20200328 A different bruktbokhandel in Tromsø, Northern Norway

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A Saturday used books haul, Tromsø, Northern Norway.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2020

In the past week, I´ve returned to reading some of Ken Wilber´s works that appear in scientific journal articles. In particular, my favourite paragraph thus far is from an article of his that appeared in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology in 1982, when Wilber unpacks structural analysis and deep structure in cognitive development:

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Saturday morning 14Mar2020. Thoughts on the Nordic Food Lab testings with animal blood in Nordic cuisine

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This dish of slow cooked beef tongue, animal blood and eggs takes on a dark burgundy, dark chocolate colour after cooking. On top, a dollop of setertype smør, a Norwegian butter with 4% salt.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2020

I was in Gothenburg, Sweden, the past weekend, and with Europe now being the epicenter of Covid-19, I´m currently sitting at home in quarantine for 14 days. This weekend, I thought I´d research a familiar but marginalised ingredient in Nordic cuisine – animal blood.

This morning´s food adventure is around the marginalized and forgotten food, animal blood, in Nordic cuisine. Animal blood has a long culinary use in Nordic and European food. Blodpudding / Black Sausage / Sanguinaccio or Biroldo / Blodpølseare all variations of blood sausages that you can find across Europe. In Sweden, blodpudding is eaten fried, with a side of boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam. This dish is absolutely delicious, particularly when fried in lard or butter.

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Semla of the Year 2020 at Ahlströms Konditori, Gothenburg, Sweden

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Settling in at Ahlströms Konditori in Gothenburg, Sweden, for that semla fika.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2020

It’s been a number of years since I stepped into Ahlströms Konditori, one of Gothenburg city’s oldest confectionaries. Here, you’ll find that the late morning crowd consists mostly retired elderly individuals. They sit, absorbed in their own worlds, and read the news in a scene that could come from any early 1900 Paris café postcard. It´s a beautiful scene to observe. The atmosphere at Ahlströms is languid but very much cheerful. The city’s local newspapers have done their annual semlor best-in-test for 2020, and Ahlströms won top-3 for serving up the city’s best semlor.

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Duck eggs from Lofoten. Sunday breakfast, Tromsø, Norway, Mar.2020

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Duck eggs from Aimee´s Farm in Lofoten, each dated on the day they were picked.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2020

Last Friday (28/02) was farmer´s market evening at Tromsdalen in northern Norway. Farmers from the surrounding region, from Balsfjord to a little farther south, Moskenes, gather in Tromsø to sell and distribute their products. At this small make-shift market, you´ll find traditional Norwegian smoked salmon, farm made yoghurt, eggs and various cuts of meats from lamb, sheep, cow and pigs. I noted that one farm, Aimee´s Farm (located in Lofoten), had duck eggs for sale. My eyes lit at the information.

In Singapore, salted duck eggs are served together with Teochew porridge and salted duck egg yolks are used in custard to fill soft steamed buns as well as the mid-autumn festival staple, mooncakes. The last I remember eating a duck egg was when I was a little girl back in Singapore. So I could not help but jump at the opportunity to purchase 30 of them. I was totally curious about the flavour profile of duck eggs compared to chicken eggs.

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The lunar new year sequin dress dance 2020

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Dancing to Súbeme La Radio by Enrique Iglesias. The song was released 24 February 2017 by the label RCA‎ Sony Latin.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2020

This weekend marks one of several Lunar New Year celebrations across the Far East and Southeast-Asia. The Chinese Spring Festival was celebrated this year on 25 Jan., ushering in the Year of the Rat, with 15 days of celebrations in China. In Singapore, it is most likely one of the rare times of year where Chinese food stalls at hawker-centres and food courts are closed.

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New Year’s Eve 2020, Styrsö, Sweden

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Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2019

My reads of interest have for some years now, revolved around unified theories, amongst which are Integral Theory by Ken Wilber, the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, UTAUT by Viswanath Venkatesh et al. and general systems theory, GST from Ludwig von Bertalanffy, whose ideas were carried forward, amongst others, by Fritjof Capra. The turning point of curiosity on this new year’s eve is the realization that systems theories are too, inherently axiomatic and as such, need a system or unified foundation of their own.

This evening’s read and reflection comes from a 2015 paper written by Cabrera et al. [1] A unifying theory of systems thinking with psychosocial applications in which the authors address the very challenge of how the field of systems thinking is intrinsically methodologically plural. Pluralism is the result of the processes of diversification, specailization and differentiation in scientific innovation over time. In this context, plurality of methods and plurality of interpretations both create and perpetuate each other, emerging and growing as fractals. How then to reconcile universalism and pluralism?

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Evening by the window

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Chewie
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson & CM Cordeiro 2019

He does this sometimes. Sits by the window, watches the evening go by. He´s a very tall, long limbed Maine Coon, born in Northern Norway, 8 years old, almost 9 years old now, and weighs in ca. 8 kgs. He now lives along the Swedish west coast at Styrsö. He´s darling.

Zucchero Guantanamera (Guajira)

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Some people think that the summer’s polar light, when there is sunshine the whole day – and night – is great. But me, I look forward to the winter’s polar light, where you can get a proper night’s sleep, when no sunlight is peeping in anywhere during the night – or day – and it is feeling just like Christmas all the time. It is not completely dark, the sky lit in a magic blue. If something, the colour of the night sky between November and January reminds me of the Grotta Azzurra in Capri, Italy. In Tromsø where I currently live and work the winter polar light is called Mörkertid. It begins this year on November 28 and the sun will not rise over the horizon before January 15 next year. Yay!