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

A Swedish lemon cardamon sockerkaka or sugar cake

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Lemon cardamon sockerkaka

Sockerkaka or Sugar Cake, is one of Sweden’s most popular cakes to serve, whether at tea or birthdays.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

It’s difficult to forget the things that you’ve grown up with, such as the blue pleated pinafore, walking through void decks, eating potong ice-cream bought from the streets, and having HDB heartland bakery butter sponge cakes when you want them. Oh! What it is to have a sponge cake or a chocolate cake when you need it in Sweden!

And when in need of a sponge cake fix today, I fingered the bookshelves in the pantry and landed upon some traditional Swedish recipes for cakes. My favourite book being this lightweight, Sju Sorters Kakor or Swedish Cakes and Cookies that has now been translated into English by Melody Favish.
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Gravlax – Swedish food in the raw

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Gravlax sandwich

This Swedish specialty – the salt, sugar and dill cured salmon – these days internationally known under its original Swedish name gravlax or gravad lax, is served with a dill and mustard sauce and is prepared completely without any actual cooking.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Reading up on the latest food trends, I see that the Californian raw food is getting back in the cool stream of things with the idea of no heat, no cooking. The concept is today, spreading as an ecological trend and with the addition of ‘raw’ as in unrefined and unpolished that refers to back to basic foods. Like raw elk. With the horns on. Or, at least that was how I initially read it, and was admittedly not very impressed.

Personally I appreciate gourmet cooking as the ultimate in good handicraft and I see no point in flairs, fashions and useless embellishments. I have eaten my share of culinary creations that don’t taste good and combinations of flavours that just don’t work together, and have a healthy appreciation for the chefs that actually know what they are cooking, and don’t just combine textures and colours on a whim.

That we ever got stuck with the useless aspects of gourmet cooking is actually the fault of numerous cooking competitions where taste is only judged as one of several aspects of good cooking and not even the most important. In my view, taste should be ranked appropriately much higher than for example, the even thickness of slices or whether the display table has four equal legs.

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Travel staples: Ferragamo Vara and Hélène Rancé 1795

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Ferragamo Vara pumps, Hélène Rancé 1975 eau de parfum, Chanel 2.55

Ferragamo Vara pumps in nude beige and a small bottle of Rancé 1795 Hélène eau de parfum
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

When it comes to packing for my travels nowadays the ideal for me is to go very light. If I could get away with a pair of pants and a skirt for three weeks abroad on business with some alternative tops, I would certainly go for that.

But this isn’t all that easy if the countries that you’re going to range widely in terms of temperatures as in winter in Sweden, autumn in China, and humid tropical weather, in Singapore.
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Trying out the Inova

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After an interesting seminar on potatoes organized by the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, Sweden, we decided to do some research on our own …
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

There are so many basic things in life that one take as given, that one should just “know”. Like walk, know that water is wet and that the sun is warm, and in the western hemisphere – how to cook potatoes.

Eventually when you look deeper into things you might find that it is not that easy at all. At a recent restaurant professionals’ seminar on potatoes which I attended mostly out of curiosity, we eventually brought home a whole box of a variety called Inova. An early winter, firm cooking potato that in the testing sessions just struck me as unusually good tasting, with a full, sweet round and lacking a better word, “buttery” flavor.

Then we set out to try out how this Inova would turn out in home cooking. When talking to the “potato guru” Dan Berntsson, we had felt that the Inova despite being a fairly firm cooking kind, might be just the right thing for a gratin, which according to regular wisdom instead should be made from a soft boiling variety such as a King Edward VII.
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Meeting with Dan Berntsson, the “Potato-Guru”

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Dan Berntsson, Potato Masterclass lecture.

Dan Berntsson, giving a lecture at the Potato Master Class organized by the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, Sweden.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

The weekend’s culinary adventure was directed towards one of the most common staple root vegetables in the world, the potato. Admittedly, when the Invite to a Master Class on Potatoes by Sweden’s foremost expert on potatoes, Dan Berntsson, landed in the mailbox, I wasn’t exactly all fired up in terms of enthusiasm, but I’m always one for new adventures, so I signed up. As it turned out, there was a lot to learn about potatoes, in fact, much more fact and information than one could process in the four hours allotted to class.
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Autumn blues in Filippa K and Isabel Benenato

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Filippa K dress, Louis Vuitton Suhali L'Impétueux 2.

Autumn outfit: dress is by Swedish designer Filippa K and wool shawl by Naples born Italian designer Isabel Benenato.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

These pictures were taken a few days ago, after which the Swedish west coast turned grey, stormy and with winds so strong the trees needed effort to stay rooted and keep their last red-gold leaves of the season, if not only for decorating themselves.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Isabel Benenato wool wrap shawl, back.

The green fabric belt with gold buckles in the outfit is a find from a vintage store here in Sweden.

From the pictures, you’ll also see the characteristic colours of autumn displayed in yellows, browns, reds and gold. The low rays of the sun at this time of year helps cast an over glow of gold on everything it touches. There are however, other complementary colours of autumn that we see here in Scandinavia, particularly in Swedish design houses such as Filippa K that favour shades of beige, grey, blue and black for autumn as shown in their Autumn 2010 Lookbook, with some exceptions, the sheer gathered dress I’m wearing can be found in lilac.
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Autumn pears

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pearl_blog

Mature Camembert cheese, Conference pear with a dollop of homemade boysenberry marmalade.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

One of the things I like most about autumn is that it is harvest time for so many of the nice things I have seen growing over the summer, from the fresh green leaf sprouts of the spring, to the happy flowers of early summer and then finally the fresh fruit presented clean, crisp and straight from the tree!

A last harvest celebration before the winter!

Chanterelle forest gold

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fresh

The golden Chanterelle – meaty, fragrant and perfect in a dollop of butter and cream!
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

There is in particular one mushroom in Sweden that is most popular with amateur mushroom pickers – the Chanterelle mushroom. This yellow-gold treat of a fungus is freely available in the forests during autumn for anyone who bothers to go out to find it, and for the less adventurous of us, it’s available at the wet markets and in the grocery stores for purchase.

Autumn is the season of Chanterelles, where you can find them lying hidden and camouflaged among the piles of fallen autumn leaves. Deliciously edible, this mushroom is easily recognizable by its rich yellow colour, its flat umbrella top, long ribbed stem and characteristic fragrance of something in-between flowers and forest after rain.
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Apple Sauce – from garden to table

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Colours of autumn, Sweden.

Colours of autumn in Sweden.
Photo © J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

In a highly automated and globalized world where standards of living seem to be continuously improving, where ‘organic’, ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘sustainable’ are key words in today’s food industry, it’s surprising how far we’ve come from the basics of growing and cooking the food that we consume.

It’s much easier for example to head off to the grocery store and from there, choose from an array of produce to buy and bring home, than to harvest the very same produce from the garden or soil – lack of space, lack of time, too much city life, too many working hours etc. – there are countless valid reasons for our choices and why it is so difficult to have our food straight from the garden, sans chemical pesticides, sans chemical food preserving processes and packaging.

The Picking

But with not so much the concept of sustainability in mind, rather as time spent on something I enjoy doing in my spare time come autumn, and what makes the little happy moments in life, I went apple picking today in a charming and rustic Swedish garden with the aim of making some homemade apple sauce!

Rustic garden, Sweden.

Swedish rustic charm.

This garden comes as part of an old house built during the 1800s along the Swedish west coast. Tucked away in a little niche corner of a narrow, winding road, it was almost surreal, driving up the path, under apple boughs to reach the center of the garden that was washed golden with low rays of the morning Nordic sun in autumn.

Red Ingrid Marie Swedish apples

Red Ingrid Marie Swedish apples.

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, apple picking, autumn, Sweden 2010.

The garden had basically two varieties of Swedish apples, the small red and attractive Ingrid Marie and the green golden Signe Tillisch. These varieties are in contrast to a previous autumn picking of Gravensteins.

The Ingrid Marie is named after the daughter of the teacher, K. Madsen, who once found the tree on Westfyn island in Denmark. A small tree grew, probably from the seedlings of a Cox’s Orange, among the raspberry plants. This incident happened around 1910 and today, the Ingrid Marie is one of the most widely grown varieties in Sweden. The trees though hardy, still prefer warmer locations to grow and the apples are instantly recognizable when encountered due to its distinct size, shape and a colour of quite bright red. Some Swedes would deem this one of the best varieties of Swedish apples to be eaten as a dessert apple, baked in cakes, pies and stews. These apples keep till January.
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