Iceland review - 2012, Page 76

74 ICELAND REVIEW
The home of Icelandic writ-
er Gunnar Gunnarsson (1889-
1975), Skriðuklaustur is located in
the Fljótsdalur valley at the upper end of
Lagarfljót Lake.
As part of the SEEDS volunteer work-
group restoring the Skriðuklaustur monas-
tery in East Iceland, I dug endless piles of
earth, filled in graves, hauled chipped wood,
rolled turf, combed hay and drove heavy
machinery for two solid weeks. You can
work up quite an appetite doing this, but
the Klausturkaffi on the grounds kept me
well fed.
At our noon break I always looked forward
to their lunches. But the real highlight came
on Fridays. Not only did we stop work an
hour early, we all trooped up the hill from the
excavation site to Klausturkaffi’s Cake Buffet.
The Cake Buffet is a civilized method of
working your way into the dentist’s chair. It’s
also a good way to recover from another hard
day’s work.
Imagine arriving there: clear daylight
Taking The Cake
After doing volunteer work in the region, culinary aficionado
Deb Smith knows all about East Iceland’s
delicious array of baked goods.
Photos By Áslaug snorradóttir
elísabet, the Queen of Culinary Wonders, mixes her delicious skyrkaka.