Swedish west coast Harbour Festival, Donsö 2011

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, Donsö Hamnfest 2011.

The perfect weekend thing to do – picking up both old and new finds at the annual Donsö Harbour Festival in the Swedish west coast archipelago of Gothenburg.
Photos JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011

There’s a distinct feel in the air in the past week that the summer that has lingered through the months of July and now August, is beginning to wind down. Though the air is still warm, there’s a chill in the evening breeze that indicate the cold weather that is to come from end of November, carrying on with the months thereafter.

So what better time of the year than right now to celebrate with a little Harbour Festival at Donsö, in the Southern Archipelago of Gothenburg?

Just about 16 km south of the city of Gothenburg, Donsö is one of the larger islands. With its about 1,500 inhabitants, Donsö is a lively community with a bustling business of shipping and ship owning and whatever services else needed to keep a modern business community going. While it is today a part of the Gothenburg municipality of Sweden, until 1974 it was a municipality of its own together with Styrsö and the neighboring islands in the archipelago.
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Swedish west coast inspirations in ceramic form

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro Vävra Keramik II 098

Sitting with some of my favourite items made by Helen Kainert at her boutique studio, Vävra Keramik that is located just before Marstrand along the Swedish westcoast.
JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro Nilsson © 2011

Driving along the Swedish westcoast in the area of Kungälv towards Marstrand from Gothenburg, a red house with two flags at its door post with a friendly sign that said ‘pottery works’ loomed large, and we couldn’t help but pull into its sand filled driveway to check-out the creative assortment of ceramic pottery works inside, meeting with owner and artist herself, Helen Kainert.
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Långedrag Värdshus at Talatta

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Långedrag Värdshus

Beautiful dining even on a grey day…Långedrag Värdshus, Talattagatan, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Photo: C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2011

There’s something about lunch dining in the middle of a busy week at Långedrag Värdshus that puts a spring in your step regardless of the weather or the agenda for the day you have to deal with.

The location is one of the most significant in the history of the industrialized Gothenburg, being the location of the most famous of all pleasure sailing societies of the late 19th century where the rich burghers sought to gain some of the sun and fresh air that was not found inside of their dark, stale city offices.

The idyllic seaside location of the restaurant and the meandering drive from the city center of Gothenburg, out to the tip of land that connects land with the southern archipelago, literally relaxes both spirit and mind. Greeted by sea breeze on your cheeks as soon as you’re out of the car, the smell of the sea, warm coloured wooden panels of the building and billowing white and cream coloured chiffon curtains, for a brief hour or so, you’re transported to a Nordic Tiamo and can disconnect from your hectic day’s schedule. Here, you can mentally cast loose and set sail out in the open sea, trading in your daily chores towards the fierce competition of a sailing regatta of days gone by.
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The Biotech Center, Gothenburg, Sweden

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Biotech Center, Gothenburg, Sweden, Green Lift.

View from the Green Lift of the Biotech Center, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Photo: C M Cordeiro-Nilsson and PO Larsson © 2011

The Biotech Center in Gothenburg was designed by Per Henrik Johansson at Liljewall Arkitekter ab as a part of the Sahlgrenska Science Park of the city. It is in fact one of my favourite modern buildings in the city of Gothenburg because this building, that houses mostly biotechnology and innovation companies, is to me the very concrete extension of innovative design and architecture.

Since its opening in 2004, it has become today, a star attraction to many of our visitors who come from abroad, of which its most interesting features are reflected in this article in Arkitektur 4:2004 (Pdf file 4.8Mb), in a journal on architecture that describes in greater detail, the Biotech Center project.
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Passionate about food, a walk through Passion för Mat 2011, iGothenburg, Sweden

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Leif Mannerström testing homemade ice-cream.

The Grand Old Man of Western Swedish Gastronomy and Guide Micheline star Chef Leif Mannerström gives the thumbs up of one of the new flavours at the Österhagens ice-cream stall. No surprise perhaps. Stig’s and Inger’s efforts are well known, and recognized by Diplomas of Execellence awarded by the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy in 2008 and by the Swedish Academy of Gastronomy in 2010.

Adding the last touches, ahead of opening

Vintage 1960 van crowd puller, used for serving coffee.

Early Friday morning the staff at the Swedish Coffee house Löfbergs Lila were adding the last touches to their stall. Besides coffee, they feature a vintage 1960 French delivery truck with forward opening “girl catching” doors, painted in their corporate colors and rebuilt into a coffee van. Together with the smell of freshly brewed coffee samples, nothing beats this as a crowd puller.
Photo © JE Nilsson for CMC 2011

Yesterday, Friday the 25th of February, 2011 – the forth installment of the food fair Passion för Mat 2011 at Eriksbergshallen in Gothenburg opened its gates for the expectant crowds.

This particular food fair is a crowd pleaser in that its exhibitors are overwhelmingly generous with giving out samples of most everything displayed to be sold.

I had arrived well ahead of opening hours this first day, since I had planned to help some at the booth of the Western Swedish Academy of Gastronomy friends organization. The steady paced group of exhibitors – bright, friendly and enthusiastic – are so passionate about what they do that it’s a joy to be there. Taking my time, I strolled around the expansive hall to say hello to friendly faces who like me, were adding a last few touches to their stalls.

One of the trends today in upscale dining is that the food comes with a story. The produce should be grown as close to the consumption as possible. Both in time and geography. The fish should ideally be alive when it goes into the pot and as one Chef puts it, if we push this just a little bit further, people will need to bite into the cow in the barnyard. So, people here know what they are selling. If they hadn’t baked, cooked or canned everything themselves, they at least knew those who did.

After grabbing a coffee from the remarkably attention grabbing purple vintage 1960 van at the Löfbergs Lila stand, I wandered on.
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Meet-up with old friends in Stockholm

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson at Stockholm's östasiatiska Museet, the East Asian Museum, Stockholm.

At the Östasiatiska Museet, Stockholm.
Photo © JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2011

The Terracotta Army Exhibition currently ongoing at the Östasiatiska Museet in Stockholm plus girlfriends in town and a love for long drives all provided excellent reasons for a cross country weekend getaway from Gothenburg to Stockholm. Whichever way you choose to travel between the two largest cities of Sweden, the time needed is about half a day. If you can flash the corporate plastic and use a cab for the transfers, travelling by air is of course the best.

If you have plans to visit a number of places as we did, and like the freedom, a car ride is worth considering.

There is surprisingly enough, no expressways between Gothenburg and Stockholm but rather three choices of roads. One pretty much okay in terms of speed (E4), one decent (E20) and one, lets be polite and say – scenic – road (E45/E18). Being in no particular hurry we of course chose the last one for the leg up, while the return trip home was made on the E4. The former being an interesting route through a snow blanketed provincial Swedish landscape and the E4 with a few exceptions around the Lake Vättern, pretty much one long stretch of asphalt.

We made it to the Östasiatiska Museet early on Sunday to avoid the mid-day crowds. This exhibition which shows a number of pieces never before exhibited outside of China has so far turned out to be a great success, not in the least because of the fact that the museum managed to make accessible and use some formerly secret military caverns just under it for this exhibition, but the sensation of actually meeting with these lifesized figures – underground – where they were actually meant to be, gives an eerie aspect to the entire experience of it all, where you now and again catch yourself making sure that the figures are actually standing still.
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The Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg – and the tiger economy of Sweden

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The Swedish East India Götheborg III was launched in 2003, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

In 2003, launching of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III
Photo © JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2003-2011

My personal involvement in the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III project was so early that I had not myself realized it back then. In the project newspaper GotheborgsPosten that was distributed in 360,000 copies throughout the entire western Sweden in 1996, it was outlined that one of the research objectives that would be targeted was Swedish-Chinese Business Communication. The Professor that in 2003 would arrange for me to receive the Anna Ahrenberg Research Funding Scholarship to help me start a PhD research (graduated in 2009) in doing precisely that, was interviewed. Strange indeed are the paths of life. Today, I go off to work everyday by ferry straight across Wargö Håla, the historic departure point of the Swedish East Indiamen in the western Swedish archipelago. In fact the house in which we live features one of the ship’s actual water provision wells in our very garden.

Currently at work, at the University of Gothenburg School of Executive Education AB, prevalent topics of discussion circle around Swedish-Chinese business relations and the future of work prospects with Sweden’s competitive growing economy that earned acknowledged nods from Swedish leaders, specifically that of its Finance Minister, Anders Borg, of the country being a Nordic tiger economy (ref. Di, DagensPS and Epoch Times). All this showing that the Swedish East Indiaman still has a relevant role to play, more so today than ever in its importance of growing global contacts. Its shared goodwill initially created by the East Indiaman Project is everywhere present.

In the media recently, a passionate discussion has arisen about what to do with the ship, now when its initiating ideas have been completed – the ship built and it has traveled to China and back. What now?

Many suggestions including turning it into a museum, an amusement park and why not – firewood – have come forth. Personally not even at today’s energy prices does the idea of firewood sound very brilliant.

Eventually, the original Founders of the project have chosen to step forth, and in this weekend’s local newspaper GP, have briefly presented their views of how the ship could continue to earn its keep and do much more than that.

The following article were published in GP, in January 22, 2011, as part of the ongoing debate about the future of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III ship.

H.R.H. the King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden disembark the Goteborg III and officially set foot on Chinese soil.

H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia, disembark the Gotheborg III in Canton, China, 2006.

From the point of view of Anders Wästfelt and the Think Tank Gotheborg, the ship is far from done sailing:

In view of the past few days defensive debate in the media and our City Council, on the future of the East Indiaman Gotheborg, it is time to lift our eyes beyond the horizon. In the right hands the Götheborg III – our ship – is a regional and national asset with huge potential.

She has great future tasks, functioning as a symbol of our community, an inspiration for continued work and as a source of financial revenues. She is well-built and with proper maintenance, she can sail for another 20-30 years.

The project to build a replica of the 1700s Swedish East Indiaman began in 1992 as a private initiative. It was well thought through and enjoyed the support of international shipbuilding expertise, the best marketing specialists, lawyers, economists, politicians, sinologists, university faculties as well as members of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Trade Council.

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A winter’s day at noon, in Sweden

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Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson mink fur and pleated skirt, both made in Canada.

Sweden’s position near the arctic polar circle makes the days short during winter and the sun just barely makes it above the horizon. Soaking up some sun beams in our garden. A useful outfit in this weather, a Canadian mink jacket and pleated red wool skirt.
Photo © JE Nilsson and C M Cordeiro-Nilsson for CMC 2011

I first visited Sweden during some winter months about a decade ago – imagine how time passes – and my first observation was that walking on water was not by far as difficult as that of my Catholic upbringing had led me to believe. You just needed to wait until it was frozen. Today work and travel make it difficult to find much time to spend in the nature during daytime. A few moments of crystal clear sky and crisp winter air just a few degrees below zero centigrade, was some of the more enjoyable moments of this weekend.

Sweden’s position near the arctic polar circle makes the days short during winter and the sun just barely makes it above the horizon, before it apparently a bit sleepy, drops back down again and leaves us with a long arctic night. No wonder the Vikings felt a mid-winter sacrifice – and a party – were needed to cheer things up.

Even in Asia, at the end of January, the East celebrates the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year some shops in Singapore will even go the length of closing their doors a few days to welcome the festive echoes of Lion Dances rippling across the country in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit. Also a ‘sacrifice’ of some sort.
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Swedish Lucia in Singapore

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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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Christmas Table at Råda Säteri 2010

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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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