The Midsummer Pole at Styrsö Bratten, Swedish west coast, Sweden 2022.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2022
The summer solstice on 21 June marked the day of maximum sunlight in the northern hemisphere. In Gothenburg, Sweden, these are the days when you can see the rim of the sun lightly touch the horizon and then rise again.
Continue reading “Summer solstice and Midsummer’s Day 2022 Styrsö”
At Flickorna på Färjenäs Café, Karl IX:s väg 1, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2022
Karl IX:s Göteborg is the city of Gothenburg before present day Gothenburg. It was founded in 1603 by Karl IX at Färjestaden on Hisingen with the intention of creating a trading post and an enclave for Dutch naturalized foreigners to the Swedish west coast. The Danes weren’t happy about the idea of a thriving and competing trading post near Denmark, so Karl IX:s Gothenburg was burnt to the ground in 1611. What to do? Well, move the city upstream and build fortresses with as many cannons Denmark facing as possible. That new city upstream is now present day Gothenburg. Power of attorney was given to Dutchman Cornelius Corneliusson on November 9, 1603, to construct the new city of Gothenburg.
Continue reading “Flickorna på Färjenäs, Karl IX:s Göteborg”
New Year’s Eve 2022, postcard.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
This New Year’s Eve, I’m revisiting some pages of my own copy of Ken Wilber’s 2014 book, The Atman Project: A Transpersonal View of Human Development.
I totally enjoy reading books written by Wilber. He is a brilliant mind, and a brilliant scholar with a wonderful sense of humour. He is also superb at synthesizing theories and thought models of transpersonal psychology, human knowledge and behaviour.
So instead of the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, of Everything being 42. I would just as well go for turtles.
The answer (in part and in whole) are holons. Turtles all the way up, turtles all the way down.
At Sjömagasinet for a Christmas table sitting, 2021, Swedish west coast.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
Sjömagasinet has become a signature restaurant to visit for the family julbord during the yuletide season. I love family Christmas table sittings in Sweden, and I began writing about the julbord spreads at the restaurant from 2007, 2008 and 2009 when the restaurant was helmed by Guide Michelin Chef, Leif Mannerström.
At Långedrag Värdshus for a Christmas table sitting, 2021, Swedish west coast.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
It was special to come back to Långedrag Värdshus for a Christmas table sitting. My absolute favourite dish from the 2020 julbord, of which I devoured a generous amount, was their honey roasted duck. Already then by New Year’s 2021, I was looking forward to my next julbord with them. I knew too, that duck would be my first dish at the 2021 julbord, breaking all Swedish julbord serving traditions that begins with the cold dishes, particularly, the preserved herrings.
In Tanum Municipality at the Tanum UNESCO World Heritage Site, Northern Bohuslän, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
Tanum Municipality is located right between the cities of Gothenburg in Sweden, and Oslo in Norway. It was a late summer’s day driving in Northern Bohuslän that we made a stopover with the car at the Tanum World Heritage Site. The west coast of Sweden makes for very scenic drives, and the area around Sannäsfjorden, where the Tanum rock carvings can be found, is certainly a beautiful place to visit.
Continue reading “Tanum World Heritage Site, Tanumshede, Sweden”
Swedish black caviar by Arctic Roe of Scandinavia, AROS, Småland, Sweden. This black caviar comes from the Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser Baerii, in the family Acipenseridae.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
A two-hour drive from the city of Gothenburg took us to Strömnäsbruk in the beautiful region of Småland. I was curious to visit AROS (Arctic Roe of Scandinavia), one of two producers in Sweden of sturgeon black caviar.
Strömnäsbruk is one of many small industrial villages that would be all but forgotten today as watermills went out of fashion for powering up workshops and industries if it wasn’t for creative entrepreneurs. In this case, the robust building of a former paper mill has been repurposed towards rearing Siberian sturgeons in a humane and ecologically sustainable manner. The product is black caviar or the black gold of the Caspian sea, that has all but driven wild sturgeons to extinction.
Oven baked chicken, with chicken sourced from close quarters, Kött på Riktigt, a farm located in Västra Götaland, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
Oven baked chicken in the making, using chicken sourced from a local farm, Kött på Riktigt, Gothenburg, Sweden.
How different can a chicken taste? I wondered as we fingered the options of meat boxes presented to us by Kött på Riktigt. We live in the southern archipelago of Gothenburg, and representatives from the farm, Kött på Riktigt were up and about, taking orders.
Continue reading “Oven baked chicken and farm-to-door, Swedish west coast, Sweden”
The ritual of The Seven Flowers. Collecting flowers for the table at Midsummer’s, Swedish west coast, Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
Going wild with our Midsummer’s menu with grilled ryggbiff and Béarnaise sauce instead of preserved herring.
Sweden’s classic lunch menu when celebrating Midsummer’s is singing and snaps, with a side of preserved herring topped with sour cream. So much so that occational visitors to Sweden think that Helan Går is our national anthem. It isn’t. A few weeks ago, we happily received our order of a meat box sourced from a farm that practices regenerative agriculture, Kött på Riktigt, located in Gothenburg. We could have let the beef mature slightly longer, but we couldn’t wait. So we went a little wild this year with our Midsummer’s menu with ryggbiff or sirloin steak, with a side of Béarnaise sauce.
Continue reading “Seven flowers and a Midsummer’s sirloin barbeque, Swedish west coast”
Slight drizzle in the morning at Lake Örranaässjön, Nybro kommun, Småland in south Sweden.
Text & Photo © CM Cordeiro & JE Nilsson 2021
Örranaässjön is a popular visiting destination for exploring Swedish nature. You can walk, bike and/or canoe. Skiing is popular during the winter months here. You can also set up camp where you find comfortable. If you are in your caravan, there are designated caravan parking lots and amenities right next to the water’s edge. It will be a perfect way to wake up in the mornings while on the road in Sweden.
Continue reading “Örranaässjön, Nybro kommun, Småland SE May 2021”