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

The Cinderella Diamond Ring

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‘The World’s First Diamond Ring’ by Shawish Jewellery, Geneva.
Text © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Anyone with a latent interest for absurdly expensive things would have noted the Shawesh brothers of the the Swiss Shawish Jewellery company unveil their 150 carat laser-cut ‘all diamond’ ring at the recent prestigious BASELWORLD watch and jewellery event in Zürich, 2012. Their actions, at a time when world news is dismal with civil unrest and a massive earthquake hitting Indonesia, that brings forth uncomfortable memories, in a stroke of genius in their world, re-defined the concept of something as superfluous as a ‘diamond ring’.

Even with modern techniques, the cutting and polishing of a regular diamond crystal would result in approximately 50% loss of its weight. With this ring from Shawish Geneva the staggering weight loss in itself would break the hearts of many brides-to-be.

But therein lies the very definition of luxury from the point of view of the surreal.
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From west Sweden to northwest Italy: Swedish Mussel soup with a touch of Italian Vermentino from Liguria

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Creamy west Swedish blue mussel soup laced with Vermentino an Italian white wine – a toast and celebration of the friendly relations between Sweden and Italy – whether at a Swedish Royal gala dinner for trade or in more politically shared interests regarding developments in the Middle East organized at the Second Aspen Bosphorus Dialogue Conference by the Aspen Institute Italia, 2-3 March 2012.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

It was after work and I had my mind on the topics covered at a recent seminar held at the Aspen Institute Italia on Leadership, Globalization and the Quest for Common Values held earlier in March 2012 in beautiful and panoramic Cernobbio nonetheless, where ideas were exchanged on leadership for the twenty-first century. Just 40 km north of Milan, Cernobbio is the city that is home to the luxury hotel Villa d’Este that sits along the shores of Lake Como. The city was also host to a seminar that allowed for various interpretations to be heard on the complexities of leadership in the modern, globalized world and how tensions in leadership could be addressed.

Half absent in mind at the wet market, I scanned flittingly over the different types of raw seafood that west Sweden is so well known for when my eyes came to settle on some very lovely blue mussels.
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Swedish west coast winds that set sails luffing!

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Wearing mostly vintage. Arden B. knitted top, vintage nautical belt and white cotton skirt with hand embroidered florals, also vintage.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

Windy! Typical at this time of year along the Swedish west coast, though nowhere near warm…The glow of the sun – thoroughly inviting!
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The Swedish culture of denial

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For the part of the world who have found it a point to notice that there is such a country as Sweden – at some distance easily mixed up with Switzerland – Sweden might appear as somewhat of an ideal state of equality, untroubled by racial riots and religious taboos.

On close encounter a different picture emerges that speaks about a state of denial that have grown into a culture of its own. In a time when globalization is increasingly becoming a non-issue, when through the Internet Syria is as close as Malmö, this phenomenon might become a problem. The problem, being that the wider meaning of the word ‘culture’ in Sweden has been obscured and cemented into oblivion so much that there are almost no words there to talk about the fact that values, beliefs, religions and various ideas about what is right or wrong are different in different parts of the world.

Defining culture

In the early 2000s when I began to prepare my research for my doctoral thesis in the field of managing across cultures and leadership across cultures, it appeared that almost every author touching upon the topic of culture had come up with a definition of their own. Already during the 1950s, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn had compiled a list of 164 definitions. The definitions spanned fine arts and humanities, pattern of human knowledge, beliefs and behavior, shared attitudes, values, goals and practices. Everything from cultivating small societies of bacteria in a Petri dish to my favourite, Geert Hofstede, who defined culture as a ‘collective programming of the mind’. It appeared that the only common ground was the agreement that there was such a thing as culture and in its broader sense all were the creations of man to fit in between them and what was given by nature to make just about any place on earth inhabitable. Thus, of course, any “culture” would vary with the places and be whatever served its purpose best at that place.

This wider definition made for three simple observations:

  1. There is such a thing as culture
  2. They vary with their geographical location
  3. Their usefulness will vary since what is useful in one place will be plain stupid in another

What we arrive at in the most secular country in the world is however, the contradiction that the Swedes do not believe in the thesis of Greek philosopher Protagoras, that “man is the measure of all things” but would much rather go with the Old Testament’s belief in absolute truths, that what is true to one man is true to all.

When I went on in the course of my research and talked to Swedish top managers about their “management style”, asking if they felt that their ‘style’ would broadly correspond to the “Swedish culture and values” most Swedes would have it that there did not exist any particular Swedish management style, and certainly no framework of a Swedish national culture that influenced this non-existent “Swedish management style”.
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A personal luxury – Raspberry Cardamom ice-cream

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The first ice-cream of the household for 2012 in Spring – Raspberry Cardamom.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

If there ever were a reflected change in values from one generation to the next, in my life, I can find no better example than that of the attitude towards cooking.

In the hierarchic familial structure of the Asian society, the activity of cooking was invariably bound to the social pecking order in the family. Either the eldest, the youngest or the ‘least favoured’ of children was often given the task of cooking for, the usually, large family. Cooking could also be parceled out as a kind of punishment to children, to be ‘kitchen bound’, instead of being allowed to go outdoors to play with your friends after school or worse, on weekends.
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From ground up – the basics of cream and olivine

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Long, smooth and in the intense colour of the gem olivine – extra virgin olive oil from Marina Colonna of Italy, over fresh basil, Langherino and cherry tomatoes.
Text and Photo © JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro 2012

The idea of a ‘fantastic meal’ often conjures images of a decadently large dish of warm, juicy cuts of meat with an appropriate full bodied red wine.

But take this plate of sun ripened cherry tomatoes laid with a generous slice of Langherino from Piedmont Italy, a cow and goat milk cheese that matures into a creamy softness. On top of the cheese in golden olivine, an award winning olive oil from Marina Colonna. Continue reading “From ground up – the basics of cream and olivine” →

The Lamborghini Aventador J, Geneva 2012

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The Lamborghini Aventador J (Photo by GT Spirit) at Geneva 2012.
I could die just looking at it.

I cannot wax more lyrical than Sam Smith who wrote in 2011 about his driving experience with what he called a “hellfire sexplosion” of a car that is the Lamborghini Gallardo in his article at Exhaust Notes.

And this year in Geneva 2012, the Lamborghini Aventador J was unveiled.

Lamborghini Aventador J, back.

At 6.5L with 700 horsepower and its V-12 engine untouched from the Aventador LP700-4 – this piece of blinding passion and desire embodied in a deep glowing lava of metal takes creativity in luxury sports cars to completely unchallenged dimensions that makes the future passé.

The Aventador J is a multi-layered construct of contradictions in practicality and design. Open air and without a hard top, the insides of this superfine piece of engineered art is exposed purposefully to all natural elements and an untold number of bugs, as if in challenge to the Gods themselves, since there is also no windshield to its 217-mph top speed. Thus embodied in its very design, the Aventador J literally forces you to live in all out Italian extreme – all or nothing!

As a metaphor for good leadership, I was once told, “It isn’t enough that you own a Lamborghini. You need to know how to drive it!”, the thoughts resonating with Lamboghini’s own “Every weapon needs a Master!”

Indeed.

Small things make a big difference.
In conversation with Giorgio Lanfranchi, GM of the luxurious Millennium Doha, Qatar.

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Giorgio Lanfranchi (second from Right), General Manager of the Millennium Hotel Doha, with his team receiving the HACCP international food standards certificate in early February 2012.

Giorgio Lanfranchi has had more than thirty years of international experience in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. Born in Italy, his career had taken him across 5 continents working at international 5-star destination companies such as the InterContinental Hotels Group, Kempinski and Four Seasons, that had operations in countries from Switzerland, United Kingdom, Oman, Philippines, India, Egypt and Eritrea. He has been General Manager of the Millennium Hotel Doha since 2008. Millennium Hotel Doha is part of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, one of the world’s largest hotel companies with more than 120 owned and managed hotels across 20 countries. In 2006, he was Knighted for his social and economic commitment in the Tourism Industry by the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano with the honour – Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana.

Text and Photo © JE Nilsson, Giorgio Lanfranchi and CM Cordeiro 2012

Sitting back with coffee in hand, staring out through large glass windows that offer a perfect view of a clear blue sky over an amazing skyline, it is surreal to be in conversation with Giorgio Lanfranchi, General Manager of the Millennium Hotel Doha who sits in the heart of Qatar.

As GM of the luxurious Millennium Doha, Giorgio oversees most every aspect and detail of its daily operations, though perhaps one could say that being Italian and having his family background in food and beverage, it is there that his heart is well placed.

With more than about three hundred staff, and even more so guests walking into the Millennium Doha each month, I asked how it is that he was able to ensure the experience of luxury and exclusivity of each guest to the hotel?
Continue reading “Small things make a big difference.
In conversation with Giorgio Lanfranchi, GM of the luxurious Millennium Doha, Qatar.” →

El Pedregal Porcelana Venezuela, chocolate ganache muffins

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To oblige your senses – a batch of El Pedregal Porcelana Venezuela chocolate ganache muffins.
Text and Photo © CM Cordeiro 2012

It was meant to be a rudimentary mid-week chocolate fix, where this batch of chocolate ganache filled chocolate muffins were made from what I had in my kitchen pantry for chocolate.

But as the kitchen filled with the aroma of the fruit tones of the melting Porcelana chocolate and the swirled spices of cinnamon and cardamom, I soon realized not all chocolate muffins are created equal.

As a crowning sensation of the senses, this batch of muffins were filled with Valrhona El Pedregal Porcelana for chocolate ganache.
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Kokaihop Lounge, Passion för Mat 2012

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro with Anders Jacobsson of Mat.se and Kokaihop.se, the lounge at Passion för Mat 2012.

In as much fun and excitement any trade fair entails, there comes a time in the hours spent when you’d rather find yourself away from the masses, gathered to your own, if even for just a moment.

This year at Passion för Mat 2012, that place would be the Kokaihop Lounge at Hotel 11 that is just across the street from Erikbergshallen where the main fair is ongoing.

Set in a different premise altogether, this private lounge area is a relief of quiet and serenity from the humid and crowded indoors of Erikbergshallen, especially at mid-day.
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