The food tour

Hi readers! Here's another Iceland post, just for you.

After the plane landed, my family and I stopped at a little airport cafe. Daddy got blueberry Skir, I chose vanilla Skir, Mommy drank a cup of coffee, and Kathy decided on Koko Mjolk (Icelandic for chocolate milk). She was nice enough to let me and Mommy try some, and we both loved it--the chocolate tasted darker than the chocolate used in American chocolate milk.

The Koko Mjolk box

When we were done, Mommy and Daddy took me and Kathy to find the place where we could pick up the rental car. But they didn't bother asking a person at the airport. They just wandered around, looking for a building with the name of the company on it, and dragged me and Kathy on a half-mile (one-way) walk on that cold morning. We ended up at the place to RETURN the car!But the walk wasn't bad--I warmed up eventually, and there was a patch of grass to walk on that was really spongy/bouncy/springy underfoot. That grass was so cool!

Once we finally found where to pick up the rental car, we drove thirty minutes to Reykjavik. We got checked in to the apartment we were staying in, and the first thing I did was take off my shoes and coat. The second thing I did was march up the stairs to the loft bedroom and take a nap! 

Here are some pictures:

If you read my previous post, I'm sure you know I used Labelbox on this.

Sorry about the two photobombers.

When I woke up, it was time to go on a food tour! Our guide was very nice. He told lots of stories. For example, up until about thirty years ago, Icelandic cuisine was less about, well, cuisine, and more about survival. If survival meant eating fermented shark, then that was cuisine. If survival meant eating fish that was dried in the wind, then that was cuisine!

Mommy and I did eat the fermented shark, but couldn't swallow it. Also, we made the mistake of smelling it before popping it in our mouths. It smelled like ammonia! Daddy tried it too, but he couldn't swallow either, and Kathy just licked it.

Oh, need proof the shark was in my mouth?

Not the most flattering photo, I know.

At the same restaurant, everyone tried the wind-dried fish. That was actually really good! It was pretty dry, but extremely flavorful and even more yummy with butter.

Plate of dried fish, fermented shark (the shark has the Icelandic
flag in it), and delicious Icelandic butter.

We also ate/drank:

• Seaweed and a crunchy, buttery biscuit (I forget what it was called). The seaweed wasn't like the stuff you buy at the grocery store, neatly sliced and put into packs. This seaweed is minced into little pieces, and I don't think it was as translucent as grocery store seaweed.

  

  Seaweed and biscuit

• Lobster bisque. It was a creamy broth that tasted way too strongly of...something. Not lobster.
• At a pub, everyone sipped a little of this non-alcoholic malt drink. It smelled like prunes. I don't remember what it tasted like (probably prunes) but I didn't like that, either!
•  At a different pub, there was a beer tasting. Kathy and I didn't drink any beer though, Instead, we got Icelandic orange soda!

  

  Icelandic orange soda

  
  

  

  One of the beers that our group tried.

• Cured horse, goose with a pink sauce, and some kind of pate thing from a deli. The horse was my favorite--it was so tender and the seasoning on it was really truly delicious. 
• Rye bread ice cream. It was vanilla ice cream with rye bread crumbs in it--so much better than it probably sounds. It was also served with fresh whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel.

That's it for this post. Bye, readers! --Taryn