Weird as it may sound (and be?), hard-boiled måsegg (seagull's egg) and Mackøl (the locally brewed lager) is one of Tromsø's celebrated seasonal dishes. Along the fjords everywhere around here, there are boxes mounted on poles, about two metres off the ground. People put them there to tempt seagulls into nesting in the boxes, and they often do. When the eggs appear all but one can be removed. The seagull will lay new ones. Klaus put up two boxes a couple of years ago but they have been vacant until a short week ago, when suddenly a seagull had laid two eggs in one of them. Klaus carefully removed one egg and marked the other. The next day the removed egg had been replaced and he took that one too. Then, later the same day, an oystercatcher (tjeld) attacked the remaining egg and ate its contents, blatantly undisturbed by the seagull's frantic scare dives. Seagulls are not stupid and so that was the end of the tenancy. What was left were two seagull's eggs that we enjoyed with beer from the world's northernmost brewery (no, we're not sponsored - just a piece of trivia!), on Saturday night. Right next to the box, actually. To be appalled by the oystercatcher's savage behaviour would be nothing short of hypocracy...
Monday, 2 July 2007
Måsegg and Mackøl
Weird as it may sound (and be?), hard-boiled måsegg (seagull's egg) and Mackøl (the locally brewed lager) is one of Tromsø's celebrated seasonal dishes. Along the fjords everywhere around here, there are boxes mounted on poles, about two metres off the ground. People put them there to tempt seagulls into nesting in the boxes, and they often do. When the eggs appear all but one can be removed. The seagull will lay new ones. Klaus put up two boxes a couple of years ago but they have been vacant until a short week ago, when suddenly a seagull had laid two eggs in one of them. Klaus carefully removed one egg and marked the other. The next day the removed egg had been replaced and he took that one too. Then, later the same day, an oystercatcher (tjeld) attacked the remaining egg and ate its contents, blatantly undisturbed by the seagull's frantic scare dives. Seagulls are not stupid and so that was the end of the tenancy. What was left were two seagull's eggs that we enjoyed with beer from the world's northernmost brewery (no, we're not sponsored - just a piece of trivia!), on Saturday night. Right next to the box, actually. To be appalled by the oystercatcher's savage behaviour would be nothing short of hypocracy...
