E is for Erik the Red

Good evening my dears, how are you all? I quite miss talking directly to you, rather than just typing information here! I'm sorry I've been slow with commenting, I have deadlines coming up at the end of April so I'm feeling a little frantic! 

Anyways, lets talk about Erik the Red, the guy who founded the first settlement in Greenland!

We know about Erik the Red from the Icelandic Sagas, texts that were passed down from oral tradition during the viking age. It is said that Erik had to leave Norway because he had committed manslaughter there. He moved to Iceland but then he killed a bunch of people and ended up getting himself outlawed. Smart, huh? 

I've always liked the story that when Iceland was discovered, the explorers named it Iceland because it was so cold, but on discovering Greenland afterwards, realised that they should have reserved the name for that place instead. However, according to the sagas (/wikipedia, where I've just learned this) it was Erik who named it Greenland, having returned to Iceland after he'd served his time away, because he wanted to give it a more appealing name than Iceland had. Either way, I've always thought how the names Iceland and Greenland were kind of mixed up :)

Have you ever read any of the Icelandic sagas? I really do recommend them - I find it really fascinating that they had been passed down orally for so long before finally being written. I love the Chinese Whispers effect that they got, since they began as historical tales but as they were passed on, certain details were changed, leaving us with stories of beserkers and witches and magic. They're wonderful!

the little nordic cabin

x

Til hamingju með afmælið, Eyjafjallajökull (Happy birthday, Eyjafjallajökull)

One year ago today a volcanic eruption occurred underneath Eyjafjallajökull, sending ash clouds billowing up into the sky and causing the biggest disturbance to air transport since World War ll. Millions of people were left stranded and it was estimated that $200 million would be lost per day by the airline industry. 

Still I think that there was something kind of beautiful about it. This video was taken at the beginning of May but it is my favourite of all of the footage that was captured during the time that Eyjafjallajökull was erupting.

How were you affected by Eyjafjallajökull? My mother was unable to go away skiing and my boyfriend ended up visiting later than scheduled but we were so lucky in comparison with many other unfortunate people.

inspire nordic

Brennivín

To begin this blog I have chosen to write about Brennivín as a friend brought some to our house as a surprise a couple of nights ago. 

Traditionally served alongside something called Hákarl (a dish consisting of putrified shark that deserves a blog post of its own), its name translates literally to 'burning wine' and it is easy to see how it received such a name. 

The aforementioned friend told us that it is traditional to drink it to the power of three - I'm not sure whether this is true but I wasn't going to argue. The alcoholic content is 37.5% and it is often referred to as an (unofficial) national beverage of Iceland. Prohibited between the years 1915 - 1922, it is believed that Brennívin was nicknamed as 'Black Death' and it was during this time that the Icelandic government had a skull and crossbones depicted on the label. 

The best way to drink Brennivín is ice-cold, either in chilled shot glasses or poured over ice. However beware of its strong and unusual flavour - it is made from fermented potato and is flavoured with caraway seeds.  

inspire nordic