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 taste of ancient Maya and Aztec Mexico in Casa Latina, Singapore

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson, Azul Osman Ogazon and Janice Lee at Casa Latina, Singapore

In the Colours of Mexico!
Photo © JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

I think my experiences with Mexican food prior to Casa Latina in Singapore, with the girls Azul and Janice, were mostly American Tex-Mex style limited to tacos, salsa, guacamole, tortillas, quesadillas and tequilas! Azul herself is from Mexico City, having lived in Singapore for some years now, and I couldn’t be happier or more grateful for this excursion on Mexcian culture via food when she introduced us to some Mexican fare right here in Singapore! And recently in November of 2010, Mexican cuisine was added by UNESCO to the list of world’s “intangible cultural heritage”.
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La Vie En Rose at The Astor House Hotel, Shanghai

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson, at La Vie En Rose, the Astor House Hotel, along the Bund, Shanghai.

Breakfast at La Vie En Rose, the Astor House Hotel in Shanghai, along the Bund.
Photo © Yina Huang, P O Larsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2010

Every New Year most people will find themselves writing new resolutions for the year ahead – a healthier year ahead, a more successful year ahead, new goals to be attained or renewed interests in old goals previously unattained – but for me, as 2010 passes and this night welcomes 2011, I can’t help but go back to what has been there for a very long time. A time when I was growing up, of photographs now a natural sepia in family albums.

One such place where time has seemingly stood still, and which now come to mind from my travels in the past year is The Astor House Hotel along the Bund in Shanghai.
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An Italian Saturday lunch, in Singapore

Janice Lee, Azul Ogazon, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson, La Braceria, Singapore.

The Girls!
Janice, Azul and Cheryl at La Braceria, Singapore.

Kevin D Cordeiro, Julie Choo, J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

In the past month of December 2010, I had the pleasure of organizing an executive education program delivered in Singapore for the Asian wing of a large Swedish multinational. The three moduled program that launched in Singapore focuses on the topic of Doing Business in Asia and the Singapore module in particular, focused on the Challenges of Leadership.
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Christmas food in Sweden and Singapore

Christmas ham, honey mustard baked.

Honey mustard baked Christmas ham, fresh out of the oven. Nowadays this is the centerpiece of most Swedish Christmas tables. I olden times, this place was taken by a complete, baked pig’s head with a red apple in the mouth.
J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

While living mostly in Sweden when the opportunity presents itself I occasionally find myself back in Singapore to celebrate the festive season with parents and relatives. On these occasions even solid institutions such as Christmas celebrations and the types of food put out on the Christmas table, becomes a mixture of what we all love the most of the Nordic and the Singaporean Eurasian traditions.

The Swedish “Christmas” table has its roots in old Viking mid-winter sacrifice rituals or even older than that. Then a few centuries ago the East India trade brought the Swedes to South East Asia over the Christmas where they had to wait for the monsoon winds to change before it would bring them back to the North, and today I found the traditional Nordic Christmas ham dressed up to look like a tropical pineapple fruit. Coincidence or not, traditions are built up over time to somehow keep long lost memories alive and who knows what people long after us, will have on their Christmas Mid winter tables. Chicken Mc Nugget?

Here are anyway a few pictures from my Christmas in my two homes, in Sweden, and in Singapore.
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Il Borro Wine Dinner with Salvatore Ferragamo, Singapore

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Salvatore Ferragamo

At the “Il Borro Wine Dinner with Salvatore Ferragamo”.
Salvatore Ferragamo and Cheryl Marie Cordeiro,
Ristorante Bologna, Marina Mandarin, Singapore.

Text & Photo © J. Lim and CM Cordeiro-Nilsson 2010

It was an evening of intrigue, to wine and dine in the combined master efforts of the Family Ferragamo, prior to this evening, better known to me for their craftsmanship in shoemaking than wine making, and Chef Carlo Marengoni of Ristorante Bologna at the Marina Mandarin in Singapore.

The evening’s conversation, despite the rounds of wines, revolved around the internationalisation of small niche businesses, such as the Il Borro portfolio of wines. And as I found out in conversation with both Salvatore Ferragamo and Franco Russo, who is the Sales and Marketing Director of Il Borro wines, the intention was to move towards an integrated experience of a luxury culinary tourism. Previously, wines were brought into dinner for just that specific context and event. Not much was explained about its background and where it came from, rather the focus was more on the wine making processes and the taste of it as set on the table. The aromas, flavours and tones were then strictly marked on a scorecard and the wine ranked according to the panel of diners that evening. Continue reading “Il Borro Wine Dinner with Salvatore Ferragamo, Singapore”

Swedish Lucia in Singapore

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson, SBAS julbord in Singapore.

Choice of dress for the evening, a gold champagne gown by my good friend and favourite designer Francis Louis Ler of Amor Meus, 36 Purvis Street in Singapore.
J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

The one thing that strikes you when you land coming into Singapore from the Swedish west coast which is right now experiencing one of its coldest winters in a century at -11 C and several inches of snow, is the wall of humidity and the tropical warmth that surrounds your very being. I was instantly relieved and even reveled in the tropical thunderstorm that greeted me when touching down in Singapore.

But as events go, I was not going to miss Sweden this Christmas because I was just in time for the Swedish Business Association of Singapore (SBAS) to host their annual Julbord and celebration of Saint Lucia.
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The ultimate hot chocolate milk

cup and candle

The ultimate chocolate milk.
J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

My pursuit of the perfect chocolate milk has a long history. Over the years in Singapore, I visited coffeeshops, kopitiams and cafés and ranked what I found as best, second and runners-up like best National, Most Photogenic, and one, well, for Congeniality.

Then a few years ago we visited the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London. I don’t know how you feel about modern art. Personally I have a difficult relation to it since I seem to be a bit overly sensitive to strong visual communication, or maybe I get distressed about people getting paid for pouring garbage on the floor, or spilling paint on a canvas.  Eitherway, my unfortunate disposition has also made me spend quite some time in various museum cafés when I need, hot chocolate.

Among these the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London has a special place in my heart. Their exhibitions are filled with visually strong pieces of art that could well emotionally pass as an alternative to one of those really insane roller coaster rides that tosses you upside down in mid-air and then eventually leave you hanging there head down due to some malfunction of the machinery. They are all there, Francis Bacon, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhole, you name it. A virtual crash course in mass communication and visualizations of strong and complicated ideas.

So, after a quick look around I made it to the café and in an attempt to make my stomach calm down I ordered a Hot Cup of Chocolate.

The place is called Café 2 and is actually a recent winner of the Time Out Eating & Drinking Award as the Best Family Restaurant. It is at Level 2, overlooking the Thames riverside.
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Winter’s evening indulgence

However much we love cooking, the purpose is eventually always to get to relax a bit and to enjoy a nice meal in pleasant company. Maybe to round off a hard day’s work with a small indulgence. Luckily this could equally well be accomplished without more work than it takes to drizzle a few drops of acacia honey on top of a nice Italian hard cheese, pour the wine …

cheese_indulgence

Testun al Barolo and Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, 2006.
J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

… and say, Hi, you are invited down to the kitchen, to your loved ones.

Choice of cheese: Testun al Barolo, an interesting hard cow’s milk Pecorino cheese from Piemonte in northern Italy. It is matured for six months and then covered with nebbiolo grapes and matured for one more month in Barolo wine oak caskets. It’s texture is a little grainy and the cheese as such has soaked up quite an interesting flavour from the dried grapes.

Choice of wine: Tommasi Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, 2006. I don’t know your taste in wine and this choice could of course be debated. Amarone is a special kind of wine and many of those who have known wine from Valpolicella being something of a joke among wine connoisseurs, love this underdog region being able to get back at the critics by successfully reviving a technique that stems from the days of the Roman empire, and makes the critics eat their words.

It’s fun and it does work brilliantly with certain kinds of food. The thing with this wine is that it changes it’s face over a few hours, from when you open the bottle. I would say the wine fits with most anything at some occasion during its lifespan. Somewhere in the middle I think I would even like to try it with fish. However, the purpose of it all is to have a good time and this Amarone certainly makes for good company.

How did it work out with the cheese? Well, honestly, who am I to decide that? If I need to say something I would say that to me, the combination felt like a big hug by a large family meeting up a cold day in front of the fire place. There are good times and there are bad times, but in the midst of it all, you know you all belong.

Christmas Table at Råda Säteri 2010

Krister Dahl, executive chef of Råda Säteri.

With the Swedish Olympic Culinary Team Captain, Krister Dahl, presenting his version of a traditional Swedish Christmas Table at Råda Säteri.
J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

Previous years we had chosen to have our traditional Swedish Julbord 2007, 2008 and 2009 at Leif Mannerströms Sjömagasinet focusing very much on the produce of the sea, but this year we were looking for something different.

Admittedly it was the persistent recommendation from friends, and our own curiosity of how one of the greatest names we have in the Swedish food competitive world would deal with something as traditional as a Swedish Christmas table, that this year made us make way out to the old mansion of Råda Säteri, just outside of Gothenburg.

The Säteri itself is a large manor that dates back to 1772 while the history of the place as such dates back to Medieval times. Enlivened with expectations, we made our way there through the thick snowfall, that cloaked the lands creating a pristinely white Christmas landscape.
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Second Advent – Visiting Christmas Markets in Gothenburg, Sweden 2010

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson, Christmas Marketing at Haga, 2010.

Standing in the cobbled streets of the Haga district
Christmas market in Gothenburg, Sweden.

J E Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2010

During the whole of December many streets and squares in Gothenburg are turned into Christmas markets with numerous small food and handicrafts fairs, where the emphasis is on the old-fashioned, the homemade and the genuine.

The opportunity is also taken by many historical societies to show off their gear.

Since Sweden is a very secular country, traditional Christian nativity scenes are almost conspicuously absent while the emphasis is on memories of times – and Christmases – long gone.
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