Sunday, November 18, 2012

In which we make homemade skyr

One of the big pains of flying between Paris and Halifax is that it's pretty hard to get a direct flight - you mostly have to go aaaalll the way to either Montreal or Toronto, and then backtrack. Basically, it adds at least 5 hours to your travel time, and usually more. So Fred and I discovered the joys of Icelandair, which, during the summer at least, flies direct to Halifax. You have to stop over in Iceland, but this is no hardship at all.

In fact, that's why we decided to holiday in Iceland: our first trip was a present for my 50th birthday - Fred flew to Keflavik from Paris, and I met him there. We had a fantastic weekend in Iceland, before both flying back to Halifax together. If you've never been, let me recommend it most heartily! We packed a lot into 3 days: a 2-hour trail ride on the amazing Icelandic horses, a trip to the fabulous bluelagoon, visits to Alafoss Lopi store and Hvanneyri Wool Collective to buy loads of yarn, and many culinary adventures, trying all the local foods. 

My favourite thing ever to eat in Iceland (besides the delicious and hilariously named "meat soup") is skyr. Skyr is like a yogurt, or maybe a fresh cheese, made with non-fat milk. It's creamy and SO GOOD with the blueberries and crowberries that grow everywhere (and you can just stop your car by the side of the road and pick them).

Skyr is not available commercially here at home, so we have to make it ourselves. There are several good recipes online; this is the one we used. We've made it with buttermilk as the starter, and it's good, but this time we have the real thing: Fred brought a small container of skyr from Keflavik airport (made it through customs, even). As is usual with Fred, there are numerous trials cooking: one with just milk, one with added skim milk powder, and one with added buttermilk powder. I'll report back on which one tastes the best soon!

For now, enjoy some pictures of Iceland. It's my favourite place on Earth, I think.

Stone Troll near Snaefellsnes


Viking ship reproduction


Icelandic sheep


Boiling mud at Krysuvik


Random man riding and ponying 4 others


Thingvellir, site of the first parliament ever








6 comments:

  1. Oh man... going to Iceland and riding the Icelandic Horses is a life goal of mine. Thanks for that link, I'll be drooling over it for the next few days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doooo eeeeet! It was seriously amazeballs. On a different trip, we went to Heydalur (http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Hotel_Review-g189967-d1500811-Reviews-Heydalur_Guesthouse-Isafjordur.html) and they had their own horses to ride. That was even better; it was me, the guide, and one other couple.
      They also had a hot spring burbling out of the hillside.

      Delete
  2. Oh, I SO want to do a holiday in Iceland. Husband is all NO UH-UH NO WAY NEVER. So I shall holiday vicariously through you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should work on him! It is so beautiful - although, not the place for someone who likes heat. That's my personal favourite thing, though - temperatures of about 15-18 degrees C in summer. Love it.

      Delete
  3. Did you stuff that sheep in your purse and carry it home? I would have.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seriously tempted - not just that sheep, ALL of them! They're everywhere, they pretty much have free run of the land so you see them all over. So many beautiful colours :)

      Delete