Akureyri - 13.02.2014, Side 22

22 6. tölublað 4. árgangur 13. febrúar 2014
The Roads - part one
As I write this the leading story on
mbl.is is the proposition to build a
second road tunnel under Hvalfjörður.
Having been here only a few days
in 1971 I asked my host if there was
a chance he could take me on a short
road trip. He said that he
needed some parts for his
Vanguard from a garage in
Dalvík so we set off along
the coast road. The “road”
actually disappeared at the
edge of the town and turned
into a dirt track and as the
old English car rattled its
way over the humps and
bumps I soon realised why
it needed the parts.
In these days a trip to Reykja-
vík was a 12-hour nightmare. The
narrow roads twisted and turned
around just about every obstacle
that could be found on the way. Ev-
ery rocky outcrop was considered
sacred and the dirt tracks weaved
in and out so as not to disturb the
ELVES! Everyone drove too fast
causing the loose gravel to form
pretty wavy patterns, particularly
going up hills. These were called
washboards, and the trick was to
find the exact speed to surf over
them so that the shock absorbers
avoided your wheels following the
contours of every wave
like a needle on a buckled
record. If you went too slow
you shook up and down like
a cart with square wheels.
If you went too fast you lost
control ended up in a ditch.
If you had a big American
car you sailed over it like a
liner on choppy seas.
There were numerous
single-track bridges en route. If you
were lucky enough to see them you
put you foot down hoping to get
there first. If it were foggy or a blizz-
ard more often than not you would
have to reverse back from the middle,
presuming that you could come to an
agreement with the other car as to
who had got there first. My mother-
in-law had been one of the first
women in the country to get a driving
licence, and once had to reverse over
two bridges in a row, not because she
had come in second, but because she
was a woman! The bridges were built
perpendicular to the roads to save mo-
ney, so immediately in front of them
was a ninety degree turn, strategically
placed to make it easier to skid on the
loose gravel out into the river.
Cars threw up dust trails like
cowboys across the Arizona Desert,
and the yellow dust seeped through
every orifice in the dashboard and
into every orifice of your body. For
such a journey you needed at le-
ast two boxes of tissues and three
replacement air filters. Everything
that could rattle did, and eventually
fell off.
Everyone drove in the middle
of the narrow roads, which left a
wheel-high spine of loose gravel in
the middle. The greatest perils were
so-called blind hills. You kept to the
middle of the road until the very last
minute ready to lurch to the right
should you be so unlucky to meet
a car at the top. If you managed to
make it without loosing control you
would find yourself out in the grit
on the soft edge. The cars would
meet with a whoosh of stones and
rubble and dust, and when it had
settled you quickly checked to see
if you still had doors, wing mirrors,
windscreen, and were still on the
road, before proceeding to the next
Close Encounter.
The last part of the journey was
Hvalfjörður. Just when you thought
you had nearly completed the tortu-
ous hell-ride and the spire of Hall-
grims church in Reykjavik loomed
tantalisingly close, you remembered
the twisty fjords ahead; a perilous
hour- long roller coaster ride. And
the frustrating thing was that the
end of the road was clearly visible
just across the water, like a mirage
in the Sahara, but just out of reach.
The Hvalfjörður tunnel was a
miracle and knocked nearly an hour
of frustrating dusty vibration and
blind hills off the journey. Alwa-
ys planned as a toll road, they ex-
pected about half the road users to
choose the tunnel. In point of fact
just about everybody does, and feel
600 kronur is a small price to pay.
So now there is so much traffic
that they are considering building
a second tunnel.
The road from Akureyri to
Reykjavik is now tarmac all the way.
The single bridges have all gone,
as have most of the switchbacks
and bends. But every now and
then the road repairing mob come
out in force. Tar is painted on long
stretches and then tons of loose gra-
vel are heaped on the roads, and
left there for weeks! They say it is
done to let it sink into the surface.
But I think it is done to remind dri-
vers of How Things Were in the Old
Days. The scrunch of the gravel, the
jiggering on the washboards and the
dust in your nostrils are back just
for a nostalgic few kilometres! Ah,
those were the days!
THE ENGLISH CORNER WITH MICHAEL CLARKE
MICHAEL CLARKE
MATARGATIÐ FLEIRI UPPSKRIFTIR Á WWW.ALLSKONAR.IS
Hýsi - Merkúr hf. / Völuteigi 7 / 270 Mosfellsbær / Sími 534 6050 / hysi@hysi.is / www.hysi.is
Við finnum lausnina með þér
Reiðhöll Harðar, Mosfellsbæ
Hönnun: ARTPRO ehf.
Helga Kvam
allskonar.is
In these days a trip to Reykjavík
was a 12-hour nightmare
Svínahakk með Szechuan
Þessi einfaldi og afar fljótlegi réttur
leyfir einstöku bragði szechuan pip-
ars að njóta sín. Szechuan piparinn
er sterkur og gefur deyfandi tilfinn-
ingu með nokkuð fersku sítrónu-
kenndu bragði og er því oft notaður
ríflega á móti eldsterku chili í réttum.
Athugaðu að smakka til í réttinn,
ekki gera þau mistök að setja risa
skammt af szechuan pipar og enda
með óætan rétt. Lítið í einu, smakka
svo og bæta við eftir smekk.
SVÍNAHAKK MEÐ
SZECHUAN PIPAR
» 1 msk repjuolía
» 450 gr svínahakk
» 1 laukur, fínsaxaður
» þumalstærð engiferrót, fínsöxuð
» 1 rautt chili, frænhreinsað og
fínsaxað
» 1-2 msk szechuan piparkorn (eftir
því hvað þú vilt sterkt)
» 1 stjörnuanís
» 2 tsk kínakryddblanda (Chinese five
spice)
» 3 msk Tamari sósa (eða sojasósa)
» 1 msk agave sýróp (eða hunang)
» safi úr 1 lime
» hvítur pipar
» 2 vorlaukar
Szechuan pipar getur þú feng-
ið í asískum matvöruverslunum og
jafnvel heilsubúðunum ef þú finnur
hann ekki í matvörubúðinni þinni. Í
uppskriftinni er einnig Kínakrydd-
blanda/Chinese Five Spice, hana er
hægt að fá í langflestum matvöru-
verslunum.
Undirbúningur: 5 mínútur
Eldunartími: 15 mínútur
Settu olíu í pönnu og brúnaðu
svínahakkið, settu þar næst lauk,
engifer og chili út í og steiktu í 2-3
mínútur. Settu þá szechuan pipar-
inn, stjörnuanísinn og kínakrydd-
blönduna út í og steiktu í 2 mínútur
til viðbótar.
Bættu þá Tamari sósunni og sýróp-
inu ásamt lime safanum út í og steiktu
í 4-5 mínútur þar til allt er orðið
brúnt og kjötið fer að verða stökkt.
Smakkaðu til með hvítum pipar og
settu fínsneiddan vorlauk yfir.
Berðu fram með núðlum eða hrís-
grjónum. Þú getur líka notað þenn-
an rétt sem fyllingu í vefjur, það er
æðislegt að búa til vefju úr salatblaði
og setja kjötið inn í ásamt smávegis
af sýrðum rjóma.
Akureyri
vikublað er
aðgengilegt
á akv.is