I am a certified, licensed ESL teacher.  I spent three years teaching English to foreigners in a public school and have done private teaching since then.  In college, my degree was in ESL and I learned all about how to be sensitive to and teach a Second Language Learner.  The last year of my life, the roles have been reversed and now I am the Second Language Learner, sitting at the desk, experiencing everything I'd been trained in.  I hadn't anticipated this experience, and it has caught me off Read More

For the past few months all we've been hearing about is Hangikjot.  Hangikjot is smoked lamb that is always prepared during the Christmas season.  Because of how much it was talked about, I had pretty high expectations.  When we finally attended a Christmas party here, we were served the COLD meat that had a STRONG smoked flavor and I was a little thrown off.   Colby wouldn't let me ask to use a microwave, so I endured in silence.  Upon finishing my virgin hangikjot experience, Icelanders Read More

Oh, yes...I think I forgot to mention...I'm pregnant. When I was in my first trimester with my second pregnancy, Colby took me out to the German restaurant on Route 1 in Stafford.  The moment the food was served, I knew I was in trouble.  The new smells, the different flavors...after just ONE bite, I was done with my meal.  The rest of the evening was spent with one hand covering my mouth and one hand covering my nose.   The last 2 months have been like LIVING in the German restaurant. In the Read More

Right now in Iceland the country is celebrating something called þorri (pronounced 'Thorri'). Every Icelander that attempts to explain it to me has described it as "Old Food Month." For a whole month Icelanders reflect on the way their ancestors used to survive by eating foods such as dried fish, sheep head, rotten shark, ram testicles, lamb jam, kidneys, liver and fat. This is not a joke. Colby and I went to the flea market and witnessed this first hand. After eating some dried fish and Read More