Auður Ólafsdóttir - Butterflies in November

This is obviously a sensitive issue for many law-abiding citizens. The objective is not to encourage the production of hooch or other types of home-brew (with the exception of crowberry schnapps; see recipe above), but just to remind the reader that some drinks are better enjoyed on the page than in the stomach. There is no need to remind you that not only does hooch have a disgusting taste, but it can also cause temporary blackouts and do bodily harm. Five kilos of sugar are required for every 20 litres of water and about 4 tablespoons of yeast. Mix the sugar and yeast in water heated to 25 degrees and leave at a constant temperature for three weeks, e.g. in a windowless boiler room or greenhouse. Then check to see if the liquid has fermented, i.e. whether all the sugar has dissolved, by tasting one drop on the tip of your tongue. The mixture should then be moved to a cool place where it will be allowed to settle. This should kill all germs. The liquid obtained is known as gambri (non-distilled hooch) and is normally of a greyish-yellow colour. The gambri then needs to be distilled with what is very often home-made distilling equipment. Install the equipment in an appropriate place, e.g. in the guest toilet or in the garage. It will give off a bitter odour that those in the know will not fail to recognize. A large portion of the liquid evaporates during the distillation process, leaving you with just a few litres of alcohol. Finally, filter the brew through charcoal to purify it and reduce that home-brew taste. Some people improve the taste by adding essences, which they buy in bottles in special home-brew stores. MEAT-STUFFED CABBAGE ROLLS

1 kilo of fresh sausage meat, 1 head of cabbage, butter (melted), 1½ kilos of potatoes. Buy 1 kilo of fresh sausage meat from the supermarket. Boil the head of cabbage in lightly salted water for 10 minutes or until it starts to soften. Allow it to cool and peel off its leaves. Calculate 4 cabbage leaves per person. Put 2 tablespoons of the sausage meat on each leaf, and then roll and wrap the leaf around the meat to create tidy rolls. Arrange the rolls in a pot with a thick bottom and add water to it. Cook the meat-stuffed cabbage rolls at moderate heat for 20 minutes. Eat the dish with potato purée and melted butter. The potato purée is prepared as follows. Boil the potatoes in water at a moderate heat for 15 minutes. Then drain them, place them back in the pot and mash them. Classic potato purée has 2 cups of milk, 2–3 tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of sea salt and a dab of butter. The sausage meat can also be fried as meat balls in the pan. You then cover the bottom of the pan with water, turn off the heat and place the lid on the pan and leave it to simmer for 5 minutes without any interference. That way the sausage meat begins to swell, doubling its volume, like rising dough. In some cases, the lid of the pan will even rise on its own. The sausage meat balls are then eaten with potato purée, butter and boiled white cabbage. UNDRINKABLE COFFEE

Undrinkable coffee can be made in a variety of ways. The simplest way is to leave a packet of coffee open in a cupboard with cream biscuits, light bulbs, batteries and teabags for several days. You can also make very thin coffee that is the same colour as tea. Another infallible method is to heat up old coffee, even in a microwave oven. HAMBURGERS

As anyone driving through the dark days of winter and endless stretches of black sand will realize, the petrol stations and snack bars that are to be found on the circular road around the island are just about the only distractions one comes across. The inevitable therefore happens, i.e. people end up eating junk food: hot dogs that have been simmering in a pot for an entire weekend, or hamburgers, mayonnaise sandwiches, express pizzas, whipped ice creams dipped in chocolate and bags of mixed sweets. This is not in any way an attempt to promote the dietary habits propagated by these establishments, nor the extremely dangerous dyes used to colour gumdrops and children’s excessive consumption of sugar, to mention but a few examples. The fact that the narrator buys three bars of chocolate for a four-year-old child who is unable to choose which one he wants should not be taken as exemplary behaviour either. In this context it should be pointed out that the narrator has no child of her own and is therefore no expert in raising children. Eating habits are, to some extent, dictated by circumstance, but above all by narrative necessity. The following is a recipe for home-made hamburgers. 200 grams of minced beef, salt, pepper, parsley, chives, 2 wholewheat hamburger buns, 1 tomato, 4 slices of cucumber, 4 leaves of salad (different types can be used: lettuce, rocket salad, scurvy grass and chickweed leaves). Sauce: 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons of milk curd or AB milk, 1 teaspoon of tomato sauce, half a teaspoon of French Dijon mustard. Mix the chopped parsley and chives with the minced meat and mould two handsome burgers. Salt and pepper. Fry the burgers in some olive oil in a pan or grill in the oven for 10 minutes. Lay out the leaves of salad on the heated bread buns and place the meat on them. Slice the tomato and cucumber and divide them equally between the two burgers. Put one tablespoon of sauce on top and then cover with the top of the bun. COCOA SOUP WITH RUSK AND WHIPPED CREAM

Many people who have been hospitalized for a short period of one to two days (to have their appendix removed, for example) might have memories of a lukewarm cocoa soup served with a soggy biscuit. However, good cocoa soup is a real treat when, for example, served as a dessert after fried fish on a Tuesday. 2 tablespoons of cocoa, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 cups of water, a few drops of vanilla, 1 litre of milk, 1 tablespoon of potato flour, a pinch of salt, rusk, cream . Mix the cocoa and sugar in the water. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes. Then add milk and bring to the boil again. Mix the potato flour in a tiny bit of cold water and stir into the soup. Allow it to boil. Stir the vanilla drops into the soup last, but do not allow the soup to boil again. Eat the soup with the rusk, which everyone crumbles over their own bowls, allowing the crumbs to float on the surface. Place a dollop of thickly whipped cream on top. BANANA DESSERT

Bananas are a tasty, nutritious and healthy snack to take on a journey, and suitable to hand to a hungry child over one’s shoulder while driving a car. And now that I am getting to know children a bit better, I can tell you that my banana and chocolate milkshake has become one of my travelling companion’s favourites. Chuck the banana, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce into a mixer or food processor (or mix it by hand) and make a cold banana drink. If there is no freezer in the chalet to store ice cream in, cultured milk can be used instead.

And who doesn’t know the following simplest camping dessert recipe in the world? Calculate one banana per person. Make a long incision along the length of the banana with a sharp penknife and stick in 4–5 pieces of dark chocolate. Wrap the bananas in aluminium foil, place them on a cooling grill and allow to bake for a short while. Chocolate bananas can also be eaten with whipped cream. To whip the cream, pour it into a jar or container with a lid (e.g. an empty half-litre Fanta bottle) and shake it to a suitable rhythm, passing it from one person to the next, until the cream thickens. If you have a travel CD player handy you will be able to find some appropriate music. Fetch a bottle of Calvados from your backpack and eat the chocolate banana straight out of its wrapping with a spoon and whipped cream. Captain Morgan rum is not particularly recommended, except for men, who generally hold their drink better. Sit by the entrance of the tent or lie in zipped-together sleeping bags listening to snipes echoing through the night. MUSHROOM SOUP (LECCINUM SCABRUM)