Auður Ólafsdóttir - Butterflies in November

3 good pieces of halibut with bones (salmon can be used instead). Ask your fishmonger to give you the bones, cuts and heads from the halibut or salmon to use in the broth. 1 litre of water, 1 litre of whey, 4 bay leaves, 4–8 peppercorns, 2 teaspoons of sea salt, 7 prunes, ½ cup of raisins, 3 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons of sugar (you can also use syrup), cream. Put the fish heads and bones in a pot with the bay leaves, peppercorns, sea salt, 1 litre of water and 1 litre of whey. Boil for one hour to get a good broth. Filter it through a sieve and pour the clear broth back into the pot. Bring to the boil again and immerse the pieces of fish in the nice broth. Add 7 prunes and half a cup of raisins and cook them slowly with the fish for a few minutes. Take the pieces of fish out of the broth, wrap them in aluminium foil and put them in the oven at moderate heat, while you finish making the soup. Whisk 3 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of sugar and pour the mixture into the broth. Bring the soup to simmering point again, without, however, allowing it to boil. Whip the cream and, at the moment of serving the soup, put 1 tablespoon in each bowl. Eat with hot pieces of fish, freshly boiled potatoes and a good cucumber salad. SILVER TEA

Boil water. Fill one-third of a glass with cold milk and then fill the other two-thirds with boiled water. Flavour with honey. Drink after dinner, with a child who has put on his/her pyjamas, just before brushing his/her teeth. Discuss the events of the day and plan the next day together over silver tea. (Silver tea is not to be confused with priest tea, which is basically a Melrose teabag with a shot of schnapps or hooch and 1 teaspoon of sugar.) WHALE STEAK

This is another example of a dish prepared by secondary characters, for which the narrator bears limited liability (also see grilled snow bunting, highlands-style). In any case, the passing-on of this whale steak recipe should not in itself be interpreted as a reflection of the narrator’s stand on whale-hunting. It should be pointed out that the meat in question is from a so-called “drift whale”, that is to say a whale that has been beached by providence and not hunted. In fact the provenance of the whale remains a total mystery, since it could just as well have come from over the highlands as the lagoon. It is, nonetheless, an undeniable fact that every now and then one of two things can happen: a sizeable sei whale or baleen whale will get washed up on the shores of a small community without warning or a small porpoise will get entangled in a fishing boat’s net without any hope of being revived, despite the efforts of the crew. This recipe is conceived for four to six people. If you need to feed a higher number than this or indeed the population of an entire village, increase the portions accordingly. As a result, a whole whale may be required. 1 piece of whale meat, salt, pepper, 2 cups of cream. In the past, whale meat used to be left steeped in milk overnight to kill that liver oil taste. Then the meat was generally boiled in a pot for several hours, after being briefly sautéed in margarine. The following is a more modern method in which the meat is handled in a similar way to beef. Cut the whale meat into long, thin slices, removing the nerves and fat if necessary. Pan-fry the meat in olive oil, seasoning it with salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove the meat from the pan while you make cream sauce from the broth with cream. Lower the heat under the sauce, taste and add pepper if needed. Then neatly place the meat in the pan with the sauce. Eat with the side dishes of your choice, e.g. lightly boiled vegetables, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. LUMMUR (ICELANDIC PANCAKES)

Rice pudding leftovers, (approximately 2 cups), 1 cup of flour, 2 eggs, ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, 1½ cups of milk, frying butter . Mix everything together in a bowl, adding the milk last. Melt butter in a pan. A four-year-old can make lummur with very little assistance when he/she is, for example, recovering from being drenched in a puddle. Place your assistant on a safe stool by the stove, tie an apron around him and allow him to place the floating dough on the hot pan with a small ladle. If you hold the handle of the pan for the child and make sure he/she doesn’t burn him/herself, the child can easily flip the pancakes with a spatula and then fish them out when they have been browned and place them on a plate. Allow the child to sugar the lummur. Lummur can also be eaten with syrup or jam. It is a good idea to make lummur and hot chocolate while the child’s boots are drying by the oven. KNITTING BABY SOCKS

This recipe is designed for one baby. In the event of there being twins, two pairs will need to be knitted. The older siblings are expected to knit the socks. Help the child cast 44 stitches on a circular number 3 knitting needle. Allow the child to choose the colour of the yarn. Teach the child to knit in 8-centimetre-long loops and narrow rows (folded over) knitting into the front and back of the stitch alternately. It could take several weeks to knit each row if the child is learning to knit for the first time. The remainder of the sock is knitted back and forth in the garter stitch. When this point is reached, it is a good idea to find some good person with some experience in knitting socks for infants who might be willing to teach the skill to a child. The child can then work on the project every day and knit several stitches from time to time, while the supervisor helps him/her not to lose his/her thread. Allow the garter stitch to start from the centre and behind. Help the child to knit 1 centimetre. Place the first and last stitch in the row to one side while you continue to knit the middle garter stitch and knit a total of 4 centimetres. Now load all the stitches back onto the needle and knit a 3-centimetre top for the sock. Then slip the first and last stitches off the needle and start to knit the sole. Knit an additional 9 centimetres. Slip off all stitches. Weave in the ends of the sock for the child and bend the tops of the sides.