandic and I'm still worried that Hildur has actually provided a future Icelandic murderer with the perfect way to dispose of a body.

There is a gloriously strange vessel in Reykjavík harbour right now and a part of me wants to live in it.

A fact I like: The last Secretary General of the Icelandic Parliament was such a Star Wars geek that at her recent goodbye party at the offices of Parliament, she was handed flowers by people dressed as Darth Vader and Stormtroopers while the Imperial March played in the background.

Ég er asnalega glöð yfir því að Retro Stefson séu aftur komin í líf okkar.

Sifting grass from berries at my summer cabin and, as always, trying not to be my neurotic self who thinks about the fact that of the last six polar bear visits to Iceland, four of them were in this area.

Just made meringue for the second time in my life. Poured myself a glass of Spanish vermut on ice before starting, and the meringue came out beautifully on the first try. I've got this now.

Needed to make a Pavlova today, but I have never made meringue. After three failed attempts, I started day drinking. The fourth attempt was a success. Now I know what step I was missing.

My kids making a story: S: The giant, Dúddi í Bæ, rode on his orca that could walk on land. The fight began. Me: Ah, a good vs. evil story. D: And we took horns from the unicorns to fight the giant. S: But unicorns can't live without horns, so they went *gah* Me: Wait, which side is the evil one?

Almost every time I go to Denmark to see my family, I remind them at some point of the existence of an album from the Danish folklore archives with recordings of street cries (vendors advertising wares in sing-song voices) from 1935–1988 and they think I'm weird but I'm not. It's the best thing.

In a conversation with my sister: Her: ..and then [husband] brings the half litre of milk his work gives him every day. Me: Wait, what? Her: What? Me: Why the niche benefit? Her: Hm. I don't know. It's been like this at all his jobs. Me: And you have never questioned this? Her: Not really. Me: ...

My last evening in Sweden strikes a golden note.

Yesterday, I cried at an open-air children's theatre. What did you do with yourself?

It is a little known fact that the Swedish woman mastered the Smokey Eye as early as the Middle Ages.

Bragarlaun is no longer a thing. Where are medieval courts when you need them?

Lidl, but a minimalist Scandi one. Spotted in the wild in Gotland, Sweden.

Just finished my book at the same time as the woman next to me on the plane finished hers, which prompted a discussion about our books, which resulted in us switching books. Now I have a new, unread book, and mine will travel on to Boulder, Colorado. And to think I almost took my Kindle instead.

It's been too long since we enjoyed the gift that is the marginalia of Heynesbók so I offer you the Naked Man of Heynesbók. AKA, the Special Hat Man of Heynesbók, or the Claw Man of Heynesbók, because this man will not be caged by one weird definition alone. As usual, no connection to text above 🤷‍♀️

When sad about not having trains, I take comfort in our giant puffins that dance at midnight.

Some things are quintessentially Icelandic. Such as the phone call that I, a journalist, had today with a man at a public institution I needed information from for my article. At the end of the call, I got an email with a screenshot of how we're related. (Six generations back, if you're wondering.)

A query. Cheltenham Literature Festival is considered the longest-running literary festival in the world, but Worldcon was established ten years earlier. Is Worldcon then not considered a literary festival?

Ducklings drop down into Lake Michigan through a hole in the concrete at Montrose Pier.

Must repost because very valid points.

This bears repeating over and over again until it is willed into existence.

I have often amazed people with the fact that Iceland has no trains. Now I can add that, on the other hand, we have a course on how to travel by train. Presumably so we won't look like idiots when we we're confronted with civilisation on the mainland.

A group of girls, ca. 20 years old next to me at a food hall. Girl 1: Wait, he was cute, why didn't you want to see him again? Girl 2: I had to explain to him *raises eyebrows* what centrifugal force is. Girl 3: Who doesn't know what centrifugal force is? Girl 1: Yeah, you're probably better off.

At a town festival way up in the North, in the middle of the night, the police came.. ..and played basketball with the festival guests.

Did you know mackerel was this pretty? I didn't.

The nihilism is strong in this one 🙏

I have read enough @hildur.bsky.social to find this ominous.

My, what big CMYK you have!

Is seven bottles of Spanish vermut too much vermut or too little vermut? ˙ʇnɯɹǝʌ ɥsıuɐds ɥɔnɯ ooʇ ɹǝʌǝu sı ǝɹǝɥʇ :ɹǝʍsuɐ

Hvað er málið með þessa grásleppu? Ég býð ykkur að komast að því með mér í tveimur útvarpsþáttum á Rás 1 þar sem leikmaður (moi) er leiddur í allan sannleikann um grásleppuveiðar. Fyrri þáttur var í dag kl. 13, sá seinni á morgun á sama tíma.

Can a biscuit be too intimidating to eat?

Icelandic has A LOT of everyday phrases that are nautical in origin. I became hyper-aware of this when I started working as a journalist focusing on the fishing industry. Writing is now a minefield of accidental puns. ➣༝𖠣༝𖠣༝𖠣֊ᐷ

Gróðurneyslumaðurinn! 🥦

Today I learned that an Icelandic-Danish dictionary from 1920 has a translation for the word "vegetarian," and it is essentially "vegetation-consumer."

I was stopped once for speeding (only a little!) Told the officer it was a big day, I'd never been stopped before. He said, "Congratulations! I hope it was a friendly experience. Let's hope it's both the first time and the last." I want to learn how to be snarky and nice at the same time like that.

Would Netflix please give me season 2 of North of North, like right now? I require it.

typical corrupt science

Ok, the first one was neither a chocolate nor was the writing on the wrapper in Cyrillic, but I'm still keeping them for myself. And I have learnt that korivka means little cow in Ukrainian.

Got these chunky Ukrainian chocolates from Liliya, the woman who cleans our office. A farewell gift, because it was my last day. No idea what's in them, so I must taste them ALL myself. Really, not reading Cyrillic is probably the best excuse I've come up with for keeping sweets from my children.

I'm almost sure I'm not the only Icelander to experience this, but a weird thing happens when the sun finally shines (convincingly) for more than two days in a row. It's like you can do anything you set your mind to.

The man who spent his Easter hiking in a giant curlew costume is my hero because curlews deserve to have champions 🏆

The Saga of Burnt Njáll was written in the 13th century and takes place around the year 1000. It was copied MANY times because it has been popular reading in Iceland for hundreds of years. But surely, the best version is a paper manuscript from the 19th century where all the men wear dapper suits.

My seven-year-old told me he's inventing a video game. -You can be a knight, a dragon, or a princess. -Mhm. -If you're a knight, you have to storm the castle and defeat the dragon. -Sure. 1/2

My seven-year-old's first reactions on discovering the music of Sinéad O'Connor today - in order:

I feel an urgent need to do something, but there are so many things I need to do. I'm pretty sure the solution to this is to do nothing.