After several weeks of snowfall and -15 C along the Swedish westcoast.
Photo C M Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2009
It has been several weeks of snowfall and a constant -15 C in Sweden, though this week has warmed to a -8 C. Nonetheless, the temperatures have resulted in a blanket of white on land and an ice capped sea that is currently perfect for the Scandinavian sauna tradition that comes with winter swimming.
Continue reading “Perfect Polar Bear swimming weather!”
Frosted windowpanes, for real.
Photo Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2009
Here are two postcards from the westcoast of Sweden today. Epiphany in Sweden is a public holiday, where most would by now, take down their Christmas decorations after 12 days of Christmas. The difference this year is that Epiphany arrived along with snow drift and gorgeous frosted windowpanes!
Weathered.
Growing up in Singapore, it was always spray painted snow on windowpanes that I saw come Christmas in the department stores. While the decorations were pretty, it failed to convey the real meaning of frost to one so tropical as I.
The windowpanes frost over when the outside is minus degrees and the inside gets from plus to a subsequent minus in temperature, thereby allowing the moisture on the glass panes to crystallize – it all sounds so technically simple. Of course. But fact is, it’s as cold indoors as it is outdoors!
Some quiet reading with Anthony Robbins.
It being a public holiday and snowy outside, it gives perfect opportunity for me to fold up in front of a fireplace in warm woollen clothes and catch up on some of my favourite reads.
Ushering in 2010 along the Swedish westcoast.
Photo Jan-Erik Nilsson © 2009
New Year’s Eve 2010 was greeted along the Swedish westcoast by a bluemoon (a second full moon this month that happens once every 20 years) that hung low and glowed luminously. Beautiful sight!
Fireworks in the neighbourhood, Swedish westcoast.
In Sweden, it’s customary that people buy their own fireworks to set alight in their gardens. About fifteen minutes to midnight, people were already setting off their fireworks!
A burst of purple and gold for 2010!
This year, our neighbours had a riot of a time with fireworks, with their children filling the air with excitable screams and shouts as each rocket took off.
1 am into the night and the odd set of fireworks box was still going off. Surreal.
Founders of the Swedish East Indiaman Gotheborg III ship project: Jan-Erik Nilsson (right), Anders and Berit Wästfelt (left). They’re standing with Stefan Andersson (in 18th century attire), who provided the main entertainment for the ship’s homecoming party.
Photo JE Nilsson and CM Cordeiro-Nilsson © 2009
Definition of Hönsafest by Västsverige
It was with their lives that sailors put out when they set sail to China during the 1700s aboard the Swedish East India Company vessels from the port of Gothenburg. Crew members had to endure storms, pirates, shipwrecks and sudden death. The attraction for them were money, adventure, the smell of warm spices and the possibility of a romp or two with exotic women from distant lands. All crew had to pay a mandatory hösapengen or homecoming money once the vessel reached the Equator. This money went into a big party when they came home again. Perhaps it was the idea of this feast, which lasted for three weeks, that kept up the spirits for the sailors when their teeth fell out in the aftermath of scurvy.
It couldn’t have a been better time to throw a staged homecoming party for the Swedish East Indiaman vessel Gotheborg III than in the wintry months of Sweden, when the ship is safely tarpaulined and docked.
Looking like a large white Christmas package at dockside, guests to the Hönsafest i juletid event that began in late November and continues through December 2009 in Gothenburg, were first invited for refreshments at the main warehouse before boarding the ship.
Dining at Sjömagasinet’s Christmas table or julbord.
Outfit is a Karen Millen tartan dress.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009
It’s funny how impressions of festivities change with time the longer you’ve been in the place. When I first arrived in Sweden, slightly more than 7 years ago, I thought it strange that Swedes did not celebrate Christmas with quite the same pomp as Singapore. I rationalized that Singapore, as a multi-racial society, took pride in celebrating all festivities of its races with splendour, lighting up various parts of the city country, Geylang during Hari Raya and Orchard Road during Christmas for example, depending on the festivities, while Sweden being rather secular, played down Christmas as such.
A silver and white Christmas tree suspended from the ceiling of the restaurant, Sjömagasinet.
I’ve found over the years though that contrary to what I believed at first, Sweden did indeed celebrate Christmas as much as Singapore, but in a manner that needed much observation and understanding of its people and culture – an aspect that one, with a quick visit to the country over a few days might wont to miss.
Christmas wreath and candles alongside the julbord.
Sweden celebrates Christmas with profound rootedness in the Swedish tradition with hand crafted frocks, decorations and not the least in the cooking of Swedish festive food.
Continue reading “Swedish Christmas tradition in its julbord: Sjömagasinet 2009”
Cushioned hearts, reflecting a theme in Christmas decorations in Sweden.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009
Kronhuset in the true middle of the old City of Gothenburg, being a 17th century armory, is in itself a place-of-interest for most tourists. Built in Dutch style this was where all artillery and other military supplies was kept for the defense of the City of Gothenburg. Eventually it occasionally did came in handy, but that is a different story. Today, Kronhuset is both museum and a concert hall, owing to its pillar free groundfloor construction that lends ample space for it to be used for most any event.
The Christmas Heart, hanging cushion.
There are several year-round tenants of the place, everything from a glass workshop, a café, an interior design company, to a chocolate store that sells handmade candy and chocolate truffles. So come Christmas season, this place is transformed into a bustling Christmas market, with all activities taking place within its compounds of the East and West wings of the main building.
Continue reading “Handcrafted, at Kronhuset’s Christmas market, Gothenburg 2009”
My favourite rendition of the tomte this year, with hat pulled down low over the eyes, so they go around incognito, in the true spirit of giving this season.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009
What I find refreshing when spending Christmas in Scandinavia is the appearance of the jultomte or nisse, a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore believed to help take care of the house, the animals on the farm and the family of the house, preventing any misfortune.
Having grown up in Singapore, with its Anglo-Saxon influence in terms of movies from the USA to British fruit pudding at the Christmas table and Santa Claus dressed in red and white, I find myself almost jumping in glee when greeting these woollen handmade elves that make their appearance just once a year at the shops.
In this post are several variants of the Swedish tomte that you can bring home this season or give away to a friend.
A piece of stainless steel jewellery.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009
Scandinavian jewellery (particularly Georg Jensen) has always been an attraction to me, even before I arrived in Sweden. So I became quite engrossed with what I saw at one stall at the Haga Christmas market that displayed stainless steel jewellery bound together with leather bands, and glass art rings and pendants.
What I appreciate about Scandinavian jewellery is that it’s often elegant with thick clean lines sweeping through the piece. If heavy, glossy and statement is what you wish to convey, then Scandinavian designed jewellery is perhaps an avenue you might wish to explore. Silversmith Wiwen Nilsson for example, whose designs are perhaps highly influenced by Japanese aesthetics in the early 1900s even though he trained in Germany, Denmark and France, has had a strong influence on Scandinavian jewellery design in general. Vintage pieces from him are still highly coveted because of his modernist take on shapes in relation to function of the item, which render them timeless.
Café assortments are quite fantastic at the Haga Christmas market, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Photo for CMC © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro Nilsson 2009
We were much earlier this year to the Haga Christmas market than previous years, where it seems too, that I favour strolling the old streets of Haga in the same furry hat!
I believe most Christmas markets begin in western Sweden thereabouts on the 28th of November, and I generally appreciated just a smidgen more daylight time than if we were to go Christmas marketing just three weeks on in December.
Handmade chocolates and liquour chocolate balls.
Walking down the street, it became apparent that this year at Haga was mostly about café treats! Even before the extensive renovations to this area during the 1970s, Haga was known for its restaurants. Today, the entire street is punctuated with good coffee places, where I personally bear one or two cafés in mind when headed this way.
Continue reading “Café treats at the Haga Christmas market, 2009”
At the chocolate fair, with some of the best nougat in hand.
Photo for CMC © Jan-Erik Nilsson, Cheryl Marie Cordeiro-Nilsson 2009
If there was anything that could make me get out of bed early on a rainy Saturday morning, this would be it – Gothenburg’s Chocolate and Délicatesse Festival 2009!
It was not just the thought of free chocolate samples at this event that spurred me into action on this soggy morning, but of living and breathing the life and sharing the space of chocolate connoisseurs, even for a few hours, made my day.
Upon arrival at the Göteborgs City Museum, where the event was held, I realized that Swedes loved their chocolates. Almost half of the city of Gothenburg thought the same as I – to get in first – where not even wind and rain would keep them away from this divine manna. The queue to the entrance ran almost 200m, right past Tyska Kyrkan, the German Church that stood beside this museum, touching the tip of Gustaf Adolfs Torg along Norra Hamngatan.
The crowd.
The event hall that spanned one and a half floors of the museum, seemed stiflingly inadequate and compact for this event. Cold and near freezing outdoors, the crowd turned warm very quickly when indoors. Still, having grown up tropical, I was surprised to see some people literally turning to ice-cream eating to keep cool, the queue to the lone ice-cream vendor rivaling the queues of the more attractive chocolate stalls.
Truffles in all forms imaginable. Anyone for a Bailey’s?
at Jeanna Kanold who together with her four daughters are Flickorna Kanold (The Kanold Girls)
The most spectacular view at the event was the vast exhibit of chocolate truffles. The stalls had bite-sized morsels so colourful, the candied sight simply took your breath away! I found myself standing in front of Kanolds for example, just absorbing the artistry of work, and whatever fillings of the truffle seemed secondary; after all, truffles have been around since 1895 (created by M. Dufour in France) and are more or less made with a ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder that is usually spherical, conical, square or curved shape. But soon, the taste test came along and the perspective is shifted when you begin to decide which of these precious heaven-filled small packages you’d like to bring home, the ones with cream, caramel, nuts, berries, nougat, fudge, toffee, mint, liquor etc. The choice to make was mind-boggling!
Continue reading “Gothenburg’s Chocolate and Délicatesse Festival, 2009”