Born in the vibrant city of Singapore with a unique Eurasian blend of Portuguese and Chinese heritage, my journey has taken me from the bustling streets of Singapore to the serene and open landscapes of Sweden. My educational pursuits in Singapore culminated at tertiary level with two separate Master degrees, after which I embarked on a new adventure in 2002, moving to Sweden. In Sweden, I pursued with deep interest, the knowledge field of applied linguistics, particularly corpus linguistics research methods, earning a doctoral degree from one of northern Europe’s largest universities, the University of Gothenburg. I currently work as Project Manager, focusing on EU and international projects, at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, at the Division of Bioeconomy and Health, Department of Agriculture and Food. My office is located in Mölndal municipality. Mölndal, known also as the Valley of Mills, is located about ten minutes by bus ride from the city center of Gothenburg to the south. If you’re ever traveling south from Gothenburg to Malmö, whether by train or car, you will likely come by Mölndal municipality. In these pages at cmariec.com, you’ll find my lifestyle musings on culinary and travel adventures from Singapore to Sweden, and from when I lived and worked the Arctic City of Tromsø (2018 to mid-2022). SINGAPORE | SWEDEN | NORTHERN NORWAY Life in Singapore Pursued all academic interests in Singapore, of which the post-graduate years were founded in two separate disciplines. In 2000, graduated with two separate Masters Degrees: (i) Master of Science in Information Studies at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore (ii) Master of Arts in the English Language at the National University of Singapore (NUS). In 1999, represented the Republic of Singapore at the Miss Universe Pageant in Trinidad and Tobago. With this came a variety of film, educational TV, media, and ambassadorial work for the Singapore Tourism Board. Life in Sweden In 2002, moved from Singapore to Sweden in order to pursue a PhD in Gothenburg, where a number of international corporate head offices were located that all had a substantial business presence in Singapore and also Asia in general. In 2009, graduated with a PhD in applied critical linguistics from the faculty of humanities at the University of Gothenburg, with a cross-disciplinary thesis entitled, Swedish management in Singapore: a discourse analysis study, looking particularly into the concepts of assimilation, integration and hierarchy, at top management levels of Swedish-Asian corporations in Singapore. 2013, as research fellow at the Centre for International Business Studies (CIBS), School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, researching the future implications of increasing Asian-Swedish cooperation within the field of international business. The project is entitled Gothenburg in Asia, Asia in Gothenburg, funded by the Anna Ahrenberg Foundation. The project is aligned with the 400 years anniversary of the city of Gothenburg in 2021, and falls under the broad category of Kunskap Göteborg 2021 initiated by city representatives of Gothenburg, Göteborg & Co, University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology. 2015, was granted the Flexit post-doctoral scholarship by Bank of Sweden Tercentennary Foundation (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, RJ) for a three year project together with the Swedish-Swiss multinational enterprise ABB. From 2015-17, the research will take place at ABB Corporate Research Sweden HQ in Västerås, and at CIBS during 2017-18. The research focus of the project is how new technologies are perceived and accepted by users and customers, using linguistic methods of data analysis. More information can be found at RJ’s website, at Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) Felxit 2015. Life in Northern Norway (2018-2022) 2018, late summer. I acquired new work as Market Scientist at Nofima. Having moved to the county of Troms in August, I’m currently enjoying myself, exploring the island city of Tromsø. From the 1900s, this city became known as Paris of the North due to how the people of Tromsø were exceptionally stylish and sophisticated in contrast to the fishing village preconception that many might have of a city located in the Arctic Circle. In my years in Sweden, I have known Sweden to be called the land of the midnight sun. During the long summer mights, it was beautiful to sit and watch the sun’s languid pendulation between east and west, touching the horizon out at sea before going up again. Northern Norway takes this languid pendulation of the sun to the extreme. It is not only known as the land of the midnight sun, but it is also the land of polar nights and the northern lights. This is my new adventure. And in these lifestyle blog pages, you’ll find my personal thoughts, insights and musings. Cheryl Marie Cordeiro | PhD MSc MA ACADEMIC REFLECTIONS | CV LIFESTYLE BLOG

Tanum World Heritage Site, Tanumshede, Sweden

In Tanum Municipality at the Tanum UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Bohuslän, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

Tanum Municipality is located right between the cities of Gothenburg in Sweden, and Oslo in Norway. It was a late summer’s day driving in Northern Bohuslän that we made a stopover with the car at the Tanum World Heritage Site. The west coast of Sweden makes for very scenic drives, and the area around Sannäsfjorden, where the Tanum rock carvings can be found, is certainly a beautiful place to visit.

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Visiting Arctic Roe of Scandinavia, for a taste of sustainable luxury, Småland, Sweden 2021

Swedish black caviar by Arctic Roe of Scandinavia, AROS, Småland, Sweden. This black caviar comes from the Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser Baerii, in the family Acipenseridae.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

A two-hour drive from the city of Gothenburg took us to Strömnäsbruk in the beautiful region of Småland. I was curious to visit AROS (Arctic Roe of Scandinavia), one of two producers in Sweden of sturgeon black caviar.

Strömnäsbruk is one of many small industrial villages that would be all but forgotten today as watermills went out of fashion for powering up workshops and industries if it wasn’t for creative entrepreneurs. In this case, the robust building of a former paper mill has been repurposed towards rearing Siberian sturgeons in a humane and ecologically sustainable manner. The product is black caviar or the black gold of the Caspian sea, that has all but driven wild sturgeons to extinction.

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Oven baked chicken and farm-to-door, Swedish west coast, Sweden

Oven baked chicken, with chicken sourced from close quarters, Kött på Riktigt, a farm located in Västra Götaland, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

Oven baked chicken in the making, using chicken sourced from a local farm, Kött på Riktigt, Gothenburg, Sweden.

How different can a chicken taste? I wondered as we fingered the options of meat boxes presented to us by Kött på Riktigt. We live in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg, and representatives from the farm, Kött på Riktigt were up and about, taking orders.

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Seven flowers and a Midsummer’s sirloin barbeque, Swedish west coast

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Midsummer 2021

The ritual of The Seven Flowers. Collecting flowers for the table at Midsummer’s, Swedish west coast, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

Going wild with our Midsummer’s menu with grilled ryggbiff and Béarnaise sauce instead of preserved herring.

Sweden’s classic lunch menu when celebrating Midsummer’s is singing and snaps, with a side of preserved herring topped with sour cream. So much so that occational visitors to Sweden think that Helan Går is our national anthem. It isn’t. A few weeks ago, we happily received our order of a meat box sourced from a farm that practices regenerative agriculture, Kött på Riktigt, located in Gothenburg. We could have let the beef mature slightly longer, but we couldn’t wait. So we went a little wild this year with our Midsummer’s menu with ryggbiff or sirloin steak, with a side of Béarnaise sauce.

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Örranaässjön, Nybro kommun, Småland SE May 2021

Slight drizzle in the morning at Lake Örranaässjön, Nybro kommun, Småland in south Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

Örranaässjön is a popular visiting destination for exploring Swedish nature. You can walk, bike and/or canoe. Skiing is popular during the winter months here. You can also set up camp where you find comfortable. If you are in your caravan, there are designated caravan parking lots and amenities right next to the water’s edge. It will be a perfect way to wake up in the mornings while on the road in Sweden.

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Tallhöjdens Hotell, a perfect stopover in Simlångsdalen, between Gothenburg and Kosta, Sweden

A large Thai Buddhist temple deer figure, unintuitively but charmingly adorns a table at the restaurant in Tallhöjdens Hotell, Simlångsdalen, south Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

About 14 km east of Halmstad, in Simlångsdalen, there’s Tallhöjdens Hotell. We found the hotel when taking the E6 at exit 44. We did a little roadtrip between Gothenburg and south of Sweden, and were driving towards Växjö at the time. Although we were not too long on the road, a little over an hour, our morning coffee was beckoning, and we could not resist turning off the road into the inviting hotel parking lot in the early hours of the morning.

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Truffle prosciutto on a savoury chocolate and avocado parfait

This truffle prosciutto topped chocolate avocado parfait was inspired by the three ships of Christopher Colombus, the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria that sailed from Europe to the Americas between 1492 and 1502 in his quest for finding the fountain of chocolate and avocados. And chili.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

Small coincidences of events led to the putting together of this parfait. A few days ago, we were at the local grocers who had on-going, a mini-foodfair at their meat counter. Amongst other bites they offered a taste of their truffle prosciutto which I found nice and interesting.

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At the Captains Table, Stenungsbaden, Swedish west coast, Sweden

At Stenungsbaden Yacht Club, Bohuslän, Swedish west coast, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021

The west coast of Sweden is a summer escape of choice for Swedes. We usually make our way up to Marstrand if we have the drive time, but a little closer to Gothenburg is the drive to Stenungsön. Both routes to either islands are scenic, with opportunities to stopover at small flea markets along the way.

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