Thursday, July 6, 2023

Butterflies and Icelandic Picnic Food.

Hi everyone. I hope you're having a lovely week so far.

I'm going to start my post with a journal page for Alison's Come Fly with Me challenge at Art Journal Journey.


You can see the 2 butterflies that I cut out of a sheet of paper that apply to Alison's theme.

My background is made with some bright yellow watercolor paints and a stencil, as well as the same stencil and some gesso.  I also used a brown ink pad on the background.

The very first thing I did on my page was to stamp the Lynne Perrella image in blue ink, and then I worked the background around it.


I still had some left over bits and pieces on my desk from June's AJJ Numbers challenge, so I added those to my page. I also drew in the hanging chains and added some metallic paper hearts. The woman in the stamp is holding part of the sun, which I replaced with a complete gold paper sun. I also added some blue foam stars, silver metallic paper pen nib, as well as my sticker quotes. 


This week Rain's  Art and Dinner Date has a theme of picnic, so I decided I would show a couple of our to go lunches when we were driving the loop around Iceland.


These sandwiches could be picked up at most grocery and quick stop stores. They weren't bad. Besides this lamb and bean salad one I also had a memorable shrimp salad sandwich. They worked because there were days we drove for hours without passing any place to get food. And don't forget to fill your tank in the town you were sleeping in because there might not be any gas stops for a long way also.


And junk food is always a fun staple on any roadtrip, so to go with our sandwiches we bought a bag of Doritos. I haven't had a Dorito in a very very long time.


The only place we saw and stopped at a food truck was when we were at the iceberg lagoon. ( See this post if you're curious about the iceberg lagoon.) I was torn between having an Icelandic lobster roll and a hotdog.



And you might be surprised I  decided on the hot dog-Icelandic style. (This past Monday's post talked about Icelandic hot dogs.) First of all it was much cheaper. You could buy 4 hot dogs for the price of a lobster roll. Secondly, the lobster (langostinos) were small deep fried pieces. I was curious, and probably should have gotten one since I never saw them on the menu anywhere else. I did have lobster stew later on during the trip though, and although it was quite tasty, I am pretty biased about our local Maine lobster as you might know if you've seen my lobster rolls posts in the past. I can say the langostino lobster was good but  because  that type of lobster is much smaller than what we have here in New England, you don't get as much lobster taste in a bite.

And I know hot dogs aren't a popular food with many of you, but to me, these were definitely worth a second taste.


And with my hotdog  I had an orange soda, which like the Doritos, is something I haven't had in a very long time. It tasted good, and I had a couple more of these during the trip.

And lastly, I wanted to try one of these packaged donuts.


Donuts are one of my weaknesses, and I rarely buy them because it's hard to eat just one. This one was a filled donut, and it was pretty tasty junk food.  I must admit one of the best things about a roadtrip is that it's a good excuse to eat junk food (which I don't often do otherwise).

That's all for me today.  Have a great end of your week and weekend.




24 comments:

Tom said...

...Doritos have conquered the world.

Angie's Recipes said...

Such a beautiful page! I love esp. the two blue butterflies.
p.s Tom, it doesn't conquer me...have never had any dorito in my life..actually, I have never had any chips yet. I am happy just with steak and butter :-)

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Great art and photos.

kathyinozarks said...

Good morning, I love your journal page and the colors too.
You took some neat photos when you were there-fun to remember the snacks and foods. Happy Thursday hugs Kathy

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Your journal page is very attractive, Erika. Does the number 55 have special significance? I am not trying to appear virtuous here, but for our road trips ( which are admittedly not in Iceland) we make copious quantities of trail mix, and take dried figs, whole grain crackers, fruit and that kind of stuff. For the first day we make sandwiches at home too. We never buy junk food, because we don’t enjoy it, and steadfastly refuse to contribute to the mountain of garbage inflicted on this poor planet. If it comes in a styrofoam box, a plastic cup, has plastic cutlery etc it’s not for us. Hugs - David

Andrea @ From The Sol said...

Your art work is always so balanced and beautiful. You certainly have a good eye. Love your picnic junk food. I am the same way about junk food, but when I travel I lose all my inhibitions. I swear my mouth starts watering as soon as I walk out my door, Ha! Lovely post as always, Erika ...

Andrea @ From The Sol

CJ Kennedy said...

Pretty butterfly page. The milkweed has bloomed, but I haven’t seen any butterflies, yet. I was surprised you passed on the lobster until you described it. I would have passed too. Looks like you had some great snacks for the road trip. Hot and humid, today. Stay cool!

Christine said...

Lovely page for AJJ and interesting food from Iceland. It sounds very remote outside of the capital

Iris Flavia said...

Turquoise, one of my fav colors - this came out beautifully!
And the sun... may come here, too!

Sounds familiar. We always also had two jerry cans on top to fill our car.
A Milka donut?! I think I need to eat a piece of cheese, that looks already too sweet, LOL
Glad you had such a great time - hugs and to many more!

craftytrog said...

I love a Dorito, and I absolutely adore your page Erika! It's a great composition.
Hugs,
Alison

Valerie-Jael said...

Ah yes, any excuse to eat junk food, I know things like that. We get those Milka filled donuts here, too. Your journal page with the butterflies is wonderful, one of my all time faves! Hugs, Valerie

Gillena Cox said...

Some nice ones Erika. Luv all the yummies😊

Happy Thursday.

Much💜love

Jeanie said...

I love seeing your to-go lunches!

Fundy Blue said...

Your art piece is beautiful, Erika! I love the color pallate and the composition. I know they're not good for us, but I love hotdogs. We substituted low sodium, low fat, no bad chemicals chicken "hotdog" for July 4th. But I'll get a real one when we are in Vegas shortly on our way to Nova Scotia. I just now answered your comment on my Summer Monsoon post. I fell behind during a busy weekend. We were in Iceland in 2014. I had my best fish and chips ever in Reykjavík of all places. Happy summer reading in your hammock!

Terra said...

Your art page with the two blue butterflies turned out so pretty, and I like the Icelandic foods you found.

Carola Bartz said...

Your journal page is beautiful - well, I really wasn't expecting anything else. I'm not too much into junk food because I don't like it, but sometimes it's interesting to try what is available in different countries. Milka usually make all kinds of yummy chocolate things. Was the donut filled with chocolate? I've never seen this in Germany, even though Milka is a German company.

Lowcarb team member said...

I do like your journal page ...

All the best Jan

NatureFootstep said...

wow Erika, I love the art ou worekd on this week. I love the woman stamp and the butterflies. THe background are gorgeous too. This is a good one!

Aimeslee Winans said...

What a wonderful page out of bits and bobs, love the blues. Interesting food they have up there. Hope your weekend is going well. xoxo

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Your journal page is impressive. I like the stamp, but I love the butterflies. The entire entry is both charming and beautiful. Thanks for sharing it at AJJ using Alison's theme, dear friend.

Junk food. YES, please. Donuts are my weakness, too. NO hot dogs from Iceland, though. They sound gross to me.

Words and Pictures said...

This is such a beautiful page - brilliant composition, and I love the LP figure holding up the sun.
Alison x

lichazul said...

Beautiful page 👏👏💐😊 happy happy day

Neet said...

What a beautiful page. The blue on the faint yellow background reminds me of the blue in the Willow Pattern Story. The LP figure is lovely and it works so well with that golden sun above it, She looks as if she is holding the sun up for us all. The two hearts are delightful.
Oh Erika, I think I would have had to have the lobster - but then it is something i rarely get to eat here but every time you mention a lobster roll my mouth waters.
Hugs, Neet xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

I love this beautiful page! I think I would have enjoyed the food you ate - it's only once in a while! The Milka donut especially as I love donuts and milka chocolate. Hugs, Chrisx