A fishy craft?

I was down in central Bergen yesterday and discovered that a large marquee had been put up on Festplassen, by the lake. Inside were several local artists and crafts people displaying their wares. There were potters, jewellery makers, weavers and knitters and leather workers, all standing at little market tables. I am always wary of these places as there is rarely a price tag in sight, and I hate that embarrassed feeling of finding out the price and thinking it's just not affordable even though I really like it! The leather stall though really caught my attention. As you may know, before the discovery of oil, fish was the main export from the west coast of Norway. Much was dried and salted, and exported to catholic countries as stockfish. The Italians, Spanish, French and Portuguese have many variations on the most well-known stockfish recipe Baccalāo. Anyway, the leather being used was fish leather! Artist Maren Sofie Strømme (www.marensophie1.net - sorry it is all in Norwegian!)uses cured fish leather to make belts, bracelets and bags. Fish skin is surprisingly tough - we eat quite alot of fresh fish here, and you definitely need a sharp knife to cut through it! The fish leather she uses can come from Africa, or Norway, and can be cod, catfish or other large fish. The skins are cured and coloured in Iceland, at the inly fish skin curing factory in Europe! I'm not sure if it is the fashion look for me, but plenty of people like the texture of snake skin, and to be honest, I thought this was fairly similar! Looking on the web I found another website, which is run by the same family and is less art orientated. Again it is all in Norwegian, but if you click on the 'produkt' link on the left hand side of the website, you can see some of the bags they have for sale (www.bjorgstrømme.no). Well, since I mentioned salted cod, I thought I should include a Baccalåo recipe. Ingredients: 1 lb salted cod 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped 6 or less large onions, chopped 1/4 cup (or less) olive oil 3 tablespoons dry sherry 4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped (canned whole tomatoes work great) 4 tablespoons green olives, sliced 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 fresh or dried jalapeno pepperminced (for those who like it real hot) 4-ounces pimientos 1/2 cup pitted black olives 1/2 teaspoon oregano (optional) Freshly ground pepper. Salt to taste Preparation: Soak salted cod for 12 hours Change water every 4 hours. Drain and shred fish. Saute onions and garlic in oil. Add oregano, parsley, olives, pimentos, jalapenos, wine and simmer. Layer sauteed vegetables, potatoes, shredded fish, salt and pepper. Drizzle remainder of oil. Bake at 350°F. for 35-40 minutes and you have Bacalao.