COMING ÁTTA YA!
Wednesday I woke up and had myself some porridge and a cup of coffee, I was very concerned at the prices in the supermarket, I mean I was really in a panic with my money situation. A packet of minced beef was over 3000 Kroner making it around £15 for a fucking pound of mince! I thought that is it! I am doomed to Veganism! The fish was vacuum packed and cost about £10 for a sorry looking piece. So I got bread, milk, butter, cream, Skyr, tomato purée and flour so I can bake my own bread, in total costing about £18. I went home against the snow Blizzard feeling pretty ripped off. Anyway a bit later I was due to meet the girls at Skaftfell art centre for a briefing so I headed on up for 3pm, The air smelled strongly of fish and hops, I found it difficult to appreciate the smell. Once at Skaftfell I met the residency manager Litten Nyström and director Tinna Guðmundsdóttir, Andrius was also there. Litten and Tinna introduced us to the space over a tea. The water here in Iceland makes for a splendid cup of splosh!
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| Litten's hairless dog Superman, you can't see but the knitted sweater has a Superman badge on the back |
Upstairs in the gallery there is a show of students work from the Art Academy in Reykjavik, For what I did see the work was very strong, I will return and have a proper look.
Back to the interesting bit, I exressed my concern for the price of food here and it was explained that it is best to get a lift back to Egilsstaðir and shop in 'Bonus', they are all around Iceland and go by an image of a piggy bank. Why do pigs make good banks? It is an insult to the pig to associate them with bankers!
Then it occurred to Tinna that the monthly fish market was on and that it is very cheap! Music to my ears! The fish market is run by about five older ladies who work at the fish processing plant, they run the monthly sale to save up enough money to go to Tenerife every year. What a great idea! This could not have been planned better, Tinna drove us down the road to the Processing plant and dropped us off, she said "go through that little door and take a left or a right it doesn't matter, go down the stairs and the market is through the door." When we went through the first door the ladies were chatting and sitting on the stairs. They stood up and welcomed us in.
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| The fish processing plant, market inside. |
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| Red fish, Snapper? How much? |
Wow, a very humble array of fish but plenty of choice for someone like me. All white fish in polystyrene boxes.
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| Haddock left Cod right, How much? |
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The girls
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I started to make my selection, "how much is this? how much is that? what is this fish? What is that fish?" The ladies were all smiles and accommodating for the foreigner. I was so pleased and bought as much as I could afford as I knew it was only a monthly affair.
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| Bloody happy with my purchase! and she will be going to Tenerife with her mates! |
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| The boat that caught my fish! |
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| From left to right: Haddock, Monk Fish Cheeks, Red Fish, Cod, Fish cakes lined up outside Hóll |
I left the market with a great bag of fish. Red fish, haddock, cod, monk fish cheeks and fish cakes, the fish cakes were recommended to me by a fellow who walked into the market to buy two bags, his wife is English, he lived in Nottingham for 15 years and his name is Lemmy, like in Motor Head. I swiped about 3 killos worth of fish for the same price as a pack of mince in Iceland (the country)!
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| An interesting building on the way home, The Locksmith |
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Chuffed!
When I got back I packed away my fish and tried some of that red fish with some mash potaoe with Skyr and caramelised onion.
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