Hidden

Sorry to burst any bubbles out there in the big world, but as amazing a read as this article is, there haven't been any British anthropologists rescued after a 7-year disappearance into the elven realms. As you can see in the picture above, it is fairly easy to become one with the moss and lava if you're dressed right (can you find the human in the photo?) but there are very few modern reports of Hidden People interactions that we know of.

Unfortunately, it's just easy to permanently damage millennia-old groundcover, seriously twist an ankle, or even slip into a hidden crevice when out in Icelandic nature. I witnessed my former brother-in-law literally vanish while walking a lava field up at Mývatn. He had his baby in a front-facing backpack which made it all the scarier. We'd decided to stop for lunch and walk a few hundred yards from the road to a nice spot over there when poof! he was gone, having stepped on a layer of moss that looked solid enough but just wasn't. Thankfully the fissure was just about as deep as he was tall, and it was wide enough so little Helena didn't get scraped or banged up. We helped him out again, all very shaken and humbled by the experience.

So go gently through nature while you're here. Leave a rock on a cairn along your path to honor the local norn or spirit, pick up random trash you see along the way, and step softly and with care. Stop at some beautiful place and speak words of gratitude for our living island, and maybe, just maybe, the elven realms will open up for you, if only for a moment in time...

Urbean @ Avenue K

If you have not checked out Avenue K, you should. They have completely revamped the place and there are plenty more interesting shops than before. Previously, their concept was for the rich. Currently, the shops are more affordable such as Sushi Zanmai, Daiso, Nichii, H&M, FOS, Cotton On and others. Even their supermarket called Presto is not that expensive. 

There are a few restaurants located at the  Concourse level like Noodle Shack, Miso Korean BBQ, Expresso Lab, Old Chang Kee, The Loaf and Urbean.

I have tried Noodle Shack and Miso, but They were not to my liking.

Urbean's concept reminds me of Plan B. The menu is short and simple. I liked that they have smoked salmon in their menu at an affordable price.

Urbean's menu:

I had smoked salmon sandwich with their gourmet bread. Their gourmet bread was walnut bread. It was sooooo good omg that I gobbled up everything in a jiffy and I wanted more!! The layer of chives with cream cheese was amazing :)

I have been shopping at H n M more of late because of their buy 1 free 1 shirts which are good for gym.

Fé

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Bjarki Markússon

(The title word fé means sheep, and also money)

This photo is just so gorgeous and so appropos of today's wild weather on the Lava Rock somehow!
Bjarki, a trained photographer and creator of groovydirty electro, among other things, writes:

The story behind the photo. This picture was taken in September at Skeiðaréttum in Skeiða-og Gnúpverjahreppi. This is when all the sheeps are rounded up after the summer. Each sheep is marked with a tag and is then found by its owner. I took my kids there and I try to go every year. This picture is taken while I'm on my knees with my arms around my 3 year old daughter so the sheep don't run her down. The view is from her perspective. 

I personally adore the composition and the colors in this shot, and knowing the stories about our guest photographer's photos always makes them even more alive.

Remember our Facebook Fan Page as well as our Twitter feed, both of which you can now easily follow by gently tapping the little blue circles up there in the right-hand corner : ) I try to find and post non-mainstream stuff there as well as images that don't make it onto the blog, so be sure not to miss out on your daily dose of Iceland Eyes.

F concept by Buffalo Kitchens, Bangsar

'F' is actually the name of the restaurant situated at the corner of Jalan Telawi 3 in Bangsar. It was located above Chawan. Its concept is by Buffalo Kitchens. When I walked into the restaurant, there was a shelf with pots and pans. I was told that Buffalo Kitchens was actually a brand for those pots and pans.

The restaurant has a smoking and non- smoking section. It is not a big restaurant. They have this open concept where at one glance you will see their open kitchen, bar and dining room.

We were seated at the corner closest to the kitchen which was not really an ideal place to be dining. This was because the hear from the kitchen affected us and there was no aircond at our section. Because the kitchen was an open concept, we could smell the frying, and we were sweating while eating. That was the not so enjoyable part of the night as we were stuffy and sweaty which thus made us feel tired after our meal. 

Nevertheless, their food was amazing! 12 people, 12 main dishes!! Their menu was unusual and their drink list was interesting too. A few drinks from the list made us laugh like 'Jade Dong Ding', 'Pussy foot', 'Naked Scot' and 'Long Black'. Their drinks menu:

F's food menu:

We started of with appetisers. I wanted to try their 'Duo of crabs' which was soft sell crab and fish cakes. But, because we intend to share the appetiser, the friendly waitress said it will not be enough. She suggested we get the tapas platter which came with a variety of meat such as smoked salmon, smoked duck, beef tataki, hummus, tiger prawns with romesco sauce, freshly baked sour dough, extra virgin olive oil, olives, almonds, grilled bell peppers and sea salt. We went ahead with the waitress suggestion and it was a good choice. Two orders of F's tapas set was good enough to share between all of us.

The funny thing was we were famished therefore we almost finished the meat before the bread came. The waitress was like, "You should stop eating because there was bread to go with the meat."

F TAPAS SET:

For our mains, each of us ordered different dishes. For pasta, we had a choice of angelhair, linguine, squidd ink

1. SOFT SHELL CRAB AND  SEAFOOD MISO CARBONARA

2. SMOKED DUCK BREAST ARBONARA

3. PAN SEARED BARRAMUNDI AND RICH SEAFOOD RISOTTO

4. BEFF TENDERLOIN WITH DUCK FAT POTATOES AND SNOW PEAS

5. OVEN ROASTED CHICKEN CHESTNUT ROULADE

6. FUSION CHICKEN ESCALOPE WITH SPICY WEDGES AND ARUGULA

Drinks:

For dessert:

APPLE CRUMBLE

HOMEMADE TIRAMISU - good stuff

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE ICE CREAM - freshly baked brownies. We were told to wait 20 minutes for it to be ready.

Despite the ambience being a let down, the food was perfectly cooked. Go back for the food, but choose your seats wisely ;)

Cool

I wonder if those of you who aren't so into music but who love to follow all things Icelandic are tired of hearing about our Airwaves festival. It's definitely been all over all types of media here for the past week, flooding Twitter feeds and print newspapers and everything in between with rave reviews and slightly blurry, colorful concert photos. It wrapped up on Sunday, but even though the music's over we've still got plenty of visitors hanging out, doing last minute touristy-type things, like going to the top of Hallgrímskirkja or buying last-minute postcards for their mothers. In fact, I'm sitting here in the newly-rechristened Kaffismiðjan (it's Reykjavík Roasters now) with three brand-new and very interesting Airwaves friends hearing the happy chatter of international voices surrounding us.

I'm glad I ended up seeing so many excellent and entertaining Icelandic musicians at off-venue sites around town (scroll down the Iceland Eyes Twitter feed for many of the bands I saw.) Their sets were usually on the short side, but when you get to listen to Múm or Berndsen or Hermigervill live, for free, and possibly even dance on chairs at 6:30 in the evening on a Sunday while doing so (here's proof on the Iceland Eyes Facebook Page ) you certainly can't complain. I'm continually stunned by the power and talent of Icelandic music scene, and will be sure to post regularly about it on our social media feeds.

(The image is of a large, random chunk of ice in front of the Harpa events hall, which was the Airwaves main base this year. It is, in my opinion, a very cool addition to our energetic little city : )

Allan Wu says..

One month!

 A month of not blogging goes to show I was too busy to open blogger and start writing. Its a shame really because I still take pictures of everything I do. But, its just pictures kept in my phone. As time goes by, even I forget where or when that picture was taken.

Whats new?

- My hair is now at a managable length.

- I have lost weight but still have more to lose.

- I realise I have become 1 cm shorter!! aka growing old with bad posture :(

- I bake every weekend

- I am busier till I do not have time to even read the newspaper

Whats not new?

- I still love food

- I crave for Japanese food everytime

- My blog ratings are decreasing due to my hiatus and I don't think I care anymore

Introducing my new favourite sushi restaurant- Ichizen. It is located in Pavillion and they currently have 20% discount for any sushi till 30th November 2013.

I loved the food. I liked their service. They come round almost every minute to check if you need to refill your tea. For a new restaurant, it was really packed and there was a queue outside. They do have a good choice of lunch sets which comes at a reasonable price. But, for this month, I am definitely all out for their sushi.

To die for at Ichizen - Salmon mentai sushi and Unagi sushi

Of course, I still enjoy Sushi zanmai. Afterall, Zanmai will always be cheaper. But for more variety, Ichizen is the next best place.

Recalling delicious food from Zanmai:

Besides Japanese food, the craze for burgers has not stopped. This new place called Fuel Shack sells fantastic lamb burger for RM14. There is one at suria KLCC food court and another at the convention centre.

For a meal that is affordable, head over to Restoran Deen at Taman Melawati for some fantastic naan and tandoori.

On another note, The Petronas twin towers turned pink for breast cancer awareness month in October. I loved it that way :)

PIHCS 2013 was a wonderful learning experience.