Icelandic tales – Kaffi, etc.

It’s New Year’s Day. January 1st, 2025. A quiet day. Raining hard. We are not going out. We’ve been traveling a lot – first Iceland, then Connecticut for a holiday visit to friends and family. I’m regrouping, picking things up, putting other things down. The end of 2024 came in a rush and lots fell by the wayside.

I want to finish posting my Iceland memories. Three more to go. This one is especially comforting because it has to do with food and coffee. And candlelight of course.

The first place we went was called Reykjavik Roasters. The snacks were exceptional. I had hummus and date paste on toast. I never thought of combining hummus and date paste before, but it is something I can easily do at home. Sam had avocado toast.

No avocados are grown in Iceland. They all have to come from afar. It is not a local food. Yet they are as addicted to them there as we are in Maine. Here is a sandwich of sorts, which looked tricky to eat, but confirms the avocado addiction: a croissant with avocado and jalapeño. We didn’t order it.

We also had a snack at Kaktus Espressobar, a nice place in Reykjavik with excellent banana bread. But I didn’t take any photos.

The next day, before our trip to Borgarnes, we looked for a less trendy coffee shop that was open early and found Kaffivagninn. Mostly local people, mostly men gathered around a large table socializing. A diner-like atmosphere, very congenial, in the darkness by the water.

I enjoyed this guy’s hairstyle. Wondering how he deals with that bun – does he dismantle it periodically, and redo?

We have a habit of ordering oatmeal in the morning if it is available. Kaffivagninn had a nice bowl, with just a few large blueberries arranged on top.

The last few days of our trip, settling down, we started going to a neighborhood coffee shop. It was very enjoyable. The candlelight was amazing. So was the oatmeal (porridge).