Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, with Ola Dahlman of Grebbestad Bageri in Sweden.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
It was back in the early 1990s that I was first introduced to Nordic hard-breads or crispbreads in Singapore, where I found them most unpalatable, having had no clue what those crispbreads could be good for if not as complement to soups or generously lathed with butter (not margarine) before biting into.
Continue reading “Tångbröd, from Grebbestad, Sweden”
When what you wear speaks the collective subconscious of the people: wearing TOD’s with a new sense of pride and purpose.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
While I and many others in politics and business management alike have been preoccupied in getting adjusted to China’s recent rise to wealth and importance in the world, a full-page newspaper advertisement this Saturday (01012011) signed by the founder of Tod’s luxury leather goods, brought me back to the realization that it is not “poor China” that needs to be saved. They are doing just fine with a 10 percent annual growth in their economy. It is good old Europe that needs to be saved, if something.
Continue reading “Wearing TOD’s in new light: Diego Della Valle’s “POLITICI ORA BASTA””
After work and back home, pear picking in the garden this autumn, 2011, where they sat happily bathing in the autumn rain just a few weeks ago.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
Pears. They never featured prominently in my repertoire of non-tropical fruits when growing up in equatorial Singapore. In the markets they were often pushed aside, their presence at supermarkets and fruit baskets overwhelmed by the lush appearances of its more juicer alternatives such as sun ripened mangoes, mangosteens, chikus or creamy custard apples etc.
In Sweden the situation is different, the tone of voice among the fruits are calmer and everyone gets their say during the autumn harvests. While the apples this year were far from abundant, the plums and for the first time, the pears came along very nicely. While I have had my eyes directed towards finding someone having quince – kvitten in Swedish – in their garden and being at a loss about what to do with them (fat chance), our own pears were a more viable option for today’s harvesting.
Continue reading “Ten minutes in the life of a pear”
Restaurant Familjen in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Photos © CM Cordeiro 2011
I confess, I love space and clean, free straight lines that invite your eyes to peruse and absorb the dimensions of the room the minute you step into it. At Restaurant Familjen in Gothenburg, it was more a full-stop when entering the door, where you are almost forced to halt your senses the minute you step in, cautious, else you bump into someone immediately in front at the bar, situated just as you enter the restaurant at after five on a Friday.
Continue reading “Cushions on the ceiling”
Making Swedish Mazariner.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
A while back in May 2011, I spent the weekend putting together some Swedish signature Almond Tarts / Cakes called Mazarin (mazariner for plural), giving a brief description of the Italian-French heritage and etymology of the word, the tart made popular in large part to Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661).
Today, these attractively shaped morsels, usually round or oval, capped with a white icing lid are a standard staple on the tea biscuits menu in just about any café in Sweden. If there is a café, in Sweden, there are Mazariner. Simple as that.
It was at the time interesting to discover the stunning difference in the flavour between the homemade ones and the sad samples usually offered for sale in the cafés. The ready made ones are just nothing near in fullness of texture and flavour to what you could produce yourself at home in just under an hour’s efforts. To make your own Mazariner is like reviving a lost art, giving life to a tradition in Sweden that perhaps not many think about these days. Consistency, flavour well the whole idea with the cake is different, if you make them yourself.
Continue reading “Mazariner rustico – Swedish almond tarts, country styled”
Chili chicken with whipped cream and cashew nuts.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
Chicken is one of the most versatile fowl dishes there is. It is also a stable on our table. The meat is tender with a soft texture and a warm, mild flavour of its own. I find that chicken is also one of the easiest things there is to cook. Some butter and soy sauce, a dash of black pepper and salt, and then into the oven until done. Delicious.
Chicken also lends itself to all kinds of flavouring. In Sweden you probably can’t help but be introduced to a popular dish called ‘flying Jacob’. This just so happens to be a prize winning ‘child friendly’ chicken recipe that made its way to eternal fame (in Sweden) a few decades ago. Basically it is an oven baked chicken in cream and chili sauce, flavoured with bananas, bacon and peanuts. Me, not being too interested in flavours that are too sweet in general, turned out this variation a few days ago which I don’t mind sharing.
Continue reading “Chili chicken”
Swedish pancakes, with homemade lingonberry jam.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
I believe Swedish pancakes served with lingonberry jam, a dish now made globally popular by Ikea, to be one of the first few dishes I was introduced to when I landed in Sweden for the first time, about twelve years ago. Yet, it was only yesterday that something said click! in the learning process and for the first time, ever, I managed to make the perfect Swedish pancake, the ones with little bubbles in the middle and a crisp brown frilly edge.
Swedish pancakes are much like French Crepes though I believe the proportions of the milk to flour and eggs would be slightly different. From what I gather, you’ll have more eggs and less milk to flour in French Crepes compared to Swedish pancakes.
To get these pancakes, it was 500 ml milk to 150g (or 2.5 dl) flour, just one egg and a pinch of salt to taste. A brisk stir and you’ll have the batter ready in a zip! Finding the combined aroma of warmed cinnamon and cardamon intoxicating, I added to this batter a dash of both spices. Traditionally, these pancakes were fried in lard. I used butter in this case, and lots of it!
As for the jam, it was simply to boil the fresh berries together with castor sugar, the proportions of which are half sugar in weight to the total weight of the berries. The boiling process should take no more than twenty minutes, let cool and pour into jars for keeps. Lingonberry jam was the single Swedish import I found in the Singapore grocery shelves long before I had even arrived in Sweden. I grew to love this sweet-tangy jam after a couple of tries, having it mostly with filmjolk or the Swedish version of ‘sour milk’. After a decade or so being here, I find it highly rewarding to finally be able to make my own lingonberry jam from fresh berries, almost ribboning the red berried jars as they go into the fridge for storage.
Cooking this dish on my part, has taught me that perhaps learning processes take time in themselves and are best left, unhurried. When you live and breathe the environment, the food, the culture and the people, things will somehow, one day fall in place. And like the last piece of jigsaw puzzle that slides neatly into the larger picture, after much experimentation, pondering and fixing, you get… perfect lingonberry jam and pancakes. A classic for lunch or dinner, or why not with a dash of whipped cream or ice cream for that afternoon fika.
Enjoy!
Rum plum cobbler, served with vanilla ice-cream and a light dusting of cinnamon.
Photos © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2011
A couple of years ago, heavy rains during the late spring and early summer along the Swedish west coast meant that the plums on the tree suffered in terms of harvest. Similar heavy rains this summer kept us holding our breaths till when the plums were ripe for the picking, even after careful pruning of the fruits so that each had room to grow.
Continue reading “Autumn plum harvest”
A favourite day tour for most visitors is the former health resort and summer paradise in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg.
Photos © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson and Kevin Cordeiro
This post is coming to you in the early autumn of 2011. The first weeks of September brings a certain cooling of the climate even in southern Sweden, where the light in the days get more mellow, casting long shadows as you walk the streets in the evenings. You might still find warm days to come but days with fully brilliant sunshine tinted crystal blue and gold is something that is typical in Sweden in high summer.
Continue reading “Facets of Gothenburg to L*O*V*E …”
Making it in through the front door just barely, from the sudden downpour.
Photos JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011
Tropical storms, the kind with flashes of lightning and deep rolls of thunder is common in the equatorial region from where I come from, but not all that common in Scandinavia, in particular along the Swedish west coast.
But today was one such day here in Sweden, with dramatic dark clouds, the low rumble of thunder that comforts and discomforts at the same time, and warm fat drops of rain that drench through clothes, thoroughly wetting the skin.
I managed barely to escape the rain stepping in through the door just when the first large drops of water fell.
Continue reading “In from the rain”