If any culture possesses the secret to maintaining a happy marriage, my bet is that it's the Icelanders. Never eager to rush into marriage (it's the norm to establish a happy family before taking the major step of wedlock), eventual marital success is taken quite seriously - as evidenced by the popularity of Hjónabandssæla -- Happy Marriage Cake. A mixture of sweet (sugar) and tart (rhubarb jam), this cake, like a good marriage, only gets better with age (just ask my husband, who upon tasting it is ready to marry me all over again!).

Happy marriage cake image ©2011 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

The answer to the old adage, "Will the rain hurt the rhubarb?" must be "no," since I'm finding some beautiful bright red stalks in our local Pacific Northwest markets. Which is a good thing, since it inspires me to get busy making small batch rhubarb jam, a staple in Scandinavia - and especially in Iceland, where it's used both as a condiment and as a filling for delicious cakes and pastries.

Small batch rhubarb jam image ©2011 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

If you're as avid a fan of the late Stieg Larsson's novels as I, you've probably noticed that his staunch hero, Mikael "Kalle" Blomqvist, seems to survive solely on a diet of frozen pizza (actually the most popular food in Scandinavia) and open-faced sandwiches. However, he does enjoy an occasional treat while out and about on his investigations ... such as the traditional oven-baked bacon pancake (in Swedish, fläskpannkaka) that he's served in Norrland. Served either with lingonberries or with American maple syrup, this favorite dish from Northern Sweden is far more delicious (and just as easy to prepare) as pizza from a cardboard box.

Bacon Pancake image ©2011 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.

With Spring weather approaching, I'll be starting large flats of dill in front of my increasingly sunny kitchen window...simply so that I can make and freeze vast quantities of my specialty lemon-dill pesto. Unlike the intensely-flavored basil used in Italian pesto, dill - a lighter herb - pairs particularly well with lemon, producing a "pesto" sauce that's an out-of-this-world accompaniment to grilled fish or chicken.

Lemon-Dill Pesto image ©2011 Kari Diehl, licensed to About.com.