You left too soon

Not just because we loved having you here, but also because you missed this:

And whereas one can scarcely fall out of bed here without landing in the newspaper, see if you can spot us in this article’s second photo.

Marengsterta

What’s that? You want the recipe for the cake that wasn’t the Lego cake?

It’s called marengsterta or meringue tart, and Raggi’s mom made five of them. You may have heard the story of how Raggi’s cousin got two of these for his birthday and I ate one of them all by myself. That’s how I know they’re good.

Warning: sugar.

2 meringue layers

4 eggs

200 ml white sugar

100 ml brown sugar

750 ml Rice Krispies or other crisp bland cereal

1. Separate out the eggs yolks; set them aside.
2. Whip the 4 egg whites until very stiff, until you can invert the bowl and have the egg whites stay in place.
3. Add both sugars and beat until dissolved.
4. Add Rice Krispies and stir with a spatula.
5. Place waxed paper atop two plates. Use a pen and a third plate to draw a circle on both pieces of waxed paper. Divide the dough in two and spread it within the drawn circles.
6. Bake at 150°C / 300°F for 60 minutes. It’s best to have the oven’s fan on.

Between the layers

0.5 l whipped cream; reserve a little bit to use in the frosting

a healthy portion of chocolate-covered raisins

Frosting

3 (not all 4) egg yolks

70 g icing sugar

80 g cooking chocolate

1. Melt the chocolate and allow it to cool but not to set.
2. Mix the sugar and egg yolks very well. Stir in the little bit of reserved whipped cream.
3. Frost the cake. Drizzle the chocolate. Set in refrigerator.

Best results come from making this cake the day before it’s to be eaten.

“Verði ykkur að góðu!”  -Brynhildur (Raggi’s mom)

Global proprioception disorder

Those who went on the south coast trip Sunday might not remember the names of the places we went. No problem. Icelandic place names do strike the anglophone ear as a stochastic garble immune to retention. So here´s where we went:

Hveragerði
steamy valley with a river of warm water

Selfoss
town with hotdog stand

Seljalandsfoss
tall skinny waterfall you can walk behind

Skógafoss

enormous waterfall with with stairs to the top

Vík í Mýrdal

village with black sand beach

Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, of cabbages and kings

Actually, just shoes. People have been asking about them.

From Vancouver designer John Fluevog, they conform to my "dullest thing in the hippest store" program. You can get them here; Icelanders might swing by the store in Boston.

Wedding

It worked!

SO many thanks to all who came.

But which boat?

This one.

In case of ultimate disaster

Suppose you don't show up at the Old Harbor downtown comfortably before 12:30 Saturday. There you are, panting and running toward the pier, your carefully styled lid falling askew, the high heels we told you not to wear snapping like old wishbones as you sprint fruitlessly toward the slip only to see a distant dot of ship peacefully receding toward Viðey. You miss the wedding. Your soul vanishes and is replaced with a silent grey mist.

If this happens, there are hourly ferries from the newer, not-downtown harbor called Skarfabakki. They take only a few minutes to make the crossing.

But that won't happen. Get yourself to this office...

...on the whale-watching pier at the old harbor, and someone will point you at our boat.

Look for the balloons.