Jimmy Fallon's Eco Manifesto

This impressed me! Jimmy Fallon is walking the talk but will he also talk the walk once he takes over on Late Night on Monday?

Daring Bakers: Something Light

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

My Tuiles are 100% organic and I filled them with homemade chocolate cream and lemon curd cream fillings. The chocolate turned out better. The sweet lemon curd with the sweet cookie was just too over the top sweet for my taste. The shaping bit was fun but, truth be told, a little too much work for the amount of fun you get out of it. I think if I were to make them again I would do a savory version and make little coronets filled with a nicely Swedish Toast Skagen filling. Bon appétit!

Twelfth Night or What You Will

Would the play by any other name be as sweet? How about 'The Thirteenth Day'? Here in Sweden there is no such thing as Twelfth Night. There is instead a Thirteenth Day. And the Thirteenth Day Eve is the night of fancy balls at the fancy castles and hotel ballrooms around the country.

And it isn't until a little day they call 'the twentieth knut' (Jan. 13th, twenty days after Christmas and the name day of all Knuts) that Christmas is officially over. Then the Christmas tree can be plundered and it and all the myriad of decorations and ornaments and red decorating details are tossed out until November 29th, 2009. Most Swedes I know are ready with advent candles, mulled wine and gingerbread cookies for this day, the first advent of Christmas.

With some swift calculation that adds up to about 7 1/2 weeks of Christmas (!) and even more if you consider all the Christmas markets and unveiling of the town square and storefront decorations that start the weekend prior to the first advent.

Our Christmas tree is one of the few lucky ones that won't be hacked to bits in order to fit into the neighborhood garden recycling bin. This year we opted for a living tree, a four foot high Nordmann Fir (Kungsgran in Swedish and a.k.a. Picea Nordmannia) with its roots still on. Hopefully it will grow slowly and be our Christmas tree for a few years, on the terrace in a giant pot, until we decide where to plant it permanently. Bon courage!

Ring Out, Wild Bells: A Curiously English New Year's Eve Tradition in Sweden

"Ring Out, Wild Bells" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson is the perfect new year's eve verse and in 1890 Edvard Fredin, an actor, critic and translator from Stockholm, translated it to Swedish. For over a hundred years now it has been read aloud at the stroke of midnight for the New Year's revelers at Skansen Park in Stockholm, above the din of the fireworks. Here are both versions. Bonne Année!

Ring Out, Wild Bells

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land...

Nyårsklockan

Ring, klocka, ring i bistra nyårsnatten
mot rymdens norrskenssky och markens snö;
det gamla året lägger sig att dö...
Ring själaringning över land och vatten!

Ring in det nya och ring ut det gamla
i årets första, skälvande minut.
Ring lögnens makt från världens gränser ut,
och ring in sanningens till oss som famla.

Ring våra tankar ut ur sorgens häkten,
och ring hugsvalelse till sargad barm.
Ring hatet ut emellan rik och arm
och ring försoning in till jordens släkten.

Ring ut vad dödsdömt räknar sina dagar
och forngestaltningar av split och kiv.
Ring in ett ädlare, ett högre liv
med bättre syften, mera rena lagar.

Ring ut bekymren, sorgerna och nöden,
och ring den frusna tiden åter varm.
Ring ut till tystnad diktens gatularm,
men ring till sångarhjärtan skaparglöden.

Ring ut den stolthet, som blott räknar anor,
förtalets lömskhet, avundens försåt.
Ring in det rätta på triumfens stråt,
och ring till seger mänsklighetens fanor.

Ring, klocka, ring... och seklets krankhet vike;
det dagas, släktet fram i styrka går!
Ring ut, ring ut de tusen krigens år,
ring in den tusenåra fredens rike!

Ring in den tid, då andarna befrias
ur själviskhetens sammansnörda band.
Ring mörkrets skuggor bort ur alla land...

Christmas at Sofiero

Daring Bakers November: Caramel Cake

Oh! Caramel Cake! Allow me to introduce you to November's daring baker challenge - Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting. In my variation I used only organic ingredients, replaced 1/4 of the flour with dark cocoa and about 1/2 the water in the caramel syrup with whisky. And when it came to the carmelized butter frosting I had to skip the powdered sugar - I have never learned to like vile and foul-tasting Swedish version of this product - and the resulting drippy warm carmel sauce tasted perfect anyway, and looked very pretty. This actually stood in for pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving at our place since the little american store in Malmö has been sold out of pumpkin for weeks.

First things first, make your carmel syrup:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)
In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly and dark amber. Then very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back. It is a good idea to have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin. Now whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers - let it cool on a spoon before touching it to test stickiness.

And now the cake:
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan. Cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform. Sift flour and baking powder. Now slowly add and mix about one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients - this is the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method. When batter is uniform, turn it into prepared cake pan and pop it into the oven for about 45 to 55 minutes. Check that cake has begun to pull away fron the sides of the pan and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake at room temp while you make the icing - it will keep perfectly at room temp for three days and stay nice and moist.

Now, the caramelized butter frosting:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Brown the butter. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl. Whisk in confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste. Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month. To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix until smooth and light

Recipe courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon on Bay Area Bites. And for more beautiful carmel cake inspirations visit this month's hosts Dolores at Culinary Curiosity, Alex at Blondie and Brownie, Jenny at Foray into Food and Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.

Bon appétit!

Novembre d'une bonne vivante

Compared to the predominately evergreen forests of my childhood in the Pacific Northwest, the colorful, falling leaves of beeches, oaks and birches are fairy dust, enchanting my autumns in Southern Sweden.

Autumn is passing leisurely this year. The leaves were mostly allowed to remain in peace on their branches for the whole spectrum of color change and then make soft, dry heaps under their very own trees (and not ripped prematurely off and far away into a wet mush by gale force winds and rain like last year.)

I found autumn's last blackberry blossom and admired the new open views to the sky on my walks in Pålsjö Skog. And I managed to get four very energetic dogs to sit still together in the leaves just long enough to snap this picture(!) after a hike on Hallandsåsen Ridge. From left: Billy, my Toto, Smilla and Charlie. Bon automne!

Daring Bakers Debut: Organic Pizzas

I made my Daring Bakers debut this month with these authentic, home-tossed organic pizzas topped with homemade tomato and oregano sauce, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, fresh basil from my windowsill and savory bits of locally raised, cold-smoked Linderöd pork tenderloin.

This recipe (from Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker’s Apprentice") is much easier than I expected it to be and the crust turned out perfectly thin, gently crisp and just tasty. The greatest testament to its success: I ate all of the edges. I never eat pizza crust edges. That officially makes this the best pizza dough recipe ever. May I be so bold here as to suggest that using only organic ingredients and fresh yeast (instead of instant) made my pizza dough even better than Peter Reinharts?

Make a big batch of this easy but perfect pizza dough, keep it in the fridge for up to three days (or longer in the freezer) and then just pull them out two hours before you want to eat, heat the oven, toss/roll and top and bake for 5 to 8 minutes.

Day One
(or in the morning, the same day you want to eat them)
Mix 3 tsp fresh yeast with 1 3/4 cups cold water, 1 tbsp sugar in a big bowl. Then add 1 3/4 cups good olive oil, 600 grams flour and 1 3/4 tsp salt and mix to form a sticky ball of dough. Turn it out on a floured surface and knead for about five minutes until smooth and elastic but still sticky.

Divide the dough in four to eight equal pieces, depending on whether you want smaller individual pizzas or family sizes (...psst, the individual ones are easier to handle later and more fun when everyone gets to top their own) and form the pieces in to balls with floured hands. Place them on lightly oiled baking paper, on an oven pan that will fit into your fridge, and cover with plastic wrap. Pop them in the fridge.

Day two
Remove the dough balls from the fridge, exactly two hours before you make the pizzas. Press delicately, with floured hands, into discs about 1/2 inch thick and then cover and allow to rest for two hours

When the two hours are almost up, start heating the oven (as hot as it goes!) and prep your sauce and toppings. Combine a pure tomato sauce of 100% squashed organic tomatoes with a splash of good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a clove of garlic, the leaves from a sprig or two of fresh oregano from your garden and heat gently to infuse the flavors into the sauce. Finish with generous sprinkles of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Now you're ready to toss. Generously flour the counter, the underside of a big oven pan and your hands with flour or cornmeal. Lift a dough ball and lay it across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss. Beginners like myself find it useful to prep with a rolling pin first to get the dough expanded to a nicely round shape and manageable size before doing the proper tossing bit. If the dough tends to stick to your hands when tossing, lay it down, reflour your hands and then continue the tossing.

When you have gotten it to your desired size and thickness place it on the very generously floured pan, top it and slide it into the oven. Bake pizzas one at a time for 5 to 8 minutes in the middle of the oven then serve immediately with a carefree italian red like Dolcetto d'Alba from Alessandria Silvio Azienda Agricola or Cantine Giacomo Ascheri in Piedmont. Buono appetito!

The Living Museum Farm at Fredriksdal

I spent last Sunday afternoon tagging along with Bo Dahlgren, head of the living farm at Fredriksdal's Museums & Gardens here in Helsingborg and continued discovering how lucky I am to have a working farm barely two kilometers from my front door (especially nice since I am participating in the Eat Local Challenge).

The Fredriksdal farm is also smack in the middle of Helsingborg, putting it a scant 10 minute stroll from Kullagatan, our main pedestrian shopping street. And, oh delight, its entire reason for being is to preserve the cultural history and natural diversity of life in the Scanian countryside. This means natural organic methods and heirloom fruit and vegetables, like the chiogga or candy cane beets and borgherre apples above. When volunteers have time to help with the harvesting, the fruit and vegetables are sold in the museum's gift shop at the main entrance. The only thing more local than this in Helsingborg is my own little garden.
Gullros, the pretty Rödkulla cow, and the rest of my animal friends at Fredriksdal are naturally raised, traditional and rare breeds of cattle, pigs, rabbits, goats and poultry.

The pigs require a special mention here (vegetarians avert your eyes).

These are no ordinary piggies. They have been raised up on organic apples and potaotes that ripen within their sight on the farm and are an ancient native breed from the Linderöd Ridge in Stone Age Scania. These Linderöd Pigs numbered only ten adult animals in 1992 but now they are happily making a comeback with the help of Fredriksdal, Bo and Slowfood. According to Slowfood's Convivium Helsingborg website, there are now 350 adult Linderöd pigs registered for breeding and these lucky porkers are the only Swedish native breed of pigs to be granted the environmental support of endangered domesticated breeds by the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

The description of the Linderöd's looks and tempermant on the Slowfood site is so quaint that I must not rob you of it:

The Linderöd Pig is a little round and has sturdy strong legs. The snout is straight and well developed. The colour is gaudily black on a white/grey or brown bottom. Sometimes the black spots can be so big that the animal almost looks black. There is a great variety, and individual animals can be predominantly black or brown. The brown animals are more orange when they are small, but they gradually develop into brown/grey when they get old. Not a single white animal has yet been born, which indicates that the breed is native. The Linderöd Pig has a winter fur and likes being outdoors all the year around. The pigs grow slowly and they are calm, patient and sociable.

What you see below is Linderöd bacon and pork tenderloin, born on the Fredriksdal farm, raised on organic apples and cold-smoked by our local smokery master, Per in Viken. Delicious. But, you say, if you want to preserve the breed, why are you eating it?

Bo explained it to me. The reason that these rare, native breeds are disappearing is precisely because we don't eat them anymore. If they are to make a real comeback and if we are to promote biological diversity, they must become more than museum pieces. This is also why Bo is away from the farm this week and participating in the Salone Del Gusto and Terra Madre annual, international Slowfood events in Turin, Italy, for everyone who is passionate about good, clean and fair food. Bon Courage!

Understanding true wealth eradicates poverty

When do you feel richest? Laughing with friends, kissing your child goodnight, walking in the sunshine, building a life with your soul mate, enjoying a meal cooked with love, singing in the rain, dancing in the grass, kicking up leaves, and just being alive ... it is all about love. And love is F-R-E-E.

I believe that living well entails much more than indulging in epicurean pleasures. You cannot live the true good life unless you do good and enjoy ethically with respect for all living things and for yourself.

So far today, Blog Action Day 2008, over 10,000 bloggers have posted on poverty. My hope for all of you is that you understand true wealth, live a truly rich life and share this idea with as many people as you can: slowing down, savoring life and doing good is better for your economy, your health and your happiness...and it stops mindless consumption, heals the environment, and eradicates poverty.

You know what you have to do:
1. Read the quotes below.
2. Decide to be the change you want to see in the world.
3. Start doing good. If you have money, spread it around to people in need and the ethical companies that support them. If you have none, volunteer and give kindness from your heart and ideas from your head. Stop supporting any organizations whose business contributes to the unfair distribution of monetary wealth (unfortunately there are A LOT of them and the most basic action we can take to affect a change in this situation is to be diligent consumers, persistent in our demand for information and for the right to buy goods of ethical, sustainable and traceable origin.)

"Every good act is charity."
- Moliere

"Contentment is natural, luxury is artificial poverty."
- Socrates

"Wealth is the ability to fully experience life."
- Henry David Thoreau

"Your wealth is where your friends are."
- Titus Maccius Plautus

"Real wealth is ideas plus energy."
- Richard Buckminster Fuller

"Wealth is not a matter of intelligence it's a matter of inspiration."
- Jim Rohn

"A man's true wealth is the good he does in the world."
- Kahlil Gibran

"It's better to have a rich soul than to be rich."
- Olga Korbut

"Men are rich only as they give."
- Elbert Hubbard

"True happiness is...to enjoy the present, without anxious dependance on the future."
- Seneca

"That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."
- Henry David Thoreau

"...true happiness comes from a sense of brotherhood ans sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share."
- Dalaia Lama

This excerpt from the European Commission, Joint Report on Social Inclusion 2004 published on Poverty.org.uk will help you better understand poverty and hopefully spark some ideas on what you can do to help:

"People are said to be living in poverty if their income and resources are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living considered acceptable in the society in which they live. Because of their poverty they may experience multiple disadvantage through unemployment, low income, poor housing, inadequate health care and barriers to lifelong learning, culture, sport and recreation. They are often excluded and marginalised from participating in activities (economic, social and cultural) that are the norm for other people and their access to fundamental rights may be restricted."

Bon courage!

Organic Roasted Vegetable Bisque

I made this for an organic potluck on Friday night and was warmly welcomed when I arrived with my giant pot, steaming with delicious aromas.

Start by peeling and roughly chopping carrots, red bell peppers, red onions and a big chunk of a pink banana pumpkin or butternut squash. Drizzle with olive oil and wine and roast while you prepare the rest.

In a huge pot, brown chopped shallots and garlic cloves in wine, rum and a knob of butter. Add sweet corn kernels, a jar or two of preserved tomatoes/tomato sauce and a few more generous sploshes of wine and rum. When the veggies are nicely roasted, add them to the pot and start the puréeing.

Add cream, milk and/or water in desired amounts to thin this now very thick bisque and salt and peppar to taste. I roasted organic salmon fillets with rum as well and placed a few big beautiful pink chunks into each bowl. Bon appétit!

Gala Dinner by Gastronomy Studio Era 10:3

Thursday was a big gala night in Helsingborg and I was so thrilled to find that the whole dinner showcased organic and local food.

The talented Tobias och Ulrica Millqvist of Gastronomy Studio Era 10:3 pulled it off brilliantly, no suprise considering that Tobias captured the silver in Sweden's National Chef of the Year Championship last year and made it into the top six as a finalist this year. The Millqvists have created a mecca for wine tastings, chocolate tastings, and cooking classes and experiences near Båstad, Sweden, the (in)famous beach town which hosts the Swedish Open.

I loved everything about the food (organic, local, delicious) and was also completely won over by the genuine concern and care they showed for us troublesome sorts with food allergies.

I translated the menu for your vicarious tasting pleasure:
Char with Kattvik Apples, Parsely Root, and Spicy Spinach Purée
Fillet of Bjäre Chicken with Sea Buckthorn Berries and Kale
Terrine of Venison with Prunes, Thyme and Pumpkin Mousse
Air-Dried Wild Boar Ham, Chantrelles, Carrots and Scanian Mustard
Anya Potatoes with Cream of Ceps and Chives
Oatmeal Bread with Traditional Swedish Bread Spices and Sour Butter
Chocolate Mousse, Blueberry Compote and Rosehip Lemon Crumble

Organic Caramelized Pear & Camembert Salad

This is one of those delightful 'warm' salads I discovered on a lazy weekend when I couldn't be bothered to go shopping. I had a peck of organic pears from my Årstiderna's delivery on Thursday and a lonely little round of organic camembert in the refrigerator. I googled "pear and camembert" to learn from those who have gone before me if there was something more interesting to do with them than just eat them slice by fresh, creamy slice together.

I found all kinds of recipes pairing these two favorites, including a stuffing for pork tenderloin, a topping for potato pancakes and sandwiches and fillings for savory pies, but I fell for the idea of a pear camembert salad.

This is so easy! Simply slice your pears and sautée them briefly in a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Lay slices of camembert over the pears in the pan until they just begin to melt and then toss the whole with a flavorful lettuce (I used argula) and salt and pepper it to taste. You could even improvise/improve this salad by adding onions, walnuts, basil, thyme, cloves, and more, more, more...bon appétit!

Hot Air Ballooning: Exhilarating and Ecofriendly?

Here I am running towards what could be my first hot air balloon flight ever. At this moment I have yet to decide if I am going to jump into that ridiculous little basket and let myself be whisked up and away somewhere over the rainbow or not.

Hot air ballooning has always appealed to me in theory: rising majestically in a fire-breathing, rainbow chariot over vineyards and verdant hillsides until you can just perceive the curve of the globe in the glorious sunrise, lighter than air and going only where the breezes convey you, landing in a meadow of flowers, toasting with champagne to your new noble title. It is all deliciously romantic, wonderfully French, and it has ME, ME, ME written all over it.

And yet, I hesitate. And yet, I have quite certainly made up my mind that when I do reach that basket I will not be hoisting myself over its side and risking an hour of very unromantic vertigo-induced panic, dangling 300 meters over Sweden with my colleagues. And yet, I do.

Exactly 217 years and one week after a sheep named Montauciel, and his apparently nameless duck and rooster co-pilots, rose above Versailles as the first living beings ever to fly in the Montgolfier brothers' amazing invention, it was my time.

We floated low and slow over lovely Lund, my first hometown in Sweden, and off over the countryside to land in that flowery meadow of my imagination. We toasted with champagne and were dubbed Aeronauts and Counts and Countesses of Haga.

But I still had reservations non-vertiginous. I was bothered. How sustainable is ballooning really? I did some homework and found out that our one hour balloon flight emitted about 29 kilograms of greenhouse gases per person, about the same as an hour in a car, but with clean-burning (though still fossil-based) propane instead of gasoline.

Balloons are also significantly less polluting than airplanes (about 120 kilograms of greenhouse gases per person for an hour's flight), snowmobiles and motorboats. And while there are very valid concerns about the noise level of the burners disturbing the wildlife and the peace and quiet of nature-lovers (we managed to spook deer, swans, cows and horses on our short flight), quieter whisper burners are now widely used. In another positive development, some logistics companies are now putting the balloon principle to work harnessing wind power to pull cargo ships over the oceans, considerably reducing their use of fossil fuels.

In the end, while balloons are a better option for a travel adventure than cars, airplanes, motorboats or snowmobiles, the best ecotravelers will stick to bicycles, trains, and their own two feet to get the lay of the land until no-impact balloon adventures become standard. Bon voyage!

Organic Creamy French Potato Salad

Summer is definitely over in Sweden now but we took advantage of a sunny day recently to have one last barbecue on the terrace. I love homemade potato salad and I have always used my mom's recipe but since I really committed myself to buying only organic ingredients that has been a little tricky. Things like organic mayonnaise and pickles are not widely available over here (no Whole Foods in Sweden yet but we do have Goodness) and anyway I'm just not happy buying things that I can make from scratch at home.

To make it easy I didn't stop to make mayonnaise or pickles but just combined all those good flavors right in to the potato salad and it was ready in less than 30. M had these yummy organic chorizos (from Swedish Änglamark) grilled to perfection by then. Bon appétit!

Organic Creamy French Potato Salad
Set your chopped potatoes (peeled too, if it pleases you) to boil in well-salted water and get an egg ready to throw in for coddling with them during the last 5 minutes or so of cooking.

While you wait for the potatoes to cook, mix diced red onion and cucumber with a big generous soup spoonful of a really thick and creamy, Turkish-style organic yogurt and another of organic french wholegrain mustard. Splosh over olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. (If you live in Sweden you can get all of these ingredients delivered to your door from Mossagården or pick them up Goodness in Helsingborg.)

Rinse your potatoes and the now soft-boiled or coddled egg in cold water. Drain the potatoes. Peel and chop the egg up a little and put it all together in the bowl of dressing ingredients. I like the egg yolk to still be slightly gooey, making for a very creamy dressing with a beautiful lemon yellow color. Pretty power works on food too!

NY Times: Time to Save the Croissants

Owen Franken for The New York Times & Amélie Dequidt/Office de Tourisme d’Arleux

This headline in the NY Times yesterday captured my attention instantly and introduced a very thought-provoking topic: should UNESCO World Heritage Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage be able to include a country's unique gastronomy? France is having a go at it and they just see themselves as pioneers in getting UNESCO to recognize and protect unique local specialties and rare breeds all over the world. Above are Guy Savoy, who wants to preserve French culinary traditions, and traditionally smoked garlic from Arleux.
Read it and tell me what you think.

This had me thinking of the Slow Food movement, which has been doing just that for years now with their Ark project, and I found it peculiar that this didn't come up at all in this article. But I applaud the journalist Elaine Sciolino for the piece and especially for her quoting the guy who quoted 19th-century food writer Brillat-Savarin who wrote that, “The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star.”

I just plain adore that man, not only for writing one of the BEST books ever written on food, but also because it was through the English translation of that book that I became acquainted with the woman who I believe has written even better books on food than he or anyone else has, the infinitely wise and wonderful M.F.K. Fisher. If by some chance you haven't discovered her yet then I will consider myself honored to be the one to introduce you. Bon courage!

Organic Chocolate Marshmallow Cream Cupcakes

Vive les cupcakes! These darlings are my contribution to Sugar High Friday and are inspired by sweet Miss Fanny over at foodbeam who posted the deadly delicious and "so horribly fluffy" s'mores cupcakes last week. My version is made from 100% organic ingredients (and fair trade sugar and espresso) and it also takes a tiny shortcut by putting the chocolate into the lovely little cakes themselves (along with a few other mini-tweaks) but I still slathered on the wonderful marshmallow cream.

Preheat oven to 170°C. For twelve smallish normal cupcakes, first mix 150 g flour, 10 g really good dark cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp good sea salt (less than fanny's recipe since I used lightly salted butter), and 1 1/4 tsp baking powder in a bowl.

In another bowl cream 60 g butter with 85 g raw sugar, then beat in one egg plus one egg yolk (left over from separating the white for the marshmallow cream), a dash of vanilla, a couple tsp good espresso to deepen the chocolate flavour and 160 g milk. Now mix in the flour mixture until just combined, fill your buttered cupcake tin or paper cups and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cupcakes bake and cool, make your marshmallow cream - for this I followed Fanny's recipe to the letter except that I used raw sugar instead of caster sugar. Beat one egg white with a pinch of salt to soft peak stage. Leave them for a moment and in a saucepan, bring the 2 tbsp water and 75 g raw sugar to a boil and let it reach 115°C. Now continue to beat the egg white while slowly pouring in the sugar syrup and keep going until the bowl starts to cool to the touch, watching with delight as the mixture becomes glossy and gooey and wonderful. Spoon a good dollop onto each little cupcake and smooth to the edges with a spatula.

Thankyou Fanny for the tastiest, easiest recipe for marshmallow cream ever. I just love finding homemade solutions for things you typically have to buy and now I will never buy marshmallows again - this is going to top my hot cocoa forever more. Bon appétit my friends!

Ecotourism in the NY Times: Camping? Yes. Roughing It? Not Quite.

Eco-glamping (i.e. glamorous camping) is right up this ethical bon vivant's pretty, green alley so I was enormously pleased to see this article, written by Jennifer Conlin, published on the NY Times Travel pages today. The photo above shows a guest tent at the Clayoquot Wilderness Resort on Vancouver Island.

"If the eco-friendly idea of falling asleep under the stars and roasting marshmallows around a campfire appeals to you, but the reality of pitching a tent and sleeping on bumpy ground does not, glamping, the new term being used for upscale — or glamorous — camping, could be your ideal green vacation.

Though dismissed by hard-core leave-no-trace campers (who don’t so much as move a rock for fear of affecting the area), glamping can still be an environmentally sound outdoor experience, even if it does include creature comforts (like not having too many creatures inside your tent)..." Read more on the NY Times Travel pages.

Classic Tarte Tatin with Organic Apples and Soft-Whipped Vanilla Cream

Authentic Tarte Tatin is one of the many delicious French 'accidents' that has gone on to become a classic favorite. Our thanks go out to the sweetly scatterbrained Stephanie Tatin who, in 1898, botched a recipe for a proper apple tart and served the result to her guests at Hotel Tatin in Beuvron.

Start by making the pastry crust and, need I say it, use all organic, locally produced ingredients. Mix 1 cup wheat flour and 1 tablespoon raw cane sugar in mixer or food processor and add 6 tablespoons of real butter (lightly salted kind), one at a time, mixing well after each. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. Make the dough come together in a soft ball and wrap and chill while you prep the apples and caramel sauce - about 20 minutes.

Now combine 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet/pan (no plastic handles allowed - this is going into the oven soon) and cook while stirring over medium heat for about 10 minutes until almost chestnut colored and nicely smooth and caramelized but not burned. Remove from heat but keep stirring for a few more minutes until the pan begins to cool. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and let the caramel mixture cool in the pan while you peel, core and slice your apples (4-8 depending on size) into wedges.

Finally, arrange apple wedges in any pattern that pleases you on top of the caramel sauce in the pan, roll out the pastry and drape it over the apples, tucking in the edges, and bake for about 45 minutes in the oven. The crust should be golden brown and the juices should be bubbling at the edges. Let it stand for 5 minutes or so before inverting it onto a pretty platter and then serve warm with soft-whipped cream that you've spiked with a dash of vanilla, sugar and maybe even a squirt of good single malt...bon appétit!

Sofiero Garden Show 2008

Sofiero Castle is the former royal summer residence with exquisite gardens in Helsingborg and last weekend they opened the castle gates to their annual grand Sofiero Garden Show.

The sun was shining on blooming artichokes and dahlias, herb gardens framed by low apple-tree hedges, apple trees trained up trellises, the fairytale juniper-hedge maze and a lovely maiden playing a harp in the ravine.

Local organic food and Mediterranean gardens seemed to be the strongest trends of the show. The best foodie gems were Boels Blå, a gold medal creamy blue cheese from Holmana Organic Dairy Farm in Halland, a champagne and tapas tent, and perfectly ripe apples and squash galore from Fredriksdal's traditional kitchen garden and orchards. With whitewashed stone walls, rosemary bushes, fig and olive trees and cicada-song soundtrack, the Mediterrean show garden below seemed to effectively raise the perceived temperature of the day by least 10°C.

Photo by: Sven Olof Larsén

Lately named Sweden’s most beautiful park, the grounds of Sofiero play host to flower festivals, art exhibits, rock concerts, Shakespearean plays and classic car shows during the spring and summer and is an utterly tranquil haven for autumn and winter walks.

The Bon Vivant Calendar ~ September

What's in season?
Get out to an organic farm and pick bags and bags of sweet corn, apples, pears, plums, squash in all colors, shapes and sizes, onions, leeks, eggplants, carrots, beets, chard, ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, garlic, nectarines, peaches, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, artichokes, fresh horseradish, lettuces, bell peppers, rose petals, mint, potatoes, sorrel, cress, basil, scallions, ornate romanesco cauliflower and great glistening clusters of grapes.

The forests are still jeweled with blackberries, blueberries, elderberries and wild mushrooms - especially plump ceps, delicate oyster mushrooms, and fragrant chantrelles. Feast on autumn delicacies from land and sea this month, especially wild duck, grouse, partridge, rabbit, venison, crayfish, oysters, lobster, crab, mussels, scallops, shrimp, trout, wild salmon, bass and eels.

Our kitchen is stewing with big batches of applesauce, carrot soup, corn chowder, and mushroom risottos. The freezer is full of newly picked corn. And I am experimenting with my rather ambitious purchases of pumpkins and squash by filling ravioli, enchiladas and lasagnas, and planning to consume unseemly amounts of squash tempura, veggie pizzas, squash frittatas and rich, moist squash bread.

Great excuses for celebration
Monday, September 1st: Labor day for all Americans and Canadians ... unfortunately they don't celebrate here in Sweden so I am off to work. But they can't stop me from barbecuing tonight!

September 6th & 7th: Ekorundan is here again! Fourteen organic farms around my home province (Skåne) hold open house.

September 5th to 12th is the annual New York Fashion Week that reveals the designer's spring collections. This year that even includes eco-fashion houses (HOORAY!) like John Patrick ORGANIC, Ekovaruhuset and EKO-LAB. On the 4th, The Natural History Museum is hosting the BeEcoChic launch party for the latest organic, recycled and/or vintage based collections from Carmen Marc Valvo, Chado Ralph Rucci, Christian Cota, Del Forte, DKNY, Edun, FORM, Laura Bennett, Nicole Miller, Red Carter, Sean John, Levi’s, Thread Social, Maggie Norris Couture, Vena Cava and more.

On September 13th, 30 Danish wineries around the country will hold open house and tastings and both Lars Hagerman's winery Domain Aalsgaard and Sven Moesgaard's winery Skærsøgaard Vin are worth a special trip. If you haven't tried Danish wine before you will be pleasantly surprised by these two.

September 13th & 14th: Sofiero Castle hosts the annual Sofiero International Dog Show in Helsingborg. Toto (my JRT) will be in heaven.

Also on September 14th, honor the Asian Autumn Moon Festival by gathering with loved ones to eat pomeloes and mooncakes by the light of the moon and your colored lanterns.

September 20th: Oktoberfest opens in Munich today so don your best dirndl, break out some beer steins, tap into a keg of organic dunkel or weissbier and fry up some organic bratwursts to celebrate.

September 22nd marks the autumnal equinox this year and the official start of the fall season, heralding harvest festivals, shorter days, fall colors and time to gather with friends to share the bounty of the harvest, to open a bottle of wine together and toast to the summer now past and the jolly times ahead. Here in Helsingborg, we will welcome the last ship of the summer cruising season, The Black Watch and her 800 passengers, for a day of sightseeing.

On September 27th & 28th head straight to Kivik for the annual Apple Market for a weekend of live music, apple tasting, apple identification, tours of the cider press and unveiling of the world's largest apple "painting" which will stand on view in the town until circa mid October.

Vevey, Lausanne and Wengen, Switzerland

Voila! The last installment of pictures from our grand trip around the Alps and Piedmont this summer is now up for your viewing pleasure and it's time to recap. We did our best to be good eco-tourists:

We did take our car BUT we put it (and ourselves) on the Autozug train from Hamburg to Basel (and back again) with about a hundred other cars. They have several routes to choose from and if you must have a car at your destination then this is a brilliant way to reduce your impact while traveling around Europe.

We also followed the principles of Slow Travel which are to spend at least one week in one place on your trip, to stay in a house/cottage/apartment where you can do your own cooking rather than in a hotel, to buy local food and wine from the markets and local producers directly and make your own meals, to relax, immerse yourself into local life and see what is near your home base rather than rushing off on long day-trips to see the must-sees.

When we ate at restaurants we chose the places that honored their locally-sourced foods and wines, including the absolutely exquisite Le Torri in Castiglione Falleto (we had dinner there and loved it so much we just had to go back again for lunch the next day) and the traditional, vine-covered Osteria Murvecchia at Giacomo Ascheri's winery in the town where Slow Food was born, Bra, Italy.

We took the small roads, drove slowly and, once we were installed in our homes away from home, we used the car very little. We walked a lot, biked a little, rode a paddle-boat around Lake Annecy, took funiculars and cog-trains up the mountains and little ferries across the lakes, hopped on the free shuttle from Vevey to Montreaux for the Jazz Festival and rode the wine train through the Lavaux. And we have thus confirmed our suspicion that that traveling more ethically is more relaxing, more rewarding and just plain more fun. Bon voyage!

Yvoire, Chateau de Thorens & Annecy in Savoy

Vive la France! We loved our days in Savoie and those French wines, the croissants, the cheeses, the language, the two hour (minimum) lunches with petites chiens lolling under every other table, the endless supply of free doggie-poo bags everywhere, the villages of flowers, the Alps, Lac D'Annecy, Lac Leman, the Château de Thorens where we stayed....voila!

Summer in Piedmont & Lombardy

We spent a hot, wine-soaked week in the beautiful little stone cottage 'Il Nido' (the nest) in Piedmont, Italy and finished off with a gourmet evening at the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, sheltered from a magnificent thunderstorm. Magnifico!

The Bon Vivant Calendar ~ August

Enjoying each day to its fullest is what bons vivants specialize in and the Bon Vivant Calendar premieres this month to inspire and enrich our days with epicurean pleasure - starting with a sweet, ripe August.

What's in season?
Eat according to the seasons and enjoy food that is fresher, more flavorful, more packed with nutrition, less expensive and more environmentally friendly.

In August feast on sweet corn, summer apples, wild mushrooms, blackberries, blueberries, currants, eggplants, zuchinni, beets, carrots, leeks, cauliflower, cucumbers, garlic, artichokes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, peaches, grapes, melons, rose petals, mint, potatoes, radishes, sorrel, spinach, cress, basil, scallions, lettuces, crayfish and lobster. I have been busy making borscht, ratatouille, pesto and a giant apple pie with an oatmeal cookie dough crust - yum!

Great excuses for celebration
August 1st the Swiss National Day and from this year on it will also be celebrated as the day I finally became a Swedish (and European) citizen! Heja Sverige! This date also marks the start of Lammas or Lughnasadh, the ancient Celtic holiday that celebrates the wheat harvest and the last warm summer nights before the onset of autumn.

August 8th was the traditional opening day of crayfish fishing season in Sweden and August in Sweden would not be complete without at least one 'Kräftskiva'. This is an all-out crayfish themed party where dozens upon dozens of crayfish are consumed along with rather a lot of Swedish snaps. If you shudder at the mere thought of downing a snaps (like I do) you will be delighted to know that a bottle of good Alsatian Gewürztraminer matches the salty sweet, dill-infused Swedish-style crayfish perfectly.

Mid-month, August 12th this year, is when the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak so plan a night of stargazing and see how many of the circa 60 shooting stars per hour you can spot.

August 21st is the 49th anniversary of Hawaii's statehood and a state holiday. Throw a luau in honor of the 50th state complete with mai tais, a pig roast, grass skirts, ukulele music, leis for all and a hula contest!

August 29th to 31st: If you happen to be in Helsingborg, Sweden in August then plan to visit Sofiero, our beautiful local castle, for the annual Sofiero Garden Show.

Fine words to sing out loudly in August
The Rigs O' Barley by Robert Burns, 1783

It was upon a Lammas night
When corn rigs are bonnie, O!
Beneath the moon's unclouded light
I held awa' to Annie, O!
The time flew by wi' tentless heed
Till 'tween the late and early, O!
Wi' smar' persuasion she agreed,
To see me thro' the barley, O!
Corn rigs and barley rigs
Corn rigs are bonnie
I'll ne'er forget that happy night
Amang the rigs wi' Annie, O!

The sky was blue, the wind was still
The moon was shining clearly, O!
I set her down wi' right good will
Amang the rigs o' barley, O!
I ken't her heart was a' my ain
I loved her most sincerely, O!
I kissed her owre and owre again
Amang the rigs o' barley, O!
Corn rigs and barley rigs
Corn rigs are bonnie
I'll ne'er forget that happy night
Amang the rigs wi' Annie, O!

I locked her in my fond embrace
Her heart was beating rarely, O!
My blessings on that happy place
Amang the rigs o' barley, O!
But by the moon and stars so bright
That shone that hour so clearly, O!
She aye shall bless that happy night
Amang the rigs o' barley, O!
Corn rigs and barley rigs
Corn rigs are bonnie
I'll ne'er forget that happy night
Amang the rigs wi' Annie, O!

I hae been blythe wi' comrades dear
I hae been merry drinkin', O!
I hae been joyful gath'rin' gear
I hae been happy thinkin', O!
But a' the pleasures e'er I saw
Tho' three times doubl'd fairly, O!
That happy night was worth them a'
Amang the rigs o' barley, O!
Corn rigs and barley rigs
Corn rigs are bonnie
I'll ne'er forget that happy night
Amang the rigs wi' Annie, O!

Place Value: M.F.K. Fisher’s Life Lessons from the Swiss Riviera’s Romantic Refuge

Contextual Keys to the Romantic Refuge
“People ask me: Why do you write about food, and eating and drinking? Why don’t you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way others do?,” Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher writes in the foreword to her 1943 book, The Gastronomical Me, “They ask it accusingly, as if I were somehow gross, unfaithful to the honor of my craft,” (353).

Fisher is the author of over 20 books published between 1937 and 1992 and is usually characterized as one of America’s greatest food writers. The author herself disliked this categorical label of ‘food writer’ and she was right to sidestep it and create her own unique genre that reaches a higher plane. She wrote about the art of eating but also the art of living. She wrote about hunger, people who are hungry, and places where hunger is satisfied. She uses food as a cultural metaphor, she gives readers a sense of place so authentic that we can taste it and, most essentially, she instructs us on how to live well.

However an honor it was to be hailed as one of America’s greatest food writers, it still implied something light, trivial, entertaining and appropriately feminine to her contemporary critics and, as she herself lamented, it "caused serious writers and critics to dismiss me for many, many years. It was woman's stuff, a trifle," (qtd. in O’Neill par. 2). Her contemporary critics praised her for her charming words about food but they could not, or would not see past the food and the clever hostess persona to acknowledge the wise life philosophies of a sage soul. Of Consider the Oyster (1941) the New Yorker’s Clifton Fadiman observes in his review that, “M.F.K. Fisher has now in her small treatise done full justice to the mild and modest mollusk,” (Poet of the Appetites 138). And E. L. Tinker, for the New York Times, describes it simply as a, “gay, pleasant and instructive book,” (Poet of the Appetites 138). Critics called her next book, How to Cook a Wolf (1941), “lively, amusing, intelligent; and a real cook book too,” (Poet of the Appetites 146). And the aforementioned Fadiman wrote in the New Yorker, “M.F.K. Fisher writes about food as others do about love, only better,” (Poet of the Appetites 146).

But my main argument is that food was simply the medium, the vehicle, Fisher used to deliver her beliefs about human nature, needs, passions and her values. To develop and justify this claim, it is valuable to examine Fisher’s writing about a specific, significant place - the place where it may be proposed that she ate, drank, loved and felt more alive than any other. It is a place where her values about the art of living began to crystallize – a safe haven in a turbulent, mean world where she attained the self-actualization required to become aware of, mentally formulate and practice her version of good living. The place is the Swiss Riviera on the banks of Lake Leman and the time, for this too is important, is the few years preceding the Second World War in Europe.

Fisher’s writing about life on the Swiss Riviera needs to be examined by looking at the context of this place as Fisher found it when she first arrived and then by understanding Fisher’s experiences here, the recurrence of the place in her works, and how she plies these stories to teach readers about her values in regard to the art of living.

Fisher first made her acquaintance with the Swiss Riviera in early March 1936, at the tender age of 27, with her illicit lover Dillwyn Parrish and his elderly mother. She had just finished writing her first book, Serve it Forth, a journey through history from the most ancient cookbook still in existence to the nineteenth-century culinary scene. The trio stayed in Vevey, the palm fringed resort town of the Lavaux region of French Switzerland, set among the steeply terraced vineyards between Lausanne and Montreux.

Fisher was doubtless as fully aware of the region’s rich history as a writers’ and artists’ refuge as she was of the glittering lake and soaring Alps. She knew the Café de la Clef in Vevey where Jean-Jacques Rousseau famously took his tipples. She rode the steamboat to the Château de Chillon where Byron was inspired to write, The Prisoner of Chillon. She stayed at the Hotel de Trois Couronnes, the setting of Henry James’ novel Daisy Miller. The stunning natural scenery and liberal spirit of this region had already been the incubator of Mary Shelley’s (and Frankenstein’s) monster, Edward Gibbon’s monumental The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, T.S. Elliot’s The Waste Land and more. It was where Nabokov retired to hunt butterflies after writing Lolita and where many more literary notables, among them Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, James Fenimore Cooper, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harriet Beecher Stowe and August Strindberg, either lived or wrote or wrote about. Fisher knew all this and she even planned to write a book about the time around the French Revolution when, “all the little villages around the lake swarmed with brilliant refugees from France. Mme. Récamier and Mme. de Staël had their salons, then, and Brillat-Savarin flitted around the edges…” (Dubious Honors 139). This was the romantic refuge that welcomed Fisher that spring.

She stayed for three weeks, visiting Parrish’s property Le Pâquis for the first time, dining in his favorite restaurants, visiting the market in Vevey and going to afternoon tea dances. She wrote to her husband Al, left at home in California, about her experiences with the wonderful foods and the exquisite wines of the Lavaux, “I have shifted my loyalty to them from the wines of Alsace. Here they are pale topaz in color, very thin, not at all sweet, rather lemony, very delightful and refreshing and not at all sleepy...” (Poet of the Appetites 90). She wrestled with another kind of loyalty as well, knowing she was in love with Parrish but still “profoundly attached to Al. Even while I hurried to New York for such an odd jaunt, with Al’s apparently hearty approval, I was making plans for the next year with him [Parrish], the rest of my life with him,” (The Gastronomical Me 463).

She also recalls how this trip had also exposed her to real evil for the first time in her life, describing her experiences on their transatlantic crossing with Germans who raised the first drink of every meal to a portrait of Hitler, “There was indeed too much ugliness on that pretty little ship. It was all a part of what is happening now in the world, and has always happened and always will happen while men stunt their souls,” (The Gastronomical Me 464). On the boat home after this first trip to Le Pâquis Fisher knew that life and the world as she knew it had changed and she reflected, “The world I had thought to go back to was gone. I knew it, and I wondered how I could make Al know it too, and help build a new one,” (The Gastronomical Me 468).

The new world solution was an unusual one. Parrish invited the Fishers to join him in Switzerland and they went in the fall of 1936, to help Parrish build and inaugurate the little vigneron cottage and meadow at Le Pâquis into a haven for literary and artistic friends. The threesome leased a car and an apartment together but all the while they planned and built at Le Pâquis, their own situation crumbled. Fisher naively believed that their unusual arrangement might work and one early summer evening at Le Pâquis, before Al finally left them and with her parents visiting, she even discovered one of her own recipes for heaven: to gather your loved ones around you and feed them from your own garden. In the aftermath of Fisher’s own emotional crises and under the shadow of growing political unrest in Europe, she gathered up more of her own lessons for living a good life: to be stimulating, to listen to your hunger, to find your place in this world. In the following essay I will focus on the passages from Fisher’s works that she sets in the Lavaux and that teach us about the art of living.

To feed loved ones from your garden
In the chapter titled P is for Peas in An Alphabet for Gourmets (1949), Fisher paints a portrait of a special dinner, one early summer evening, when one of her life philosophies crystallizes through the discovery of her own personal recipe for heaven on earth: to gather your loved ones around you and feed them from your own garden. She writes of how she gathered her loved ones in the garden of Le Pâquis with its full view of the lake, vineyards and “ancient apple tree heavily laden with button-sized green fruit, plums coloring on the branches at the far end near the little meadow that gave Le Pâquis its name,” (664). Fisher had planted peas in the dark, healthy soil of their terraced garden and now Parrish, Al and Fisher’s father Rex, picked the first ripe peas of the season, Fisher’s mother Edith shelled them and Fisher herself was the liaison between them who, “dashed up and down the steep terraces with the baskets,” (664).

She was finely attentive to her gathered loved ones, “my mother would groan and then hum happily when another [basket] appeared, and below I could hear my father and our friends cursing just as happily at their wry backs and their aching thighs, while the peas came off their stems and into the baskets with a small sound audible in that still high air…” (664). But she does not mention the tensions that must have tainted the still high air that night, with the younger three plainly knowing that Al would soon go and Fisher would stay on as Parrish’s mistress and that the secret lovers’ relationship would soon be allowed to come into full bloom in that beautiful place.

With the peas shelled, the fire hot and the water boiling, Fisher, “tossed in the peas, a good six quarts or more, and slapped on the heavy lid as if a devil might get out. The minute the steam showed I shook the whole like mad. Someone brought me a curl of thin pink ham and a glass of cold wine from the fountain. Revivified, if that were any more possible, I shook the pot again,” (665).

While the sweet butter, embossed with a portrait of local hero William Tell, melts into the peas, Fisher regards her gathered loved ones and learns her important life lesson:
‘Time, gentleman, time,’ my mother called in an unrehearsed and astonishing imitation of a Cornish barmaid. […] I looked up at the terrace, a shambles of sawed beams, cement mixers, and empty sardine tins left from the workmen’s lunches. There sat most of the people in the world I loved, in a thin light that was pink with Alpen glow, blue with a veil of pine smoke from the hearth. Their voices sang with a certain remoteness into the clear air, and suddenly from across the curve of the Lower Corniche a cow in Monsiuer Rogivue’s orchard moved her head among the flowers and shook her bell in a slow melodious rhythm, a kind of hymn. My father lifted up his face at the sweet sound and, his fists all stained with green-pea juice, said passionately, ‘God, but I feel good!’ I felt near to tears. (666)

Why is this particular story the one that persisted in my thoughts the first time I read this book? Not only does Fisher paint with the rich colors of nostalgia, with immediacy and sharpness, but she also intentionally and completely leaves out any mention of her emotional crises coming to a head or the growing political tensions in Europe. It is a beautiful, frozen moment with an essence and essential message to readers that would be lost in messy context if Fisher were not to isolate it and serve it thus up as a stand-alone dish.

This scene illustrates in particular how Fisher, who never let a table nor a story be set by chance, leaves what she considers less important unsaid and makes us know that this pivotal moment in her life is about something entirely different. She shelters us from the irrelevant and teaches us a crucial lesson by sharing how she discovered her own recipe for heaven and complete happiness: “and again I recalled Sidney Smith, who once said that his idea of Heaven (and he was a cleric!) was pâte de foie gras to the sound of trumpets. Mine, that night and this night too, is fresh green garden peas, picked and shelled by my friends, to the sound of a cowbell,” (667).

We must all find our own recipe for our personal idea of heaven and Fisher suggests we start by gathering our loved ones around us and feeding them from our own gardens. However thorny, strained or complicated our relationships with each other may be, love is simplified and fortified by working side-by-side and breaking bread together. And the act of planting seeds, tending them and caring for them with the ultimate aim of giving nourishment and a wonderful taste sensation to your loved ones, may be one of the truest ways to show love, just as the stomach, proverbially, is the quickest way to the heart. The garden motif, and the way Fisher censors the conflicts from her version of the story, also carries my thoughts to another famous Lake Leman literary luminary, François-Marie Arouet, more famously known by his pen name Voltaire. In the conclusion of his satirical novel Candide the main character finally decides that rather than spend our lives wondering about good and evil or right and wrong, our most important task in life is to cultivate our own gardens, literally to feed ourselves and our families, and figuratively to remember our roots and to cultivate our relationships.

This first life lesson is also deeply relevant in our modern, mechanized, mass-production society where many have become out of touch with the origins of the foods we eat and the care and time involved in preparing traditional slow-cooked meals. Reading this chapter reminds me that the consequences of this impersonal relationship to food unequivocally affect our relationships as well as our quality of life. It makes me more determined than ever to cultivate my own garden and support the current trend for organic and fair-trade foods, the slow food movement, local farmer’s markets and seasonal cuisine. Showing respect for food means that we respect our own health, we respect our family and friends, and we respect the earth and all the living things that share it. Finally, the garden might also be a biblical reference to the heavenly Eden which Fisher feared would disappear forever as the spell of the still high air and fresh peas broke. It may also be a reminder to readers to savor beautiful moments and appreciate your friends and family while you have them with you.

To be stimulating
One of Fisher’s strongest convictions, in her writing, at table and in life, was to shock and surprise. She seemed to feel that not only was it her duty as a hostess, but also as a writer, to give food for thought – to provoke and challenge the souls of her dinner guests and readers alike. She relished every chance she had to stimulate the minds and souls of her readers, her dinner guests, and everyone else she had occasion to meet, with her completely personal way of approaching the world. This contrarian nature is a distinguishing facet of Fisher’s personality and is one of the essential features that makes her writing so refreshing and unique. Lewis Gannett described this trait in her writing as a, “faintly Gothic perversity,” (qtd. in O’Neill par. 17). Fisher proclaims that surprising and shocking her audience, whatever the situation, is a personal mission, observing, "I spent hours in my kitchen cooking for people, trying to blast their safe, tidy little lives with a tureen of hot borscht and some garlic-toast and salad, instead of the fruit cocktail, fish, meat, vegetable, salad, dessert and coffee they tuck daintily away seven times a week," (qtd. in O’Neill par. 13).

She also prepares small literary surprises for her readers that she hopes will startle enough to make sure that we are paying attention, such as this passage in How to Cook a Wolf: The recipe comes from an American woman who, for various reasons both sociological and esthetic, lived in Switzerland before this war. Although she was almost a stranger to me, I admired her house and many of the meals she served there, high above the lake with the vineyards pressing as close as their Swiss discretion dared against the terrace and the kitchen and the wide windows. She was I … and her recipe was good. (345)

Later in the same chapter she recommends serving this recipe, which incidentally is for eggs with anchovies, with young Dézaley wine, strong coffee and “a marc du Valais, rather yellow and well able to jar your guests slightly where they sit,” (346). Giving her guests a jolt serves to make the moment more memorable so that they will forever have what happens next burned clearly into their long-term memory: “The summer fireworks would start across the lake at Evian, and the baker boy who worked at night in Vevey would come hurtling down the road on his bicycle, yelling like a hilarious banshee as he took the curves of the Corniche,” (346).

Fisher is alluding to how the memories of her own stimulating life at Le Pâquis gave her much to reflect on and savor during the difficult times that were to come, for her and Parrish as well as for Europe, when she foreshadows, “The marc would make a warmth in you that might well last for several colder years,” (346).

In The Gastronomical Me, Fisher recalls with delight how their plans for Le Pâquis, “disturbed and shocked the architect and all the contractors for floor and plumbing and such, because it was designed so that we, the owners of the place, could be its cooks and servants,” (487). With this passage she clearly reveals how much she enjoyed being the foreigner that the locals marvel at and she further reveals her passion for shock value when she goes on to describe her proudest moments at Le Pâquis as the hostess of meals that left their Swiss friends, “baffled and titillated,” (487). She remembers one dinner especially, for a odd mix of expatriates and friends from Montreux, who, “knew us only in restaurants and as dancing partners and such until then […] and they were frankly curious about the house and the way we lived, so different from anything they knew,” (487-88). Fisher merrily recounts how she, in all her craftiness, prepared all the food in advance, stowed it away out of sight and then set the stage with, “conventional canapés…for the conventional people we knew our guests to be, so that they would not be alarmed at the start …” (488). After the conventional canapés and some polite conversation, Fisher lets their very polite, conventional guests squirm a little and she enjoys every moment of it: And when [the guests] wandered up the stair into what they could only guess to be a kind of stage-kitchen, they saw no signs and smelled no smells of supper, their faces were long and dismal under all the politeness. Chexbres and I let them suffer until we thought the alcoholic intake was fairly well adjusted to their twelve or fifteen rather jaded bodies. Then, with the smug skill of two magicians, we flicked away the empty glasses and the tired canapés, and slid the salad and the rolls into place on the old dresser. He gave the ragoût a few odorous stirs … and the puzzled hungry people, almost tittering with relief and excitement, flocked like children into the kitchen for their suppers. They ate and ate, and talked as they had not dared talk for too many years, and laughed a great deal. (488-89)

This scene gives us a clue to Fisher’s motive in her mission to surprise and provoke people. She was a nonconformist in true form and, rather than settle at that, she also desired to shake other people awake to their senses and their hungers so they can learn to enjoy themselves more and know themselves better. She hopes to set others free from conformity and on the path to self-actualization. In Serve it Forth she writes explicitly about her belief in food’s particular ability to awaken us to, “our own powers of enjoyment,” (59) and she compares the way she has learned to eat in France and French Switzerland with the American eating habits: … there is a gusto, a frank sensuous realization of food, that is pitifully unsuspected in, say, the college boarding-house or corner cafe of an American town. In America we eat, collectively, with a glum urge for food to fill us. We are ignorant of flavor. We are as a nation taste-blind. . . . Ten million men rush every noontime for their ham-on-white and cherry Coke. Those ten million men may die taste-blind as well as stomach-ulcered, unless they are shocked into recognition of their own powers of enjoyment. It might be good if you could go to them, quietly, and say, "Please, sir, stop a minute and listen to me. . . ." Some of those ten million men would listen. Some of them would eat with their minds for the first time. You would be a missionary, bringing flavour and light to the taste-blind. And that is a destiny not too despicable. (58-59)

Fisher felt it her duty to shock the ‘taste-blind’ whenever she got the chance and this special mission of hers is closely linked with the next of Fisher’s values I will examine – the value of listening to your hunger.

To listen to your hunger
Fisher believed unequivocally that when we learn to listen to and understand our hunger for food and learn to eat and enjoy food with our minds, we also learn to listen to, understand and satisfy our needs for security and love. We thus restore our souls because, as she teaches us, the basic needs of food, security and love are one hunger. In the foreword to The Gastronomical Me (1943), we find her answer to the ever recurrent question of why she writes about food and eating instead of, “the struggle for power and security and about love,” (353). Her answer is, simply, that she is in fact writing about security and love even though we may not notice it. This brief passage sums up her life philosophy: Like most humans, I am hungry. But there is more than that. It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it … and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied … and it is all one. (353)

The year she wrote these words, 1943, is significant for a few reasons. She was back in the United States after being forced to leave her dear Le Pâquis home as Europe became consumed by war. She had lost her garden of Eden and then lost the love of her life. Parrish battled the rare, excruciating Beurger’s disease but finally took his own life in 1941. The United States, just risen from the throes of the Great Depression that had marked her native country for all of her adult life, was now also embroiled in the midst of the second great world war and Fisher was alone.

Interestingly, 1943 was the same year that American psychologist Abraham Maslow published his hierarchy of needs theory which echoed (or perhaps influenced) her philosophy. According to his ranking of basic needs, humans cannot feel love or security until they have satisfied their physical hunger. Fisher could certainly have been a subject for his biographical analysis of self-actualizers who are characterized by their non-conformism, strong values, social interest in solving problems, great capacity for enjoying life’s pleasures both great and small, and the ability to transcend commonly rigid dichotomies, such as the opposition of the physical and spiritual. Fisher touches on this with her conviction that feeding our physical hunger for food is the stepping stone to being able to feed our greater hungers for security, love and to reaching self-actualization and observes that, “there is food in the bowl … and there is nourishment in the heart to feed wilder, more insistent hungers,” and that “there is a communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk,” (353).

Based on her own personal experiences from her last year in Switzerland, of blackouts, rations and psychological terror during the onset of war in Europe, Fisher wrote How To Cook A Wolf (1942) for readers dealing with the hysteria of blackouts, searchlights, air raid drills, shortages and rations that engulfed California in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Every chapter of the book was a practical “how to” on how to survive the physical and psychological hardships of war in which she argued for the basic premise that, “since we must eat to live, we might as well do it with both grace and gusto,” (350). This becomes a strategy for sustaining the will to live, for hope, for comfort and for continuing to find small pleasures in life, even in times of horror, conflict, turmoil and when all hope seems lost. Later in her life, she went back to this book and added a new conclusion where she articulates this purpose more distinctly: I believe that one of the most dignified ways we are capable of, to assert and then reassert our dignity in the face of poverty and war’s fears and pains, is to nourish ourselves with all possible skill, delicacy, and ever-increasing enjoyment. And with our gastronomical growth will come, inevitably, knowledge and perception of a hundred other things, but mainly of ourselves. Then Fate, even tangled as it is with cold wars as well as hot, cannot harm us. (350)

Today, when I write the word - hunger - I think of the approximately 800 million people who suffer from chronic hunger worldwide, those stomachs and souls who are hungry from the day they are born until the often premature death that quietly takes some 20,000 lives every day. And suddenly, when we think of these hungry souls from Fisher’s perspective the tragedy is terribly magnified. But Fisher is strangely silent on the topic of the world hunger epidemic and one can only wonder about how she could have applied her wisdom to help solve this global tragedy. Instead, she focused her attentions on the spiritual hunger of the developed world and how to remedy this. She served forth lessons that she believed can make us better and happier individuals. She pointedly rejected the other common solutions for how to be good and achieve serenity of mind and body, such as any religion that advocates stifling our animal passions and natural sensuality with puritanical self-discipline. Fisher prescribes us instead to nurture, reflect on and savor our sensuality and our hungers: I cannot count the good people I know who, to my mind, would be even better if they bent their spirits to the study of their own hungers. There are too many of us, otherwise in proper focus, who feel an impatience for the demands of our bodies, and who try throughout our whole lives, none too successfully, to deafen ourselves to voices of our various hungers. Some stuff the wax of religious solace in our ears. Others practice a Spartan if somewhat pretentious disinterest in the pleasures of the flesh, or pretend that if we do not admit our sensual delight in a ripe nectarine we are not guilty … of even that tiny lust! (350)

The result of being honest with ourselves, kinder to ourselves and accepting of our own private sensual hungers as Fisher teaches us, may be that we also learn to be more kind and accepting of our fellow humans for who they are as individuals. Self-actualization sets us free from prejudice and makes us more compassionate, more generous and more human.

To find your place in this world
Fisher seems to believe in the Socratic philosophy that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” and almost all of her writing is rich with examinations of and reflections on her life. One work stands out especially in this. The Gastronomical Me (1943) is a true chronicle of Fisher’s life, spanning the events from 1912 to 1941, including her happy years at Le Pâquis and the tragedy of Parrish’s illness and death. The book opens with this quote by George Santayana, “to be happy you must have taken the measure of your powers, tasted the fruits of your passion, and learned your place in the world,” (351).

It is clear from this book that Fisher felt that she had found her place in this world, in her writing, in love, and in the physical world, and it was with Parrish or through Parrish that she found all three of these. He is the man who encouraged her to write and the audience she wrote for. He remains the love of her life and he gave her life at Le Pâquis. In her writing it almost seems as if she does not distinguish between the place and the man – they are one. Further evidence of Fisher’s intense feel for place value is found in that she used the name Chexbres as a ‘code’ name for Parrish in many of her books. In reality, Chexbres is the name of the small village located closest to their dear Le Pâquis. When she writes in The Gastronomical Me about her longing to be back at Le Pâquis as she endures yet another slow Atlantic crossing alone, it is ambiguous whether she feels most longing for the man or for the place when she pines, “my whole reason for being lay ahead of me, on the lake near Vevey in the Canton of Vaud, and I was hurrying there as irrevocably as a lemming hurries to the sea cliff, through poisoned fields and fire and flood to what he longs for,” (519). One suspects that in her heart the man, the place and her experience there are one entity. Fisher writes with the greatest tenderness and real, fierce ardor about her place in the world: Un pâquis, the French dictionary says, is a grazing ground or pasture. But when we bought our home in Switzerland, and found that it had been called Le Pâquis for several centuries by all the country people near it, we knew that it meant much more than pasture to them….One reason our Pâquis had this special meaning was that it was almost the only piece of land in all the abrupt terraced steeps of the wine coast … that did not have grapes on it. Instead it was a sloping green meadow … the ancient soil was covered with a dazzling coat always … there was a fountain, too, … and people walking up the long pull from lake level knew it as well as they knew their mothers, and stopped always to drink … And all those things…fresh spouting water, the little brook under the willows, the old rich bending trees, the grass so full of life there on the terraced wine-slopes laced by a thousand tiny vineyards…they were why when the peasants said Le Pâquis they meant The Dear Little Meadow, or The Sweet Cool Resting Place, or something like that but more so. (483-84)

This passage, as well as the rest of the chapters in The Gastronomical Me about her idyllic time at in Switzerland, is a declaration of real love for a place. Le Pâquis influenced and let her live out many of her most important life philosophies: it was set surprisingly there among the steep vineyards, so different from all that surrounded it, it let her relish being the charming foreigner with intriguingly different ideas, it was a place to stop, rest and reflect, to quench one’s thirst and restore one’s soul, it gave her magically rich soil in which to grow food and feed her loved ones and rich ground for cultivating her relationships, her writing talent and her life values. If it were not for the war, would she have ever left?

Longing for Le Pâquis
In June of 1939, the situation in Europe and the mounting war forced them to sell Le Pâquis and plan their return to the United States. In recalling these last days much later in her life in As They Were (1982) Fisher describes feeling stunned, drugged and disbelieving as they undertook the work to pack up their home at Le Pâquis and lock it up tight for the last time:
…we could not believe our friends were right to make us do it. All of Europe stretched and sang under a warm sun; the crops were good; people walked about and ate and drank and smiled dreamily, like drugged cancer sufferers. Everyone was kind to us, not consciously thinking that we might never meet again, but actually knowing that it was so. (49)

Back in the United States, Fisher’s life was increasingly troubled. Parrish, and later Fisher’s younger brother committed suicide, the war grew to involve the United States, her mother died after a long illness and Fisher experienced economic troubles, failed love affairs, and struggled to write. The births of her two daughters was a break in the downward spiral and Fisher took them to spend several years of their childhood living abroad in a now peaceful Europe. She even tried to rent Le Pâquis for them but, to her heartbreak, it had been sold and sold again and was not available for hire. Instead she arranged prolonged stays in Lugano, another Swiss lakeside paradise with great cultural and literary attraction, and a country chateau outside Aix-en-Provence that reminded her vividly of her Le Pâquis and the charmed life she led there with Parrish, with a fairytale view of a verdant meadow filled with flowers. In a letter to her sister about their last experience together at Le Pâquis she reminisces, “there are at least ten different kinds in the posy the children picked yesterday for me … pink and purple vetches and dark blue lupines … it gives me a strange feeling to have my children bring in what I last saw there with all of us,” (qtd. in Reardon 248). It is clear that the idyll she found at Le Pâquis never left her thoughts and that she was frustrated and tired with the world she found after she left.

In 1966, with her children grown, her writing career picking up again, and growing ever more conscious of the whispers of age, she entered into a long affair with Arnold Gingrich, the man who bought Le Pâquis from her and Parrish so many years before. Then in 1969 she started hatching plans to sell her very large, long-time home in town in St. Helena, in California’s Napa Valley and build a small cottage among the vineyards in Glen Ellen, just an hour away in the Sonoma Valley. She christened it Last House and moved in during the spring of 1971. It is her last and most successful attempt at recreating the haven she found at Le Pâquis and the house holds many parallels to Le Pâquis. It was, “situated on a knoll overlooking a meadow,“ (Reardon 382). She decorated it with Parrish’s paintings and went back to a, “simpler personal life … and this is the way I’ll live until I’m no longer able to,” (qtd. in Reardon 385). She was again able to prepare surprising meals for a close menagerie of friends and serve them with local wines from the vines that grew around her house. But mostly she secluded herself in the protection of those walls, enjoyed being self-sufficient, keeping pots of herbs and flowers, cooking as it pleased her and being the eccentric, admired writer-in-residence in clear parallel to the eccentric, charming foreign hostess she was at Le Pâquis.

Though she never returned to Le Pâquis, the place recurs in her writing because of its great formative significance to her values and her image of an ideal existence. In addition, it purposely connects her with the rich literary history and literary names associated with the region. It also marked the beginning of the development of her special ability to capture the essence of a place in her writing. Last year, the Lavaux vineyards became protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in an interesting twist that preserves the, “The Sweet Cool Resting Place” that Fisher found for herself which may perhaps allow certain writers/hostesses/expatriates to learn some of life’s lessons there themselves.

In a larger context, it is interesting to conclude this discussion by analyzing how the expatriate experience of a place can powerfully affect the formation of values, especially in expatriate literature. Fisher herself believed that she achieved greater purity of prose by having to think and write in English while navigating her daily life in French. More than just in language however, the expatriate experience forces individuals to become consciously aware of and question every one of their inherent values that is set askew in the context of the new place. This necessitates a phase of self-discovery, whether it is desired or not. And then it allows for self-construction with the chance to learn a new culture, to learn it in the context of the one you carry with you, and not as a relatively helpless, accepting child, but as a curious, independent and questioning adult. I believe that it was this process that allowed Fisher to crystallize her perspectives on what is truly important in life and how to live it well during her years at Le Pâquis. It is well known that this process has been a part of producing some of the greatest American literature and the expatriate American in Europe is a familiar archetype but in the course of writing this paper I have become convinced that literary geography, both natural and cultural, and literary expatriation merit deeper attention in future literary research.

Works cited
Primary Sources:
Fisher, M.F.K. The Art of Eating 50th Anniversary Edition. New Jersey: Wiley Publishing, 2004. Compilation of works first published in book form under the titles: Serve it Forth (1937), Consider the Oyster (1941), How to Cook a Wolf (1942), The Gastronomical Me (1943), and An Alphabet for Gourmets (1949).

Fisher, M.F.K. As They Were. New York: Knopf, 1982.

Fisher, M.F.K. Dubious Honors. San Francisco: North Point Press, 1988.

Secondary Sources:
Reardon, Joan. Poet of the Appetites: The Lives and Loves of M.F.K. Fisher. New York: North Point Press, 2004.

O’Neill, Molly. “M.F.K. Fisher, Writer on the Art of Food and the Taste of Living, Is Dead at 83”. New York Times. June 24th, 1992. www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/18/home/fisher-obit.html

Big adventures in little Sweden

My travel feature about the Swedish province of Halland has been published in the Spring 2008 issue of The Scandinavian Insider magazine.

Photo: Jesper Pettersson

Destination Halland
Big adventures in little Sweden

If you had to choose just one province in Sweden to visit, it would have to be Halland. No other can give you the soft sandy beaches and agricultural riches of the South, the smooth rock archipelagos and abundant seafood of the West and the misty lakes, rushing torrents and silent pine forests of the North all in one neat package, roughly the size of Delaware.

Halland is just 150 kilometres from end to end and, at its widest point, 80 kilometres from side to side but this is a crossroads where the endless forest that dominates the rest of Sweden, tumbles down to the undulating fertile plains and sandy dune beaches of the south. For over 750 years, it was also where Sweden met Denmark, along Halland’s eastern border, until Halland was ceded to Sweden at the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. Hiking, biking, horseback riding and paddling trails crisscross the province, link in to the North Sea Trial and North Sea Cycle Route and make this a mecca for outdoor adventurers. The four mighty rivers, the Viskan, Ätran, Nissan, and Lagan, famous for their salmon, offer fishing and rafting opportunities as they carve their way to the Kattegat where Sweden’s best windsurfing spots bristle with colourful sails year round.

The combined population of the tiny province’s mere six municipalities, Halmstad, Falkenberg, Varberg, Kungsbacka, Hylte, and Laholm, is not quite 300,000 but Halland has boasted the greatest percentage population growth of all the Swedish provinces for the last 30 years running and it is no wonder. Tourists flock to the gorgeous sandy beaches, practically doubling the population every summer, and many stay when they find out that Halland residents live the longest and enjoy some of the lowest taxes in the country. The local food is another magnet and Halland’s superb agricultural base has also produced no less that seven winners of Sweden’s esteemed Chef of the Year prize. The best restaurants are in Halmstad, the province’s largest and liveliest town, and your perfect home base for an adventure in Halland.

Earthly pleasures in Halmstad
Halmstad has stood guard at the mouth of the Nissan River in southern Halland for 700 years and offers visitors 45 kilometres of beach to choose from in addition to the riverside walks in the heart of town. Most of the main sights are on the northwest bank of the river including the striking russet-red Halmstad Castle built in the early 1600’s by Danish King Christian IV and where you will conveniently find the tourist information office. The beautiful full rigger Najaden, built in 1897 as a sail training ship for the Swedish Navy, is moored out back and welcomes visitors to a café and museum on board during the summer.

Head upstream to the main square, Stortorget, set one block back from the river and duck into Saint Nikolai Church, as old as the town itself, to catch candy-coloured rays of sun from the prized stained glass windows. Then follow the pedestrian street, Storgatan, past shops, cafés, bars and restaurants to Norre Port, the preserved northern gate and ramparts of the city. Through the gate is the green oasis of Norre Katt Park on the banks of Nissan River with its sweet summer café and the Museum of Halmstad. The museum hosts permanent exhibitions on the art and history of Halmstad and Halland and also runs the open air museum, Hallandsgården, a short walk away among the beech trees on Galgeberget Hill. Climb the Rapunzel tower on top of the hill for spectacular views of town and the bay and then treat yourself to fresh waffles served with whipped cream and jam at the Hallandsgården Café.

Book your table for dinner at Pio Bar & Matsalar, Lilla Helfwetet or Fridolf’s Krog, the three most popular restaurants in town. Pio is famous their giant planked steaks, exhaustive wine list and locally rooted menu which features pike-perch from nearby Lake Bolmen and venison from Ulvered’s Deer Park in Laholm’s municipality. At Lilla Helfwetet (Little Hell) black walls and gilded swaths set the netherworldly mood and ghostly chandeliers illuminate the cavernous interior of a former electric company. The original steel beams and huge hooks are still there, and may or may not see action when the restaurant becomes a nightclub after dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. Their extensive list of wines by the glass reveals happy surprises and the flambé trolley keeps the dining room warm, turning out one succulent fillet of beef flambé diablo after the other.

Halmstad is, perhaps more than anything, synonymous with summer days on the sand and after beach parties with live music on the big outdoor stage in Tylösand. The king of the sand is none other than Per Gessle, he of Roxette fame, whose own resort, Hotel Tylösand, is set right in the dunes. The hotel is also Sweden’s largest art gallery, a luxury spa, and an entertainment palace with bars, live music, and several restaurants including the gourmet Akvarell, considered one of the best restaurants in Halland. Visit the spa at least, if you choose to stay elsewhere, for a spell of sublime relaxation in the warm, saltwater balcony pool. As you gaze out to sea you may glimpse one of Tylösand’s wild foxes loping silently through the dunes. A few steps from the beach is the Halmstad Golf Club, the best of Halmstad’s 13 courses, where LPGA elite played for the prestigious Solheim Cup in 2007.

Forgo the downtown hotels in favour of the irresistibly cosy Hovgårds Bed & Breakfast, set right between Halmstad and Tylösand and at easy biking distance from either. Your friendly hosts, Tore and Eva, have converted their old stall building into 12 charming, airy double rooms, decorated by Eva who is also a designer. Bicycles are included in the price of your room so off you go for homemade Italian ice cream and sorbet at the World of Riccardo ice cream parlour down the road. Stop in at the Mjellby Art museum nearby to see fifty years of cubist and surrealist art by the famed Halmstad Group and exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.

A little further on, but still easy biking distance, is Heagård. This massive, magnificent stall building from 1877 is now home to a gallery for local artists and artisans, a country café and one of Halland’s finest restaurants, Heagårds Skafferi. The dining room’s ambience, so arresting with its crimson-coloured, vaulted ceiling, and the menu, so carefully in step with each season and so reverential of local delicacies, make this a veritable temple to Hallandian gastronomy.

Before you leave Halmstad, be sure to try the local Kvibille cheddar and blue dessert cheeses, which won the highest international honours at the 2007 World Cheese Awards in London, and the milk, yogurt and creamy fresh cheese from Wapnö Dairy just outside town. Visitors are welcome to dairy’s shop and are encouraged to view their happy cows riding the milking carousel and to look in on the calves.

Go directly to Falkenberg, do not pass go
Cruise north on the scenic coastal road from Halmstad to Falkenberg, to explore the new town on the Swedish Monopoly board. Stop in at the beautifully thatched and Falun-red Ringsegården Konst & Café on the way, for expansive sea views and natural art. Then continue to Falkenberg, where the Ätran River flows into the Kattegat and where you can fish for salmon in the heart of town. Stroll the rounded cobbles of the old town, past a rainbow of little wooden houses, and follow the river upstream from the ancient Tullbron Bridge on the Doctor’s Promenade trail. Have lunch at Gustaf Bratt’s, under the beams in the old granary, or at every salmon lover’s favourite restaurant and delicatessen, Laxbutiken. Finish off with some of the luscious local Sia ice cream and a walk on sandy Skrea beach.

Head out of town and into Falkenberg’s back country for some special self-catering places to stay. Alvhaga Vildmark Ecoturism rents rustic cabins and quaint summer cottages around Lake Fegen and offers sustainable fishing and hunting activities. If you love a bargain, join the price-conscious hordes of shoppers at the legendary Gekås Ullared, Sweden’s largest low-price shopping destination. Last year 3.8 million shoppers bought, among other things, 12 million pairs of socks and 2,000 tons of candy and a delivery truck arrives to the story every ten minutes of every day just to keep the shelves full.

A perfect day in Varberg
Varberg’s coastline curls into sandy coves separated by the rocky outcrops that dominate the shore from here on up. Ride the waves in Apelviken, Sweden’s premiere windsurfing beach, or just admire the show from your table at Majas Vid Havet gourmet beach restaurant. Hike around the colossal 14th century Varberg Fästning, once a fortress, then a prison, and now alive with museums, a unique hostel where you sleep in former prison cells, and the snug Hus Nr 13 Vin & Skafferi restaurant and wine cellar that serves meals in the sheltered little garden when the weather is fine. Below the fortress, fishing boats and ferries to Denmark weigh anchor and the ornate sauna and bathhouses offers a wholesome retreat.

Party-central is the nearby Moorish style Societetshuset, built in 1880, with two great restaurants, a café, pub and nightclub. For the best live music, best beach views and great brunches make your way to Fridas Mat & Musik restaurant in Kärrdal’s cove. Or for one of Halland’s most unusual dining experiences venture into the beech forest near Tvååker to the Öströö Sheep Farm. Go on a sheep safari to meet one of Sweden’s largest herds of Gotland Sheep with their soft corkscrew curly wool. Pick up a picnic basket, a bottle of wine in the café and find a quiet spot in the park or enjoy a gourmet spread of organic lamb dishes and homemade, spiced schnapps under the vaulted ceiling down in the old distillery cellar.

Time travelling in Kungsbacka
Kungsbacka is Halland’s northernmost municipality, the town proper lies just 20 kilometres south of Gothenburg, and is the horseradish capital of Sweden. Virtually all horseradish consumed in Sweden is grown here and most of that at Anderssons Pepparotsodling, an organic horseradish farm in Fjärås. Come for the harvest in early May and horseradish-themed dinners at the local restaurants with such improbable delights as horseradish pickled herring and horseradish ice cream. For more local gastronomy try the goat cheeses from Skogagårds Mejeri, probably Sweden’s smallest dairy, and visit Högens Gård, an organic dairy and farm that offer guided group tours.

Mount the rise past Fjärås church to see another of Kungsbacka’s treasures, the spectacular Fjärås Bräcka ridge, and gasp in astonishment when the misleadingly tame landscape suddenly drops 55 metres to Lake Lyngern. Take the little road that runs along the crest of this ancient land bridge for lake views that will have you craning your neck for more. Continue your journey through simpler times at the immaculately preserved hamlet of Äskhult nearby, where a cluster of beautifully weathered houses huddles around a cobbled square and the fields of heirloom crops spread out beyond.

Spend a sunny afternoon at Tjolöholms Slott, a grand Tudor manor house, built at the turn of the century on little peninsula in Kungsbacka Fjord. Take a turn around the manicured garden, go for a swim, join a guided tour of the sumptuous Art Nouveau interior and hire a one of the former staff cottages for spring getaway. Another special place to stay is near the seaside village of Åsa at Freadals Trädgårdscafé Bed & Breakfast, with cosy, country chic rooms, a garden café and popular Sunday dinners.

Water water everywhere in Hylte
Hylte, the only municipality without Kattegat coastline, more than compensates with its 300 lakes that offer excellent fishing, swimming and canoeing waters. Unnaryd, a spruce little village on the banks of Lake Unnen, is worth a journey to take the waters of the Alebo mineral spring and unwind at lakeside Alebo Pensionat, a butter coloured, gingerbread trimmed guesthouse and restaurant with slow food ideals. Take the little forest road out of town to Tiraholms Fisk, a unique fish restaurant, music pub and fish and farm shop on the banks of Lake Bolmen. Borrow a boat and catch your own dinner and stay in their darling self-catering country cottage.

Laholm, the river pearl
The great Hallandsåsen Ridge marks the border to Skåne in Laholm, Halland’s southernmost municipality. Hike the ridge, try the toboggan track at Kungsbygget and plan to come back in late summer for the seas of blueberries and in winter for powder on Sweden’s most southerly ski slopes. Stay at the Vallåsen Lodge up on the ridge (which also has a great restaurant) or in town at the delightful Laholm Stadshotell, where you can choose which decade you would like to live in. Each room is decorated in a different decade from 1920 to today, down to the last detail.

The town proper of Laholm is Halland’s oldest and smallest. It is set on a little rise at a bend in the Lagan River and is home to the inimitable Björn Hellberg, Sweden’s favourite crime writer, tennis oracle and TV personality. Hellberg still lives in his childhood home, logically situated right between the hospital and the church, on one of the tidy, winding lanes in the old town. Hellberg loves the friendly village atmosphere here, which he gleefully describes as “perfect for killing”, and a walk along the river and around the heart of town will charm you too.

Laholm is also a thoroughly artsy place. It boasts one of the highest public art per capita statistics in Sweden and the exceptional Tecknings Museet, the Nordic drawing museum with over 15,000 drawings on display by the finest Swedish artists from the past four centuries. Find chocolate heaven at Cacáo, an old-world chocolate shop purveying artisan chocolates including the special Laholm truffle, the Laga Pearl, inspired by pearls once found in the river clams.

During the summer months, hop on the dainty SS Lagaholm steamboat from 1881 that carries 12 passengers at a time down the river to Melbystrand, Sweden’s longest sandy beach, and the Lagaoset dune preserve. Pack your picnic with freshly smoked fish from the smokery, the famous Laholm potato chips, some chilled Hallands Fläder (elderflower flavoured schnapps), and Sweden’s finest goat cheese, Boels Blå from Holmana Gårdsmejeri Dairy. The gastronomical wonders and great outdoors experiences of this province are endless and the art begins where nature ends. In Halland the good life is a way of life.

Mark your calendar
March
1st – Premiere for salmon and trout season on the Lagan River, Laholm
8th – Riverside Jazz Band at Stora Enens Harbour Clubhouse in Onsala, Kungsbacka
9th – Day of Silence at Dagsås Yoga in Tvååker, Varberg
15th – CajsaStina Åkerström in concert at Kungsbacka Teater, Kungsbacka
19th – Invited to Labero show in Varberg
21st – Easter market at Wapnö Gård, Halmstad
24th – Burning of the heath and guided tour of Fjärås Bräcka ridge, Kungsbacka
27th – August Strindberg’s ‘Dödsdansen’ at Laholms Teater, Laholm

April
4th – Cheese and wine tasting at Tjolöhoms Slott
10th – Björn Skifs at Halmstads Teater, Halmstad
18th – Chocolate and whisky tasting at Tjolöholms Slott, Kungsbacka
20th – Moonlight tours of Fjärås heath and Tjolöholms Slott, Kungsbacka
31st – Walpurgis concerts, bonfires and festivities throughout the province

May
1st-4th – The Konstrundan, artists and crafters hold open house throughout Halland
1st – The 30th annual classic car and motorcycle rally around Lake Lyngern, Kungsbacka
1st – Betessläppardag at Wapnö Gård to see the cows celebrate spring, Halmstad
5th – Horseradish harvest festival on Fjärås Bräcka ridge, Kungsbacka
25th – The Tjolöholm Classic Motor at Tjolöholm Slott, Kungsbacka
23rd-25th – The Lax March walking festival along the coast and the Nissan River, Halmstad
23rd-25th – The Home and Garden Show at Wapnö Gård, Halmstad
25th – Mother’s Day dinner in Wapnö Manor, Halmstad

More information for avid trip-planners
Halland Tourism www.halland.se
Halmstad Tourism www.halmstad.se/turist
Museum of Halmstad www.hallmus.se
Lilla Helfwetet Lucifer www.lillahelfwetet.se
Pio Matsal & Bar www.pio.se
Fridolfs Krog & Bar www.fridolfs.se
Hotel Tylösand www.tylosand.se
Halmstad Golf Club www.hgk.se
World of Riccardo ice cream www.riccardo.se
Heagårds Skafferi www.heagardsskafferi.com
Hovgårds B&B www.hovgard.se
Mjelby Konstmuseeum www6.halmstad.se/mjellby
Wapnö castle and modern dairy www.wapno.se.
Falkenberg Tourism www.visitfalkenberg.se
Ringsegården Art & Café www.ringsegarden.se
Gustaf Bratt’s restaurant www.bratt.nu
Sia Ice Cream Factory www.siaglass.se
Alvhaga Vildmark Ecoturism www.fegen.nu
Gekås Ullared www.gekas.se
Varberg Tourism www.turist.varberg.se
Majas vid havet restaurant www.majas.nu
Hus Nr 13 Vin & Skafferi www.hus13.se
Fridas Mat & Musik restaurant www.fridas.nu
Öströö Sheep Farm www.ostroofarfarm.com
Kungsbacka Tourism www.kungsbacka.se
Anderssons Pepparotsodling/horseradish farm www.pepparrot.se
Äskhult 18th century village www.askhultsby.se
Tjolöholms Slott www.tjoloholm.se
Freadals Trädgårdscafé Bed & Breakfast www.freadal.se
Hylte Tourism www.hylte.se
Alebo Pensionat Guest House www.alebo.se
Tiraholm’s Fish www.tiraholm.se
Laholm Tourism www.laholm.se
Ulvered’s Deer Park www.ulvereds.com
Kungsbygget www.sydalpin.se
Vallåsen lodge www.vallasensvardshus.se
Laholm Stadshotell www.laholmsstadshotell.se
Tecknings Museet www.teckningsmuseet.se
Holmana Gårdsmejeri dairy www.boels.nu

Excerpt from The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, by Selma Lagerlöf:
Finally, one morning, the geese started out and flew toward Halland.

In the beginning the boy took very little interest in that province. He thought there was nothing new to be seen there. But when the wild geese continued the journey farther south, along the narrow coast-lands, the boy leaned over the goose's neck and did not take his glance from the
ground.

He saw the hills gradually disappear and the plain spread under him, at the same time he noticed that the coast became less rugged, while the group of islands beyond thinned and finally vanished and the broad, open sea came clear up to firm land. Here there were no more forests: here the plain was supreme. It spread all the way to the horizon. A land that lay so exposed, with field upon field, reminded the boy of Skåne. He felt both happy and sad as he looked at it.

"I can't be very far from home," he thought.

South of Sweden Magazine becomes The Scandinavian Insider

The number one English magazine in Sweden has launched a new name and a new site to match. Visit The Scandinavian Insider (formerly South of Sweden Magazine) at sosmag.se/new and get a copy of the new print issue, coming in early March, which features my travel piece on the province of Halland, Sweden.

Twelve Tastes of Christmas

Impress your Swedish friends with your Christmas savvy this season. We tracked down the origins of some traditional specialties and discovered some exclusively local delicacies of Swedish Christmas cuisine.

1. DRIED REINDEER MEAT from Norrbotten
The Sami people eat reindeer meatballs, sausages, spare ribs and pâté at Christmas but it is the traditionally dried and smoked reindeer meat that is fast becoming a world-renowned delicacy.

2. VÄSTERBOTTEN CHEESE from Västerbotten
A happy culinary accident, this strong, aged cheese was allegedly first made by an amorous local dairymaid who repeatedly abandoned her duty of stirring the curd to entertain a lover.

3. VÄRMLAND’S SAUSAGE from Värmland
This local favourite is made of equal parts ground pork, ground beef and grated raw potatoes and flavoured with onion, salt, white pepper and allspice. Serve boiled and with a mustard sauce.

4. JULMUST from Örebro
Chemist Harry Roberts invented Julmust in 1910 and the recipe is a closely guarded secret at Roberts in Örebro. Coca Cola sales plunge around Christmas as Swedes abandon it for their beloved Julmust so Coca Cola finally caved, bought Julmust essence from Roberts and started making their own.

5. POLKAGRISAR from Gränna
These red-striped peppermint candies, forerunners of striped candy canes, originated in Gränna in the mid-1800’s. They were called polkagrisar, literally ‘polka pigs’, for the spirals that resembled a pig’s curly tail. A handful of polkagris factories in Gränna welcome visitors.

6. LUTEFISK from Bohuslän
Air-dried cod, reconstituted with water and lye, is a famed Nordic delicacy. The fishing village of Mollösund on Bohuslän’s coast bristled with drying racks and was a centre of lutefisk production. In Bohuslän lutefisk is served with roast pork and a buttery sauce.

7. GLÖGG from Stockholm
This Nordic version of mulled wine was first mixed as a health elixir by Stockholm chemists. Swedes now consume 5 million litres of glögg every Christmas. Make your own by infusing red wine with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and orange peel. For a show-stopping finale, sweeten the hot wine by flambéing sugar cubes in a sieve over the pot.

8. KVIBILLE ADELOST from Halland
Stewed green cabbage is the most common Christmas dish associated with Halland, but it never has gained international acclaim of the local artisanal cheeses from Kvibille. Try the whisky-flavoured adelost (blue cheese), a gold medal winner at the 2007 World Cheese Awards in London, on crisp ginger bread cookies.

9. SAFFRON PANCAKE from Gotland
It would not be Christmas on the island of Gotland without this oven-baked rice porridge made with eggs, cream, sugar, almonds and saffron. Serve it with whipped cream and wild dewberry jam.

10. KROPPKAKOR from Öland
Despite the repulsive name, literally ‘body cakes’, these savoury potato dumplings are the pride of the island and have been around since the 1700’s. At Christmas they are filled with smoked goose meat and eaten with butter and lingonberries.

11. KLENÄTER from Skåne
A tradition in Skåne since the 1500’s, these little diamond shaped cookies are flavoured with lemon peel and cognac, fried like doughnuts, and rolled in sugar. They are served at Christmas with little spoonfuls of jam and whipped cream.

12. CHRISTMAS BEER from Copenhagen
The Swedes and Danes alike brew up dark, bracing beer especially for Christmas. Each November horse drawn wagons, decked with bells and evergreen boughs, make their merry way from the breweries to downtown Copenhagen with the year’s first deliveries.

Where the Glorious Laurels Grow

My travel article about Lund, Sweden has been published in the Fall 2007 issue of South of Sweden Magazine.

Where the glorious laurels grow

Heeding the bells of Sweden’s oldest and most otherworldly cathedral, bike bound students bump along cobblestone lanes, over leafy squares, and through the glorious green of Lundagård park as they have for centuries in Lund, the ancient, cosy home of Scandinavia’s largest university. Recently crowned Sweden’s most liveable and lovable city in a nationwide ranking, the ‘city of ideas’ charms with picturesque beauty, fascinates with copious culture, and entertains with waggish nostalgia.

From heathen to highbrow
The story of Lund begins over two thousand years ago, deep in the pagan times of Thor and Odin. Lund’s name comes from the Swedish word offerlund or sacrificial grove and is as ancient as the Iron Age tribes who held court to their Norse gods and goddesses in a spot very near the town’s current location. A large, rich, and powerful Iron Age village thrived for over a thousand years on the site now known as Uppåkra but likely already then called Lund. In 990 AD Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard ordered a stave church to be built at a strategic crossroads a few kilometres away from the original settlement and the ‘new’ Lund was born.

Lund rapidly became a vibrant medieval metropolis in newly united Denmark. From the very beginning, Lundagård park was the heart of the city, soon harbouring Denmark’s largest mint, the archbishopric of all of Scandinavia, and the great, glittering sandstone cathedral. Denmark’s most important and powerful city for over 300 years, Lund lost its significance during the Reformation and was ceded to Sweden, along with the rest of Scania, under the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658.

The first bud of Lund’s flowering academic tradition, blossomed in 1085 with the founding of Katedralskolan, Scandinavia’s first school and one that is still turning out scholars as a high school. In 1666, endeavouring to inspire Swedish decorum among the spirited Scanians, the Swedish government created Lund University. Now Scandinavia’s largest institution for higher education and research, Lund University busies approximately 40,600 students and several thousand employees in furthering the critical, ethical, original, and comical thinking that distinguishes the school.

Journeys in the academic village
The pretty cobbled streets of Lund’s compact city centre invite to aimless rambling and leisurely coasting by bicycle, which earns you instant local status in this bike-loving city. Hire one from Lundahoj at the central train station for only SEK 20 a day and explore the warren of narrow streets where the campus and city intermingle and exist in perfect symbiosis. Find Adeldgatan and Lilla Tomegatan for tranquil idylls of colourful cottages and climbing roses or take Sandgatan and Sölvegatan for magnificent university buildings swathed in ivy and dripping with wisteria.

Join the ecstatic academic tumult of fall when thousands of new students are initiated into Lund’s rare world. Attend a champagne drenched ball, a rowdy student musical called a Spex, or a legendary ‘Studentafton’, an evening with a high profile guest speaker that has been a tradition in Lund since 1905. The list of past speakers is impressive and surprising, including such super-celebrities as John Steinbeck, Josephine Baker, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Roman Polanski, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Susan Sontag and Pink Floyd. Just this spring’s roster of guests included HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, Nobel Prize winning Biologist and Geneticist Andrew Fire, Silver screen legend Anita Ekberg, Muscle-bound actor Dolph Lundgren, and finally, Will Farrell, superstar comedian and one of the world’s most highly paid actors.

The doors of most university buildings are open to visitors and some conceal treasures such as the dreamy Museum of Classical Antiquities in the Department of Classics where milky white casts of classical sculptures glow in the sunshine streaming in though giant ornate windows. The university maintains the lush Lund Botanical Gardens, a magical place for strolls, picnics or kisses under the mistletoe growing on one of the apple trees. The gardens are free and open every day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Do not miss the palatial greenhouses, open from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., where tiny flightless birds dart about handling pest control.

More jewels in the university’s crown are the Museum of Sketches (Skissernas Museum), housing the world’s largest collection of sketches and models for monumental and public art, the shimmering glass and timber Ingvar Kamprad Design Centre and the vine smothered University Library. Head deep into the bowels of the rambling Academic Union castle in Lundagård and you will chance upon the quirky, nostalgic Student Museum (open on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings) and the klädkammare where you can loan one of hundreds of costumes from the union’s numerous theatrical companies. The university’s sports hall, Gerdahallen, is one of Northern Europe’s largest training and exercise centres. Practically free for students and employees of the university, Gerdahallen also offers one time passes for just SEK 50 to ordinary mortals.

Cryptic Tales
In the hauntingly beautiful crypt under Lund’s massive cathedral, an enraged little figure tears at a pillar. The legend goes that a giant built the cathedral for the people of Lund in exchange for either the sun and the moon or their priest’s eyes. However, if the priest could guess the giant’s name before the cathedral was finished, the giant would release him from the gory promise. The priest guessed in vain until the day he overheard a soft voice in the forest, comforting a crying child that father Finn would soon be home with the priest’s eyes. The priest rushed back to the cathedral shouting, “Finn!” sending the giant into a rage of destruction. By some magic Finn was instantly shrunk and turned to stone and the cathedral was saved.

The rest of Domkyrkan, Scandinavia’s most distinguished Romanesque cathedral and a three star Michelin attraction, is equally fascinating and cavernous. Join one of the tours or services in English and catch one of the frequent and free organ concerts. Visit at the stroke of twelve noon or three o’clock in the afternoon to enjoy the elaborate chiming and capering of the Horologium mirabile Lundense, a masterpiece astrological clock dating from 1424. The clock is home to the smallest of the church’s five organs and it plays In Dulci Jubilo while various knights, magi and servants mark the hour. The tolling of the ancient cathedral bells send scholars scurrying in every direction, which is why virtually every class in Lund begins at fifteen minutes past the hour, a tradition known as the akademiska kvarten or academic quarter.

Culture under blue skies and stars
Scania’s largest museum and cultural mecca, the Kulturen open-air museum, fans out from Lundagård’s eastern gate in a maze of thatch and cobble, with authentic homes and wistful gardens that preserve the Swedish way of life through the ages. Founded in 1892, Kulturen is the world’s second oldest open-air museum. The scenery and events at the museum transform with the rhythm of the seasons and captivate visitors of all ages with traditional outdoor dances in summer, ghost walks in fall and classic Christmas festivities in winter.

A 19th century dairy borders Stadsparken, Lund’s City Park, and serves as yet another cultural playground. Cleverly called the Kulturmejeriet (dairy of culture), the dairy now churns and froths with weekly salsa and swing clubs, live concerts, jazz brunches, and dance workshops.

Each autumn Lund launches a one-night-only cultural extravaganza called Kulturnatten (Culture night) that transforms the town into cultural utopia of theatrical performances, concerts, workshops, poetry readings, fashions shows, open lectures, film showings and hundreds more activities. It is easy to understand why Lund is a prime candidate in the running to become a European Capital of Culture in 2014, when it is Sweden’s turn to showcase one extraordinary city.

Gastro-maniacs rejoice
Cheap eateries have a charm all their own and are obligatory in any university town but the culinary upper crust of Lund satisfies even the most discriminating palate. Settle into one of the romantic little cottages of Bantorget 9, for a fanciful seven-course tasting menu laced with exotic flavours like lavender and vanilla. Or duck into the town’s prettiest little courtyard off the lively jumble of shops on Lilla Fiskaregatan, to RIstorante il Italia for beef carpaccio drizzled with truffle oil and other heavenly Italian treats.

Relative newcomer, Klostergatans Vin & Delikatess, is already and institution among foodies with cheese, charcuterie, and fragrant oils by the heaps in the delicatessen. The bistro restaurant is French-focused, sometimes even serving authentic Alsatian choucroute, and as the name implies has an excellent selection of wines. At the opposite end of Klostergatan is another new arrival, Klostergatans Fisk, a combined seafood restaurant and fish shop with just a handful of tables where you can sup on lobster, oysters, crab, herring, tuna and more.

Godset, Lund’s best restaurant according to the eminent White Guide, is a devoted lover and defender of Scanian culinary tradition serving succulent game, variations on apples, and other seasonal delicacies. Housed in an old brick station building by the railway, the atmosphere of the restaurant is that of an industrial loft gone upscale.

At the sublime, turreted Grand Hotel in Lund intellect and gastronomy meet over oysters and champagne. Before a gourmet version of classic Swedish meatballs, the peerless Stellan will serve you the most divine sourdough bread this side of San Francisco. A singular sourdough starter that came via Stockholm from Egypt is the secret. Grand, as it has been affectionately known since it opened in 1899, also serves sophisticated cocktails and has a cosy lounge and wine tasting bar. The Grandiosa Sällskapet, Grand’s own society club arranges wine, whisky and chocolate tastings, tours, traditional student sing-alongs and other gleefulness.

Autumn leaves
Venture to the eastern expanse of Lund’s municipality where the heights of Romelåsen Ridge are ablaze in fall colour. Play 18 holes at the beautiful Romelåsen Golf Club or take the marked hiking trail, Skaneleden, which traverses the ridge and where you may stumble upon wild chanterelles or glimpse a fox. Sup at the crest of the ridge in The Lodge, a New England style retreat with a priceless view of the slopes and sunset, or down by Häckeberga Lake in a the lovely renaissance-style castle, Häckeberga Slott. Explore the nearby villages of Dalby, with its ancient church and an inn serving traditional Scanian fare and Flyinge, home of the National Stud of Sweden, which hosts the Flyinge International Dressage Show annually.

Lund is steeped in tradition and glory, but it is not content to rest on its laurels. Modern innovation from Lund like the asthma inhaler, fingerprint security locks, and mobile phone technology impact our everyday lives. Fokus News Magazine’s ranking of Swedish municipalities, crowns Lund as the place where people and businesses alike are the most exceptionally healthy, wealthy, and wise. The greatest attraction of Lund, however, is something that cannot be seen nor measured; it is the spirit of flippant fun with knowledge and of bursting in song and capering in fountains. Cheekiness and wit twinkle in the eyes of almost everyone you meet in Lund, and it is glorious.

Mark your calendar
September 13th-22nd, Fantastic Film Festival
Lund’s Fantastic Film Festival is where many films make their Swedish premiere. This year Lund hosts the prestigious Méliès d’Or European Film Awards. www.fff.se

September 15th, Kulturnatten
The city’s 23rd annual great night of culture actually starts early in the day. Get the full program at www.kulturnatten.nu

September 20th-22nd, Shellfish buffet
Grand’s tables tremble under the weight of a sumptuous shellfish buffet. www.grandilund.se

September 22nd, Mejeriet turns 20
The Mejeriet celebrates its first 20 years with big name live concerts, a Jazz Brunch Deluxe and movies in the park. www.kulturmejeriet.se

September 28th-30th, Flyinge International Dressage Show
Sweden’s national stud hosts this elite equine event that attract the world’s top ranking competitors. www.flyinge.se

October 6th, Grand’s oyster bar
Slurp freshly harvested and shucked Swedish oysters at Grand from noon to 4 p.m. www.grandilund.se

October 28th, Grandsång
Join the traditional Grand sing-along in the great hall and recover with a glass of wine and a buffet dinner. www.grandilund.se

November 1st, Ghost walk at Kulturen
To celebrate All Saints Day, carve sugar beet jack-o-lanterns and go on a spooky tour of Kulturen. www.kulturen.com

November 3rd, The Grand Jazz Party
Dance and dine to swinging to big band and live jazz at Grand’s 20th annual Jazz Party. www.grandilund.se

November 11th, Mårten Gås
Book a table at any one of Lund’s finer restaurants to experience Scania’s ritual goose dinner.

Nov 25th, Skyltsöndag
The shops unveil their Christmas decorations, on the first advent, and a Christmas fair occupies Mårtenstorget, the market square.

Where to stay
The Grand Hotel is Lund’s most classic address. www.grandilund.se

Hotell Oskar is a pristine little townhouse with breakfast served next door in cosy Ebba’s Café. www.hotelloskar.com

Enjoy a royal slumber at peaceful Häckeberga Slott, a perfect little castle on an islet in Häckeberga Lake. www.hackebergaslott.se

The luxury spa hotel on top of Romelåsen, The Lodge is an exquisite New England hideaway in the wilds of Skåne. www.thelodge.se

In Season In Scania – Fall 2007

Gourmandize among autumn’s bounty from the orchards, fields, and forests of fruitful Scania.

Apple picking time
Restaurants and markets are now bursting with apple cakes, apple pies, apple cider and even Scanian Calvados. For tastings, apple art and festivities, visit Kivik’s Apple Market (Sept. 29th-30th), Apple Day in Båstad (Sept. 29th), or Mikaeli Market at Fredriksdal in Helsingborg (September 30th). Stay at Friden’s B&B in an organic heirloom apple orchard near Kivik (www.friden.nu) or go a’ picking at Gloria’s Äppelgård near Lund (www.gloriasappelgard.se).

Pumpkin love
Plump Scanian pumpkins traditionally become silky soup but try also pumpkin risotto or carve them up as jack-o-lanterns. Visit local farm shops or pick them from the patch yourself at Denningarrums farm in Östanå (www.denningarumsgard.nu), Mandelmanns farm in Rörum (www.mandelmann.se) or Knutstorps farm in Tygelsjö (040-46 67 09).

Your goose is cooked
Scanian culinary tradition peaks in November with Mårten’s formal goose dinners. The especially tasty roasted Scanian goose and black soup made from your goose’s blood and giblets, are at their best at Grand Hotel in Lund (www.grandilund.se), Östarps Gästgivari in Östarp (www.ostarpsgastis.se) or Skanörs Gästgifvaregård in Skanör (www.skanorsgastgifvaregard.se), where geese have their own crossing across the village street.

Consider the chanterelle
Chanterelles grow wild in the forests of Scania’s seven ancient ridges Hallandsåsen, Linderödsåsen, Nävlingeåsen, Romeleåsen, Söderåsen, Kullen, and Ryssberget. If luck evades you in the forest, stop by a farm shop on the way home. These delicacies, just lightly salted and sautéed in butter, are scrumptious on slice of dark rye bread.

Once Upon a Dream: Shakespeare Castle Tour

My article about Shakespeare performances in English in Scania and Copenhagen this fall has been published in the latest issue of South of Sweden Magazine.
Once upon a dream

Trade a kingdom for a stage when Shakespeare’s finest comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, descends on three castles in the Öresund region this September. Pack blankets and a picnic and enjoy a magical night with the bard in his own mother tongue and beneath twinkling stars.

It starts with your picnic. Your cakes and wine taste magically voluptuous when you dine outside on blankets with castle spires looming over you. Somehow, the setting works its magic on Shakespeare too and when, to the evensong of blackbirds, the first words of the play are uttered (Now, fair Hippolyta…) the bard bewitches you. The sky is your ceiling, just as in Shakespeare’s own wooden O, the Globe Theatre in London. As the first pale blush of dusk creeps up to kiss the sky, clever couplets rain upon you like precious jewels.

As part of their Castle Tour 2007, TNT Theatre Britain and The American Drama Group, bring the Dream to 50 castles in eight countries in Europe including six performances in the Öresund region. Sofiero Slott, the former royal summer residence with exquisite gardens in Helsingborg, hosts two performances on September 4th at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively. Backäskog Slott, on a forested slip of land near Kristianstad and framed by glittering lakes, welcomes Puck and his friends on September 5th at 7 p.m. Finally, the thespians take “the two hours passage of our stage” to Rosenborg Slot in central Copenhagen with performances on September 6th, 7th and 8th at 7 p.m.

Judging from their past productions, including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and The Taming of the Shrew, TNT Theatre Britain and The American Drama Group will spellbind us with a refreshing and sincere version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s much loved romantic comedy. Director Paul Stebbings and producers Grantly Marshall and Gunnar Kuehn bring us a Shakespeare unsullied by lavish sets, laborious scene changes, and unwieldy orchestras. This simplicity gives centre stage to the poetic texture of the master’s language and the play’s themes and characters become more distilled, potent and memorable.

As the timeless wizard of wit and humanity spins his tale he holds up an enchanted mirror that shows us who we are, how we think and why we love. He is always fresh, never out of fashion because he peddles in our vices, our virtues and the wild spectrum of human emotion. We fall madly in love. We hate and fight. We are jealous, irrational, silly and wonderful just like classical Athenians, English pagans and Shakespeare himself. As Ben Jonson prophesied, “He was not of an age, but for all time!”

As night sinks in and crickets take up harmony, Puck soothes us gently, “If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumber'd here, while these visions did appear…”

The American Drama Group
Ohio native Grantly Marshall founded The American Drama Group in 1978 in Munich, Germany. The group performs historic and modern classics of American, British and French drama in Europe and Asia. For more information visit The American Drama Group site at www.adg-europe.com.

Beef Carpaccio with Chocolate Balsamico

I associate certain periods, places or events in my life with food. The same way a favorite songs can take you back, 2004 was my year of jerusalem artichoke soup, oysters will always mean the autumn of 2005 in Berlin (at the KaDeWe osyter bar), 2006 was pannacotta and creme brulee/catalan/caramel and 2007 is turning out to be the year of the beef carpaccio for me. I have been following the 'They Go Really Well Together' online gastronomy challenge and when I discovered that this round's challenge is to combine chocolate and meat I knew what I had to do. Presenting "Beef Carpaccio with Chocolate Balsamico Reduction"...

Beef Carpaccio with Chocolate Balsamico Reduction
For the chocolate balsamico reduction: Heat 1 cup of good balsamic vinegar on medium heat until boiling. Then, simmer for 30 about minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in 2 tablespoons of pure cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tsp sugar until dissolved and combined and let cool.

For the carpaccio: Slice 1 pound of bright red raw beef sirloin into very, very thin slices. You can get them properly paper-thin by then pounding the slices between two sheets of wax paper. Arrange the slices out flat on a serving plate.

Drizzle the carpaccio generously with truffle oil, sprinkle with good sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, toss over a handful of argula, and grate a wedge of parmigiano reggiano in delicate flakes over it. Drizzle the chocolate balsamico reduction over everything for the finishing touch. Verdict: The nutty/peppery argula really adds something to this dish and seems to marry the chocolate balsamico with the savory truffle and cheese. The beef just melts on your tongue. Delicious! Chocolate and meat DO go really well together if I am to judge by this dish.

Destination Blommeröd – Unbridled Spirit

My lifestyle feature about the famous Blommeröd Arabian Stud and the estate's lovely proprietor, Vicke Philip Sørensen, will be published in the summer issue of South of Sweden Magazine. Here is a sneak preview of the article.
Unbridled Spirit

The deep lush heart of Skåne conceals a secret realm where you can live the thoroughbred life. Fly over the fields on an exquisite Arabian steed, sip champagne in a Bedouin tent or place your bets in the sport of kings at the legendary Blommeröd Arabian Stud. Laurel Williams explores Blommeröd and meets the estate’s inexhaustible proprietor, Vicke Philip Sørensen who upholds the dual missions to improve the “the first breed” and to spread well-being among her guests with good food, peaceful sleep, fresh air and laughter.

Sweden’s most internationally renowned and exclusive Arabian stud, the breathtaking Blommeröd estate, is tucked quietly away in Skåne’s geographic centre, near the little village of Höör. Set on some 1100 green acres overlooking the rippling Ringsjön Lake, this is one of Europe’s leading centres for Arabian horse breeding, showing and racing, complete with luxury stables, riding arenas, a veterinary office, show grounds, a guesthouse, guest stables and Sweden’s only private betting-approved racetrack.
The woman who keeps this elaborate estate running smoothly is the indomitable Vicke Phillip Sørensen. Breeder, gourmet chef and hostess extraordinaire, she makes every guest, human and equine alike, feel instantly welcome and comfortable.

As a destination Blommeröd is totally unique, made special by the presence of the estate’s forty exquisite Arabian horses and their high-spirited owner, Vicke herself. Not only is it a deliciously tranquil place to visit for a picnic lunch in a meadow or a gourmet weekend at the guesthouse where guest stables accommodate your horse, but it also lets you experience the usually inaccessible lifestyle of champagne, royalty, rock stars and riches surrounding Arabian thoroughbred horses.The legend of Probat
Long leafy avenues lead you from the main gate past dozens of extremely beautiful Arabian horses with the legendary blood of Probat, one of the world’s most famous Arabian stallions, flowing in their veins like gold.

The secret world of Blommeröd was created in 1964 when Vicke’s late father, Eric Phillip Sørensen, sold his hugely successful company, Securitas, to his sons and chose to pursue the privileged hobby of breeding Arabian horses.

“My father was a connoisseur of beauty and his two passions were orchids and Arabian horses. Luckily for me he chose to work with horses,” says Vicke with a grin, “because I don’t think I could have had any success with flowers.”

He imported seven excellent Arabian thoroughbreds from Poland to start the stud that would soon grow to own 170 horses. In 1975 the great Probat was born and as a stallion he propelled Blommeröd to fame with his excellence.

“It was not that Probat was a particularly beautiful horse,” Vicke explains, “but that he consistently produced beautiful horses that made him so valuable.”

The prolific Probat sired hundreds of horses in Sweden and Poland before he was sold to eminent American breeder Dr. Eugene Lacroix in 1986 for the pretty sum of 28 million SEK, one of the highest prices ever paid for a horse.

Being beautiful
Vicke’s father expected women to be quiet and beautiful, like his horses. He shipped his vivacious young daughter off to a Catholic convent in England for four years of tutelage by nuns and then to finishing school in Denmark.

“We did not always share the same opinion,” laughs Vicke, who is clearly still untamed but unconcerned. “I am tough and very active and that did not fit his image of how a woman should be.”

After her education, Vicke married and settled in Denmark to raise her daughter Camilla. As a trained speech therapist she worked with autistic children at a children’s hospital in Copenhagen for 18 years.

“I have always loved horses,” Vicke explains pragmatically, “but returning to Blommeröd was never part of my plan until I was 42 and pregnant with my second child, Carl Philip.”

Vicke’s father certainly came to appreciate his daughter’s tenacity when she returned to help him maintain Blommeröd in 1991. Back then, Vicke took charge of the stallions while her father looked after the precious mares but today she handles every aspect of the estate.

“Training horses and men takes a lot of hard work,” insists Vicke with her contagious smile. “People think I am some kind princess, just sitting up here eating chocolates, but horses are high maintenance creatures and I do most of the work myself since I am too impatient to teach someone else to do things my way.”

This includes keeping not only horses, but also visitors feeling pampered and well fed. A passion for food runs in the family and Vicke herself does all the cooking for the guesthouse restaurant and for the many catered events held on the estate including weddings by the lake, lavish birthday soirees in the authentic Bedouin tent and the star-studded Scandinavian Open Championships for Arabian horses.
Drinkers of the wind
The horses you will see at Vicke’s Blommeröd are living history. Arabian thoroughbreds are known as “the first breed” and their story stretches back thousands of years to origins as the ancient desert horse of nomadic Bedouins. Arabian horses were kept in the Bedouin tents alongside the children and they became important members of the family, developing a profound closeness to humans and the will to please them, which is a rare trait in animals.

“Only the most gentle and obedient horses were allowed to reproduce, so today’s Arabian horses are incredibly receptive, sensitive and easy to teach,” Vicke explains.

If the Arabian horses’ sweet manners are not enough to charm you, then their exceptional beauty will certainly melt your heart. Face to face with an Arabian thoroughbred at Blommeröd, you will find yourself arrested by a pair of enormous dewy eyes and snuffled by the prodigious nostrils, good for inhaling copious amounts of oxygen to race across deserts, that caused the Bedouins to call Arabian horses “Drinkers of the Wind”.

“Everyone can appreciate the beauty and sensitivity of these horses. There is something in their air that appeals to us,” Vicke muses.

The sport of kings
Napoleon, George Washington and Genghis Khan all depended on the fearlessness, loyalty and stamina of Arabian horses in their conquests. Today, Arabian’s compete in endurance events, where they usually triumph against all other breeds, and increasingly in the traditional track racing known as “the sport of kings”.

Blommeröd is one of just seven official horse racing locations in Scandinavia and the 1060-meter turf oval is the only private racetrack in Sweden with a national betting license.

Dress to the nines and don a sublime hat for Blommeröd’s classic, pulse-quickening day at the races, set for August 11th this year. The derby is for Arabian and English thoroughbreds but the main event of the day is the Scandinavian Arabian Derby. Choose your champion and loose your composure, like Eliza Doolittle, cheering as the fleetest of the fleet thunder down the track under a blurry rainbow of jockeys.

Bred for perfection
The Arabian horse excels most of all at showmanship. International visitors and horses have descended on Blommeröd every summer since 1991 for the prestigious Scandinavian Open Championships, Scandinavia’s largest show for Arabian thoroughbred horses. To see the worlds most beautiful horses groomed until gleaming and prancing to beautiful music in flowering show grounds is a compelling sight.

This year, on July 7th and 8th, over 100 horses from all over Europe will compete for the judges’ favour, armed with just their own physical perfection and equine grace. Previous judges have included such illustrious figures as HRH Princess Alia of Jordan. Famous English breeder and Rolling Stone wife, Shirley Watts has captured the coveted championship title twice with horses from her Halsdon Arabian Stud in Devonshire.

For Vicke, the show is her annual masterpiece of entertaining and hospitality. Champagne corks pop in the VIP tent, which she has stocked with strawberries and canapés. In another tent is her generous gourmet buffet lunch and out on the grass several visitors enjoy their own picnics and relax in sun chairs.

“This is the perfect way to savour a lovely summer day,” assures Vicke warmly. “It is a completely peaceful experience with beautiful horses and beautiful music in the open air.”

High-spirited and yet completely grounded, Vicke cultivates an atmosphere of genuine warmth between people, horses and the land at Blommeröd.

“I will stay here forever,” she declares gazing out from her house on the hill upon the lake and meadows of Blommeröd. As the saying goes, wild horses could not drag her away and visitors to Blommeröd will feel the same.

Fast Facts
Vicke Philip Sørensen

• Born in Stockholm in 1948 to a Danish father and Swedish mother
• Married three times (that they have all been doctors is purely coincidental)
• Daughter Camilla, now 40 and the mother of Vicke’s four darling grandchildren
• Son Carl Philip, 18 years old and studying with barons and Bernadottes at prestigious Sigtuna boarding school
• Proprietor of 1100-acre Blommeröd Arabian Stud Estate
• Forty Arabian thoroughbred horses complete the family circle

The Scandinavian Open Championships

• Scandinavia’s largest show for Arabian thoroughbred horses on the 7th-8th of July this year, entrance is 85 SEK
• A VIP table for four costs 4700 SEK for the two days and includes the entrance fee, parking, snacks and a bottle of champagne for each day
• Enjoy Vicke’s grand lunch buffet for just 285 SEK per head, but do book in advance

Visiting Blommeröd

• Group tours for 15 to 20 people, including a demonstration of horse showmanship, costs 75 SEK per person
• Call ahead for a meal at the guesthouse restaurant and stay overnight for 600 SEK per person/per night
• Children, dogs and horses are welcome at Blommeröd
• Blommeröd is easily accessible by train from Malmö (30 minutes) and Copenhagen (1 hr)
• Visit www.blommerod.com for more details and directions to the estate

Skåne's secret sun coast

My travel feature about Sweden's southernmost municipality, Trelleborg, will be published in the summer issue of South of Sweden Magazine. Here is a sneak preview of the article.

Skåne’s secret sun coast

Trelleborg’s municipality lies sunning itself at the very southernmost tip of Sweden and conceals a summer paradise of endless sandy beaches, a city of palm trees and a honeycomb of quiet country roads. These lead you to preserved villages where lauded gourmet restaurants, exclusive shops, art galleries and bed & breakfasts cluster in little oases. As the town proper gears up to celebrate its 750-year anniversary this summer, Laurel Williams learns that Trelleborg is much more than its reputation as just a busy port of entry between Sweden and continental Europe.

A place in the sun
The Trelleborg region has been inhabited for over ten thousand years and Stone Age settlers, Danish Vikings and medieval herring merchants have all left their mark on this land that lies so strategically and temperately at Sweden’s southernmost extremity. Entering from the north, pass a strand of beech forest that opens onto lush hills and dales tumbling down to meet the Söderslätt, Sweden’s most fertile plain. The green and yellow patchwork of flowering rape, wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, corn and peas is freckled with small preserved villages and stately farms that cause this region to be called the kingdom of farmers. Still today, provincial hospitality and friendliness prevails and you will find the people of the Trelleborg region to be warm and eager to accommodate you.

To the south, soft sandy beaches, crystal clear water and harbors great and small embellish the 35-kilometer coastline facing the open horizon of the Baltic Sea. The beaches feel secluded, enjoy full southern exposure and catch the sun from dawn till dusk, ensuring you a sunrise over the water for your early morning dip and a shimmering sunset for a romantic beach rendezvous.

The distance from one village to the next is often just a pleasant walk or breezy bike ride along beech or willow lined avenues. Do not be put off if asphalt gives way to gravel lanes veering out into endless fields. Give yourself time to explore these especially and you will be rewarded with the quiet beauty of this landscape and then chaperoned by butterflies past balmy gardens into the next perfect little village or sometimes to another country altogether.

Little Italy
Arriving at Idala Gård, by way of one of the aforementioned gravel lanes, is to be transported to a secret golden corner of Italy. The exquisite farm has been in the family since 1635 and your hosts, Pia and Hans Nyman have gathered the essences of Friuli, Liguria, Apulia and Tuscany here. Four long whitewashed buildings form a sheltered cobbled courtyard and under the big tree at its center is sweet old Emma, the family’s Labrador retriever, waiting to greet you with a lopsided grin.

Choose your table in the courtyard or the airy dining room and be dazzled with big platters of antipasti and Italian effusiveness. Once you have discovered the place you will return again and again for the balsamico onions, sizzling polenta cakes and mouthwatering basil pesto emerging daily from the bright open kitchen.

They fire up the grill on Wednesday evenings in July and August and the occasional pig roast is celebrated with live music. Thursdays are pizza and antipasti nights, a steal at 150 SEK. The wine cellar is refreshingly stocked with exclusively Italian wines and even the beer and water hails from Italy. Join an Italian wine tasting or cooking class and stay for the weekend in one of the farm’s grand rooms for a real Italian escape.

The village green
Good things gather together in the little villages of the Söderslätt, which is perfect for the slow traveler. Pause in Haglösa and find the old schoolhouse, now slickly remodeled as the Villa Ancora guesthouse, gallery and café. If luck is on your side, you will find the musically talented owners, Monica and Christian Einarson hosting an impromptu concert in the great room where the grand piano stands ever ready.

Monica is an accomplished opera and musical star whose stunning smile you may recognize from her role as celebrity voice coach on the Fame Factory television show. Sign up for one of their workshops or learn how to sing your heart out with a private voice lesson. Then stroll across the village road to Frida’s Gård, where you will find a quaint little farm shop in a former henhouse proffering lovely French and Danish kitchen and garden design treasures.

In the tiny village of Västra Torp, a crooked hobbit-like cottage houses a genuine Scanian gourmet haven. The Hedmans Krog restaurant serves local delicacies like wild garlic soup made from tender wild garlic shoots handpicked in a nearby glen. Stooping to enter the snug dining rooms increases the feeling of hobbit coziness inside and tables are also set for lunch and dinner out in the lush little herb and spice garden in the shade of wizened fruit trees.

Ten paces away, find soft beds in lofty white rooms at Hedmans Pensionat, a charming family-owned bed and breakfast in the former Västra Torp schoolhouse. The generous breakfast is served under the vaulted ceiling of the common room and you are welcome to use the barbeque in the garden on summer evenings.

Around the next corner is another ancient farmhouse and the former stall is now the pottery studio Hjärtegården, where artist Barbro Norrström literally puts her heart into her creations. Every colorful piece, from the tiniest garlic zester to the largest pitcher and basin set, is embossed with a heart all its own, making them sought after wedding and anniversary gifts.

Down by the seashore
From Västra Torp the sea is barely a kilometer distant and best accessed through Böste Läge. In this ancient fishing village boats anchor off the coast or are dragged up on the beach for lack of a harbor as they have been for centuries. The village road is still unpaved. Hedgerows, climbing roses and fragrant lavender bushes line your way past the summer cottages and paths slink between their long narrow yards down to the secluded sandy beach.

Near the Eastern border of the region, the summer village of Beddingestrand hugs one of the finest strips of sandy beach in the country. The long pristine ribbon of pale sand is kissed by silvery water and banked by low dunes. Pine trees offer shade and lend the air that hot summer perfume of baked pine needles.

Hire a cottage here or take in at the lovely guesthouse, Pensionat Rosengården, and wander down to the beach after breakfast. Tropical drinks and Latin rhythms at Beddingestrand’s very own cabana restaurant, 2:a Sandbank, is the right way to cap off a long lazy day on the beach.

The Deep South
A quaint lighthouse watches over Smygehuk, Sweden’s most southerly little spurt of land and very popular tourist destination. Climb the 17 meters up the precarious spiral staircase inside the turn of the century lighthouse for panorama of 180 degrees of shimmering seas and 180 degrees of quivering fields that add up to a magnificent view.

A modern beacon further out to sea now warns ships off the Kulla Shoals but the old lighthouse beam is still lit every night. The lemon yellow lighthouse keeper’s residence is now a popular hostel and the former laundry outhouse hosts a doll-sized maritime museum.

Follow the path from the corner of the garden to the tiny harbor where the air is pungent with seaweed and smoked herring from the Smyge Smokery. Pick up some picnic nibbles and then pose with the southernmost point marker by the harbor.

The harbor was once a lime quarry, thus the milky sheen of the turquoise water, and there is a timeworn limekiln nearby where lime for whitewashing local houses was prepared. Continue along the water’s edge to the 19th century Merchant’s Warehouse (Köpmansmagasinet), which now functions as a tourist office, local craft exhibit and a cozy café that opens under new ownership this summer.

Smyge goes to Hollywood
For the seamless link from Smyge to Hollywood look for the huge nude statue called Famntaget (The Embrace), a shameless beauty caressed by the wind and sun. Young Brigit Holmquist modeled for the statue by well-loved Trelleborg artist Axel Ebbe. Holmquist was the daughter of the Trelleborg factory director that commissioned the statue but she is more famously known as Uma Thurman’s maternal grandmother. Can you see the resemblance?

Oprah quizzed Thurman about the statue on her talk show and the star herself recently visited Trelleborg, under all secrecy, to see the statue with her own eyes and explore her Swedish roots.

The city of Vikings & palms
Medieval Trelleborg emerged from obscurity in 1257 when it was mentioned in royal correspondence as an important shipping and merchant city. Three years later the Danish royal family presented Trelleborg to Sweden as a wedding gift at the union of Danish Princess Sophia and Swedish Prince Valdemar. Wedded bliss did not stop Denmark from re-conquering the town soon after this and Trelleborg stayed in Danish hands until the decisive war of 1658 that brought all of Skåne under Swedish rule.

Though 1257 is the town’s official birthday, Trelleborg was already strategically important in the late 900’s when famed Viking king Harald Blåtand (Blue Tooth) ordered a ring fortress of over 100 meters in diameter to be built here. The Trelleborgen, as it is called, gave the town its name and is now partially reconstructed on its original site, right in the center of town. The fortress hosts Viking activities all summer long and a storming of the fortress is reenacted during the Viking Festival days in July, drawing would-be warriors from all over Europe. Today, the harbor that has hosted scores of Viking long ships and Hanseatic merchant vessels still commands most of the region’s commercial activities and is in fact Sweden’s second largest seaport.

Nobody misses an opportunity here to remind you that this is as south as it gets in Sweden. The prime location has been Trelleborg’s principal claim to fame since the early 80’s when it was branded Sweden’s Costa del Sol. It was then that local marketing guru Alf Näslund first tackled the challenge to attract families to settle here and fill the new jobs that were rapidly being created.

Näslund carted home a dozen palm trees from Alicante, Spain and today they have multiplied to line the city’s front street and pop up all over town from June to October every year. One of the city’s roundabouts, where a tropical colossus sways its fronds, was recently voted the most beautiful roundabout in Sweden. Trelleborg throws a full two-day party called the Palm Festival every August.

The currency of the world
To attract visitors to Trelleborg, Näslund also invented the clever ‘Tax Free for Tourists’ system that allows you to get your VAT back all over the world and is now a business worth billions of Euros.

Trelleborg’s local currency is another Näslund brainchild that has drawn media attention to the town. The Trelleborg coins are slightly larger than the Swedish five-crown coin, come in copper, silver and gold and are worth 50, 500 and 5,000 SEK respectively.

“We thought we would end up in jail, since it is illegal to mint your own money,” Näslund marvels, “but all the banks and shops accepted it as valid currency.”

You can even pay with the local coins at the state-owned liquor store, Systembolaget. Mostly though, people buy the coins as souvenirs and collector’s items. The stunning total amount in circulation is approximately five to ten million SEK.

Summer in the city
Trelleborg celebrates its 750th birthday this summer with lavish festivities, the most extravagant of which is the living and home show ‘Leva & Bo 07’ in August. Architects have designed nearly 300 modern concept homes and apartments, including ecologically certified Uniqhus houses, which will open their doors to visitors for the two weeks of the event.

A wealth of activities and live entertainment is planned and a star-studded Rhapsody in Rock concert hosted by Robert Wells forms the grand finale. Similar projects, like the development of the North Harbor in Helsingborg and the West Harbor in Malmö, have worked wonders to enhance the appeal of those cities.

Trelleborg is dominated by the expansive harbor from whence millions of passengers are ferried to Rostock, Sassnitz and Travemunde in Germany every year. But the heart of town is the quiet pedestrian street Algatan that spills out onto the main square and city park. Saturdays are market days on the square and stands crowd around Axel Ebbe’s enormous sea monster fountain at its center. An old water tower looms over the scene and locals gather in glass café pavilion at its base.

On the other side of the park, through the rose garden and past aviaries, is a small temple to Ebbe’s heartily Scanian and sometimes irreverent art. The town’s most popular sculpture, however, is the high-heeled clique of Böst ladies created by Malmö artist Fred Åberg. The ladies hide their faces under umbrellas on Algatan and one of the women stretches out a slim hand to passersby who leave her little offerings. A man clings (almost) halfway up a huge bronze pole a little further along on Algatan in another Åberg sculpture called “Nästan Halvvägs” or “Almost Halfway”.

Duck off Algatan into Trelleborg’s savviest big city espresso bar, the coffee and cream-colored Café Systrar & Böner, where organic baby food is served alongside the lattes.

The finest epicurean evening in town is found at Hotel Dannegården on Strandgatan. The restaurant in the wealthy ship owner’s villa from 1910 is praised in the White Guide for its classic gourmet cuisine and their selection of after dinner brandies and whiskies was once crowned the finest in Sweden.

Down a dram of the world’s oldest and most expensive whiskey, sip Armagnac from 1890 or sample from the 17 vintages of Calvados Coeur De Lion. Then pluck a plump cigar from the humidor and enjoy the evening’s constitutional in the period garden. Time is an illusion and here, as in the rest of Trelleborg, you are free to travel in it.

Getting there & getting around
By air – Both Copenhagen’s international airport (Kastrup) and Malmö Airport (Sturup) are just 30 minutes from Trelleborg by car.

By land – Drivers can follow the E6 south from Malmö (30 minutes) or take scenic coastal road 9 east from Ystad. Local and regional buses connect the villages to Malmö, Lund, Vellinge, Höllviken and Ystad. Rent bikes at Beddinge Cykeluthyrning, Lilla Bedding (+46), Cykelakuten Trelleborg (+46), Lena på Läget, Trelleborg (+46) or Fribergs cykelaffär, Trelleborg (+46).

By sea – Catch a ferry from Rostock (5 hours), Sassnitz (4 hours) or Travemunde/Lubeck (6 hours) in Germany. Ships sail several times a day.

Mark your calendar
June 2nd – 3rd, Jordberga Festival
Enjoy live classical music performances in the castle gardens of lovely Jordberga Manor.

June 29th – 30th, Smygehuk Folk Music Festival
Folk musicians from all over the country gather to compete and perform. Learn how to dance a reel to the old tunes on fiddles and accordions and don’t miss the last dance by torchlight at midnight.

June 29th – July 15th, Summer Operetta
Trelleborg’s Variety Troupe entertains with a free summer operetta at Parken’s open-air stage. The show starts at 7 p.m. and is in Swedish.

July 5th – 8th: Storslaget Viking Festival
Four days of Viking and Medieval food, music, dance, craft and battle. Dress up and join the parade through town and the storming of the fortress. Prizes will be awarded for the best period costumes.

July 7th, Scanian Food Fair in Smyge
Sample classic Scanian treats like smoked sausages, honey, preserves, pies and the traditional spettekaka, a pyramid cake made of eggs and baked on a spit, in the Köpmansmagasinet.

July 19th, Tommy Körberg Concert
Swedish vocal hero Tommy Körberg will perform an outdoor summer concert on the Thurevallen soccer fields in Beddingestrand.

July 27th – 28th, Smygehamn Jazz Festival
The 10th annual Smygehamn Jazz Festival, Sweden’s southernmost such event, fills the Köpmansmagasinet with live swinging music.

August 4th – 18th, Leva & Bo 07
This living and home show is the biggest happening in the town’s recorded history. Visit the main events and exhibition in the courthouse, on the main square and in the city park. Buses shuttle visitors from there to the newly developed areas for an open house of the latest in home design and architecture.

August 11th, Rhapsody in Rock Concert
Swedish superstar Robert Wells hosts a special Jubilee Rhapsody in Rock at the Vångavallen stadium to celebrate Trelleborg’s 750 years and cap off the two-week long living and home show.

August 24th – 25th, The Palm Festival 2007
Over 75,000 visitors descend on the city of palms for the 32nd annual Palm Festival, Trelleborg’s favorite party.

Find more information about these and other events on www.trelleborg.se.

The Taste of a Scanian Summer

My article about summer dining in Skåne will appear in the summer issue of South of Sweden Magazine. Here is the preview.

The Taste of a Scanian Summer

Sweden’s most fertile province is the natural heart of Swedish gastronomy. We roam from Malmö’s ultra-hip Möllevångstorget to the ultra-traditional Österlen village of Hammenhög and scour the seaside in our search for the most unique and most jovial places to eat in Skåne this summer.

In the city
Tempo Bar & Kök
In Malmö’s liveliest neighborhood lies the aptly named Tempo Bar & Kök. The waiters of this bohemian gourmet restaurant banter Basil Fawlty-style with guests and serve up oysters on the half shell, frittatas and crème brulées. The offbeat menu is divided into meat, fish, shellfish, vegetarian and side dishes, rather than starters and entrées. The idea is to mix, match and share. A fake palm tree, colored lights and retro sidewalk tables strike a comfortable balance between cool and kitsch and the clientele is thick with young designers, musicians and artists. Singer/songwriter Nina Persson, best known for taking The Cardigans to international fame, lives nearby and is a loyal Tempo patron.
Go: Södra Skolgatan 30, Malmö

In the country
Hammenhögs Gästgivaregård

This authentic family-run inn has been serving travelers rest and nourishment for centuries and is the last outpost of the gutsy traditional Scanian rarity, slow braised rook. The dark fragrant meat of the young birds, a little like duck and just delicately gamey, is served with a rich gravy, freshly pickled slices of cucumber, red currant jelly and a fine Burgundy. Dine in the garden framed by a sea of wheat fields and stay overnight in one of the inn’s charming rooms. John Steinbeck and Greta Garbo have loved the old world hospitality here, as well as infamous Scanian author Fritiof Nilsson Piraten who often came to drink his lunch.
Go: Ystadsvägen 34, Hammenhög, www.hammenhogs.nu

By the sea
Best seaside summer dining tips

Barfota, Helsingborg
Come barefoot, wriggle your toes in the sand and admire tanned flesh and blood-red sunsets over the sound. Put your bottle of pink champagne on ice while you have a dip between courses.

Bjerreds Saltsjöbad Kallbadhus, Bjärred
A Scottish-Swedish couple serves fresh summer fare in this modern wood and glass building set on stilts at the end of Sweden’s longest swimming pier, which juts over half a kilometer out to sea.

Klitterhus restaurang, Ängelholm
The name means ‘the dune house’ and the restaurant sits at the edge of the dunes on a secluded six-kilometer long sandy beach. Come for romantic beach walks at sunset and fine dining on the terrace.

La Plage – summer by MeNTO, Helsingborg
With its prime waterfront location and an extreme makeover by new owners, the savvy crew from acclaimed Helsingborg restaurant MeNTO, this is the most exciting seaside newcomer this summer.

Niklas Viken, Viken
The summer hideaway of celebrity chef Niklas Ekstedt draws a relaxed crowd of gastronomical hedonists to its sun sun-warmed wooden deck at the water’s edge.

Salt & Brygga, Malmö
On the waterfront in shiny new Västra Hamnen, Salt & Brygga is an oasis of gastronomic social responsibility. The only Slowfood certified restaurant in Sweden, they serve superb organic gourmet cuisine.

Skanörs Fiskrögeri, Matställe & Butik, Skanör
Herring is smoked here as it has been for over 1000 years, right next to what is perhaps Sweden’s finest white powder beach. Try all kinds of freshly smoked or grilled fish at the sunny waterside tables.

Vitemölle Badhotell Restaurant, Vitemölla
Though proudly sporting the word BADHOTELL above the entrance, this place is almost too good to be true. The big sparkling windows of the dining room open onto sand dunes thatched with wildflowers and a heavenly sandy beach.

A Rarified Escape to the Land of Kullen

My article about the Kullabygden district of Skåne has been published in South of Sweden Magazine. Read the full article below or visit www.sosmag.se to download the pdf version of the spring 2007 issue of the magazine.
A Rarified Escape to the Land of Kullen

The ancient promontory of Kullaberg and the rippling fields, troll forests and seaside villages of the Kullabygden district offer a classic retreat. Fringed by the lace of nine little harbors and peppered with cozy inns, this quiet corner of the earth also seethes softly as fertile ground for art, local cuisine and outdoor adventure. Laurel Williams unearths the gems of a place where potters, talented chefs, organic farmers, rock climbers and even winemakers flourish and where visitors inevitably will too.

The springing of the year
Spring is a vibrant season in the Kullabygden district. Milky white blankets of wood anemones bewitch the lofty beech and oak forests and local artists fling wide their doors to welcome visitors. The rich clay deposits in the local soil, the pastoral lifestyle and the windswept views of the headland have made an artist’s enclave and a tour along the serpentine roads will send you stumbling upon hand-painted signs announcing artist’s workshops around virtually every corner.

The eco-gastronomic mentality is also strong here, with Sweden’s largest and most active Slow Food chapter based nearby in Helsingborg, and more signs proclaim fresh eggs, newly gathered honey on the comb and farms selling vegetables and other local products. Try the traditional apple cider from the Kullamust cider press in Mjöhult and in the autumn take your own apples with you to the factory to be turned into cider. Vikentomater, near Viken, cultivates a wonderful variety of organic heirloom tomatoes to perfect ripeness in greenhouses and the potato specialists at nearby Larsviken Farm grow about 450 different kinds of potatoes in their patch and offer potato tastings in their well-assorted farm shop.
Follow Linné to Viken
Start in Viken and follow the coast, as Carl von Linné did in 1749 on his grand tour of the region. This is especially fitting this year as the entire country commemorates the 300th anniversary of the birth of this celebrated “father of modern taxonomy”. Viken is a well-to-do seaside village where narrow lanes lined with half-timbered, thatch-roofed and otherwise venerable dwellings labyrinth around the lively marina. Sunny spring days in this idyll beg for leisurely rambles and impromptu visits to one of the flower shops, art galleries or patisseries along the way.

The magnificently preserved Sophiamöllan windmill in the center of the village is hard to miss. The 170-year-old mill was recently presented with a new set of wings and grinds flour in summertime. Another pleasant diversion is the nineteenth century home of sea captain Paul Jönsson and his restored period garden of ornate boxwood hedges, roses, clematis, herbs, berry bushes and a vegetable patch.

Celebrity chef Niklas Ekstedt, a Viken native son, is openly smitten with his hometown and in June he opens his summer quarters here. NIKLAS VIKEN is a beautiful but unpretentious restaurant perched on the seafront with a sun-warmed wooden deck overlooking over the harbor. Here is fresh, uncomplicated and seasonal dining at its best. Just beyond, the glittering water beckons and the first hot days hear the sounds of Viken residents of all ages capering gleefully in the surf.

In his journal, Linné bemoaned the long uninteresting stretch of heather and fairy flax north of Viken, but in the 1800’s golf enthusiasts discovered it. The nine-hole seaside golf course there today was designed in 1924 and is one of Sweden’s most historic.

Höganäs is made of clay
A cycling path connects Viken to Höganäs, the largest community in the Kullabygden district, where Linné was impressed by the fine harbor and successful fishing trade that distinguished the village. But in the late 1700’s the face of Höganäs changed drastically with the discovery of rich coal and clay deposits in the area. Coalfields, brick works and the pottery factories for which Höganäs is now famous, soon dominated the town and in some way they still do. The industrial area looms north of the harbor, brick buildings line the streets and the main tourist attractions are the pottery factories and outlets.

Upon closer inspection Höganäs will also entertain with the sizable collection of public art in brick, steel, bronze and stone that is scattered about town. Among the favorites are a family of pigs out on an adventure on Storgatan, a dog that levitates on Köpmansgatan and a pair of bronze mermaids that watches over swimmers at the Kvickbadet beach.

Browse the shelves at Höganäs Saltglaserat where they have been making the signature Höganäs salt glazed pottery since 1835. The iconic Höganäskrus, a little brown jug that resembles Winnie-the-Pooh’s honey pots, is the most classic figure in their home and garden collections and makes a perfect souvenir. Groups can book tours of the factory, try their own hand at the potter’s wheel and even dine in one of the old coal ovens. At the Höganäs Keramik-Boda Nova factory store nearby, there is a wide selection of Swedish pottery, glassware and crystal to be had at good prices.

Seeing stars at Krapperup
The walls of the bright brick-red manor of the Krapperup estate are startlingly inlaid with dozens of white seven-pointed stars, representing the coat of arms of the Gyllenstierna family who lived here for hundreds of years. Beneath the walls a pretty moat winks in the sunlight. Exquisite romantic gardens fan out beyond where enormous rhododendron bushes bloom in spring and ponds wriggle with goldfish.

Arriving at this same verdant scene in 1749, Linné scribbled in his journal with barely contained ecstasy: 300 kinds of fruit trees, lavender, lilies, thyme, onions for the herring and heaps of potatoes! Today’s visitors to Krapperup will be overjoyed to find this wonderfully green space to be freely accessible to the public year round. On weekends and everyday in summertime, a quaint gift shop sells scented soaps, linens and candles and a snug café serves homemade bread, pots of tea and generous slices of cake. The former stable buildings now house an art gallery featuring local artists and a museum that details the history of the estate and the Kullabygden district.

Sinful Mölle by the sea
Mölle is an enchanting white wedding cake of a village leaning luxuriously in the crook of the strong arm of the Kullaberg promontory. In1870 Mölle was already an immensely popular destination and was classed as one of the top seaside retreats in Sweden. The 1880’s saw steamships ply the waters from Copenhagen to Mölle carrying the upper classes of Germany, Denmark and Sweden to enjoy the wild natural landscape and the rare decadence of mixed bathing. This sinful sensation catapulted the town to fame. At the peak of Mölle’s popularity, direct trains were rolling in from Berlin and no less than thirteen hotels welcomed adventurous holidaymakers.

The Grand Hotel Mölle was built in 1909 and instantly reigned over the town like a white queen. Glittering all-night parties and liberated ideas flourished here until the First World War led, understandably, to a rapid decline in tourism. Though now slightly creaky and threadbare the white queen is still standing tall and boasts the most spectacular views in town of the Kattegat and the craggy bluff of Kullaberg. The local surfing crowd knows this and regularly calls the hotel desk to ask if the famous long, clean, right-breaking Mölle wave is cresting.

Lunch in the Grand Hotel’s acclaimed Maritime restaurant is relaxed and delicious with local specialties like golden roe on toast and with ‘R’ de Ruinart champagne by the glass. In the formal dining room, the luminous light, pink seashells, hovering fish and olive colored seaweed of the painted ceiling set you imagining that you are dining underwater, perhaps in fabled Atlantis. On cooler evenings a fire crackles in the lounge and the affectionate hotel cat Findus will not hesitate to occupy you for a catnap and will appreciate the small shrimp you saved for him from your lunch. One wonders if newest Bond bad boy Mads Mikkelsen has been nuzzled by Findus. Rumor has it that the dangerous-looking Danish actor is fond of Mölle and frequents the Grand Hotel.

Dine on the deck or the patio overlooking the steep precipice down to the harbor and revel in the sunset over the Kattegat and a horizon so wide that you can just perceive the curve of the earth.

If you come down out of the clouds to discover the rest of Mölle you will find a popular, though rather choppy marina, a harbor-side ice cream shop, a soothing spa in the Turisthotellet and a few superb art studios. One of the most captivating is that of ceramics artist Kerstin Tillberg who makes wonderfully absurd gold-studded pots, whimsical bowls and the loveliest golden-eared teacups.

At Mölle Krukmakeri, Lisa Wohlfart’s pottery at the heart of the village, the beauty of the cream-colored pots and mugs is in their simplicity. The pottery, which celebrates ten years of throwing pots this year, also hosts a café that serves homemade treats and lunches in the little garden.

A short path leads out along the sea cliffs from Mölle to Ransvik, a picture perfect cove where families swim from the rocks in the summer and popular Ellen’s café serves sandwiches, salads, lemon pie, carrot cake and waffles. Further on, and all the way around the peninsula, are more hidden coves to explore.

Ancients & adventurers
The grand protruding headland of Kullaberg is a three star nature reserve where sheer cliffs of ancient Archean rock plunge into the Kattegat creating secret swimming holes, tide pools and prehistoric caves. Some of the caves were already inhabited nearly 10,000 years ago. Trails crisscross the peninsula through beech forests and fields of rare wildflowers, and lead down to many of the caves. Some of the most remote, however, can only be reached from the water so rent a kayak to get privileged access to these isolated spots.

Two local adventure companies organize courses and supply equipment for kayaking, climbing, diving and otherwise enjoying this unique outdoor playground. Climbers, especially Danish ones, are drawn to these primordial rock faces and there are over 800 routes in place here with curious names such as Napoleon’s Hat and The Kulla Man’s Door.

For over 1000 years, sailors have depended upon a light signal at the tip of Kullaberg to guide them safely past the murderous rocks of the peninsula. Scandinavia’s brightest lighthouse continues the vigil today. Visit on a foggy night for a private show of the swirling beams at their most haunting. Linné relates that when a peculiar mist hung about the bluff that locals would whisper to each other that the mythical old crone known as Kullkäringen was brewing something up. It is easy to understand their superstitions after a hike in the luminous woods where gnarled juniper and hawthorn bushes cast supernatural shadows and low stone fences unfurl like elfin ramparts.

Occupying the prime position on the undulating crest of the peninsula and encircled by the 18 holes of the renowned Mölle Golf Club, is the petite, vine clad hotel and restaurant Kullagårdens Wärdshus. Linné was utterly charmed by the location and hospitality of the place when he stayed here in 1749. The inn has the spirit of a hunting lodge and an alarmingly large wild boar, frozen mid-squeal, presides in the lounge. Your host will assure that no such creatures patrol these forests but a herd of stags may dash across the fairways as you tee up. The golf course was officially opened in 1945 and is known for having some of Sweden’s best and fastest greens. If you care to make it interesting, play the course on par and they will refund your green fee.

A hike to the world’s fastest growing micronation
If you only take one hike on Kullaberg let it be to Nimis. This mind-boggling driftwood structure is an unruly maze of towers and tunnels that meanders from the forested cliff-side to the water’s edge on the north side of the peninsula. Nimis’ creator Lars Vilks nailed the first pieces of driftwood together 27 years ago (Nimis is not yet finished) and the work is officially owned by Christo and Jeanne-Claude of landmark-wrapping fame.

The Swedish authorities sued Vilks in 1982 for building Nimis on the nature reserve and in 1996 Vilks declared the one square kilometer surrounding Nimis to be an independent nation. Ladonia, as he christened it, is now the world’s fastest growing micronation with 13,000 citizens and counting. It is free to become a citizen but if you have higher aspirations then pick yourself a title, pay twelve dollars and join the Ladonian nobility.

The location is obscure and the hike down to Nimis is tricky but approximately 30,000 brave souls visit the site annually nonetheless. In fact, the Discovery Channel recently managed to get a film crew down to film Nimis for their Lonely Planet travel program. To get there, follow the signs to the idyllic Himmelstorp Farmstead and then follow the yellow N’s.

The Himmelstorp Farmstead is also the perfect place to stop for a picnic. The farm’s four half-timbered thatch-roofed buildings from the 1700’s enclose a grassy courtyard and house a homey little café that opens in mid-May. Gentle cows graze in a pasture nearby, juicy blackberries shine in the hedgerows and you are likely to glimpse a hawk or peregrine falcon skimming the meadow. At the crown of a hill just a hundred steps away is one of Sweden’s finest stone circles. In the early Iron Age ring, where Linné also visited and doubtless knelt to pluck a wildflower, traditional midsummers were celebrated well into the 1900’s. Now the midsummer festivities are held down at the farmstead.

Mölle’s prim, pretty sister
Boats used to ferry the most discreet mixed bathers to Mölle from Arild, a decidedly more respectable address in those days. It still feels rather prim, like a little jewel box of hollyhocks and honeysuckle. As if to confirm this, of all the medieval fishermen’s chapels that once bristled along Skåne’s coastline, only the tiny white chapel in Arild is still standing. It has guarded the sheltered harbor since the 1100’s and is surrounded by pale yellow cottages trimmed with gingerbread, so preciously called snickareglädje (carpenter’s happiness) in Swedish. A sojourn in Arild will have you congratulating newly wedded couples almost daily as they emerge from the perfect little chapel.

On higher ground an old armory inn called Rusthållargården now provides genteel lodgings for tourists and wedding parties rather than the King’s cavalry. The restaurant’s cozy dining rooms are often full and often exclusively with couples who whisper in the candlelight at tables for two. Like clockwork, the staff expertly serves refined versions of Scanian specialties and precisely chilled wines. This is one of the rare places in Sweden where the cook emerges in his immaculate toque to chat for a spell with each guest.

Have your coffee and cognac in the library or slip off to the spa in the Captain’s Villa, which also houses the best rooms to be had on the whole peninsula. You can easily while away an evening in the huge sunken Jacuzzi and saunas of the spa as a contrived galaxy of little stars twinkles in the ceiling overhead.

Arise refreshed in the morning and review your options: play tennis, head out sailing, get married, or go for a round of golf at St. Arild’s 18-hole course nearby. Wide fairways, fast greens and lots of water have seen to it that the St. Arild course is ranked 4th in Skåne and the driving range here is called Sweden’s best by those who know it.

The seven daughters of Skäret
The most blissful haven of the entire Kullabygden district must be a certain 260-year-old summer cottage in the tiny village of Skäret. The Lundgren family, with their seven daughters (Greta, Ebba, Marta, Rut, Anna, Britt-Marie and Ella) turned the cottage into a coffee house in 1938.

“Flickorna Lundgren på Skäret”, as the café is called, opens on the first of May every year and serves coffee in shiny copper kettles, freshly pressed juice and homemade cakes and pastries in the garden. Take a seat among the flowers, marvel at the view of the bay and soak up the sounds of children frolicking with skittish chickens, wee piglets and frisky goats.

A coastal road winds from Arild to Skäret, past crooked cottages with fanciful names like Breidablik (vast view), Torpminne (cottage memory) and Rönnebo (rowan’s nest). It leads eventually to Jonstorp where the Tunneberga inn has tempted hungry travelers with a genuine Scanian smorgasbord for 300 years. You can also enjoy barbeques in the garden during summer or swing by to pick up a basket full of goodies to take on your picnic.

Good wine needs no bush
The light sandy soil and benevolent microclimates of the Kullabygden district nurtures fledgling wineries of which the Kullabygdens Vingård is the most promising. Owners Murat Sofrakis and Bert-Åke Andersson and Winemaker Lena Jörgensen bought their first stocks from Danish grower Jens Michael Gundersen of the Dansk VinCenter outside Copenhagen. They planted the stocks in the tiny plot in Häljaröd, 150 meters from the seashore in the most northeastern extremity of the Kullabygden.

After a few years of careful experimentation, the winery became the first in Sweden to produce red wine from Swedish grapes in commercial quantities. They are now producing quality red, white and rosé wines supplemented by a larger sister domain outside of Malmö called the Nangijala Vingård. Stainless steel tanks and oak aging barrels equip the small production room in Häljaröd and a tasting room and wine cellar are under construction. The winery expects to be able to welcome guests for tastings in 2009 and until then curious wine-lovers should ask for the wines in the local restaurants or order them via the Systembolaget.

This spring’s releases include their L’atitude 55°32, a red wine from Rondo grapes, and the crisp, fruity and minerally fresh Ran, a white wine from Solaris grapes which boasts varieties such as Merzling, Muscat Ottonel, Reisling and Pinot Gris in its cultivar family tree. And if you were expecting Swedish wines to be barely drinkable novelties then expect to be astonished. The key is their commitment to restricting grape yields to an exceptionally low level, only10 to 20 hl/ha, which is diligent and results in fine, concentrated wines.

To raise a glass of this special wine is a fitting way to savor your memories from an adventure in the Kullabygden and to seal your promise to return to this rare retreat. Come to eat, come to play, come to live but most of all come to let the natural beauty of the Kullabygden inspire your soul and soothe your senses.

Getting there
By air – Ängelholm's airport is just a short drive from the Kullabygden district and has direct flights to and from Stockholm. Kastrup in Copenhagen and Sturup in Malmö serve international travelers.

By land – Drivers can follow the E6 north from Malmö (1 hour) or south from Gothenburg (2 hours) and the E4 from Stockholm (7 hours). Trains pass the peninsula by but run several times a day from Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm to Helsingborg where busses head to the Kullabygden district and makes stops in Viken, Höganäs, Krapperup, Mölle, Arild and Jonstorp.

By sea – If you have your own boat then this is the perfect way to arrive and to explore the villages from their pretty harbors.

Where to stay
The Grand Hotel in Mölle is the classic address and all the bright rooms boast immense views of the harbor, the wide-open horizon or the craggy headland but when the wind doth blow it well and truly whistles at the windows. Ask for rooms in the main hotel. www.grand-molle.se

The less spectacular setting of the Hotel Kullaberg is made up for with superior comfort and a fine restaurant and bar. The rooms are supremely cozy and decorated with interesting antique objects. www.hotelkullaberg.se

Kullagårdens Wärdshus, the inn on the wooded crest of the peninsula is a quiet hideaway with just a few small comfortable rooms. www.kullagardenswardshus.se

Stay in one of Rusthållargården’s pretty villas. The 17th century armory for the King’s cavalry turned hotel in Arild offers charming rooms of superior comfort with wonderful views of the bay. The restaurant is also first class and a popular place for wedding receptions. www.rusthallargarden.se

Wide glassed verandas front the Strand Hotel in Arild where one of the rooms boasts a sea view from the bathtub! Relax on one of the verandas for a simple lunch or dinner and enjoy the fine view over the bay. www.strand-arild.se

The rural STF hostel in Jonstorp is more like a country guesthouse with a big, shared kitchen and a pretty garden. www.jonstorp.com

The Höganäs municipal website has a searchable list of bed & breakfasts, self-catering cottages and campgrounds as well as lots of other useful information. www.hoganas.se

More information for avid trip-planners
www.niklas.se
www.vikentomater.se
www.larsvikenslantbruk.se
www.saltglaserat.se
www.hoganaskeramik.se
www.bodanova.se
www.krapperup.se
www.kerstintillberg.com
www.mollekrukmakeri.se
www.ransvik.se
www.kullabergsnatur.se
www.specialsport.se
www.kullaaventyr.com
www.mollegk.se
www.ladonia.com
www.starild.se
www.fl-lundgren.se
www.tunneberga.se

Mark your calendar
April 6th to 15th, The Konstrundan
Visit local artists in their studios and workshops during the annual 10-day open house event known as the Konstrundan.

April 30th, Walpurgis celebrations
Join the locals in the various villages of the Kullabygden in their traditional Walpurgis Eve celebrations when huge bonfires are lit to chase away the last wisps of winter from the land.

June 1st to 3rd, The Trädgårdsrundan
Like the Konstrundan only this time it is the public and private gardens of the Kullabygden that will hold and open house event.

June 1st, Flora Amalia
Visit the museum at Krapperup where the Linné-inspired botanical watercolors of Lady Amalia Beata Sparre will be on display until August 28th.

June 6th, National Day celebrations
The local communities celebrate Sweden’s National Holiday.

June 21st, Midsummer’s Eve
Visit one of the villages to celebrate a real Swedish Midsummer. The most traditional festivities will be at the Himmelstorp Farmstead.

A portrait of the artist as an ardent man

My portrait of Artist Lars Vilks has been published in the spring issue of South of Sweden Magazine. Read the full article below or visit www.sosmag.se to download the pdf version of the spring 2007 issue.

A portrait of the artist as an ardent man

Lars Vilks is the provocative artist who builds magnificent driftwood structures without permits, outsmarts the Swedish authorities with confusion tactics and sheer obstinacy and who has set out to rewrite the history of art. Laurel Williams sits down to dinner with the man behind the Kullabygden district’s most popular attraction.

In 1980, wholly uninspired by the bland lecture halls of his university, the young Lars Vilks hefted a hammer and nails to a remote cove on the Kullaberg nature reserve and began building a new kind of place for people and ideas to meet. Vilks hammered away unmolested for two whole years. He gave the emerging driftwood structure a name – Nimis. Then in 1982 some local fisherman discovered it and extraordinary things began to happen.

Twenty-seven years later the Nimis project is still developing and Vilks and I sit down to dinner at NIKLAS HELSINGBORG to discuss art and life. The evening begins merrily as Vilks has an anecdote, which clarifies at least one aspect of the purpose of art. A nameless shameless woman has written about how she once used the sturdy edifice of Nimis to support herself and a lover in an outdoor coital adventure.

“So, there you have one thing that art is good for,” he pronounces and positively twinkles at this previously unconsidered functionality of his work.

Vilks devours any material that can help him define art. It is his most important aim and one that has occupied him daily since his university days when he successfully convinced his advisor to let him write his dissertation on the subject. The conclusion of his dissertation was a somewhat disconcerting one for his academic examiners and was, briefly, this: art is a new phenomena and the concept of art is barely 200 years old.

“It is all [Immanuel] Kant’s fault,” Vilks clarifies, “with his absurd theories of aesthetics and beauty.”

Kant is a haunting figure in the mind of Vilks as he attempts to rewrite art history or at least to help the art world to see that such a rewrite is in order. When Vilks describes how he talks out loud to himself whenever and wherever he is struck with an idea that he must discuss, I cannot help but picture an apparition of Kant hovering over his shoulder as a speaking partner of sorts.

The slow starter wins the long race
Vilks calls himself a slow starter, his strength lying in his ability to complete lengthy large-scale projects, and his beginnings on earth were therefore suitably unassuming. Born in 1946, Vilks grew up right and proper in the working class town of Höganäs on Skåne’s northwest coast. Vilks’ mother raised her son to be an upstanding young man who gazed at the night sky over Sweden through his telescope and planned become an astronomer.

At 14 he discovered a knack for the game of chess and started playing competitively. He played so often and so well that it proved to be detrimental to his studies. To become an astronomer he had to work to get his grades up and by the time he succeeded in doing so, astronomy was abandoned in favor of history, literature and finally, art history.

“I also became a yoga man for awhile in the 60’s,” he adds and tries to recall the name of a move he can still do which involves contorting the abdomen into an implausible shape, “I had a very old-fashioned, detailed book about yoga that I tried to follow to the letter. One of the recommendations was to only drink milk fresh from the cow. I went to a local farmer and drank some milk that was so fresh it was still warm. I only tried the fresh milk that one time but I was a vegetarian for quite a while and I still do some yoga now.”

Vilks also had a father, as he himself phrases it. Vilks’ father fled Estonia towards the end of WWII and arrived in Sweden where he made at least one definite contribution. “I only met him once. It was when I was in my late teens,” Vilks says and nods reticently.

“They were very straightforward moral people,” he recalls of his family, “I became the black sheep when I started with my art projects. That is, at least until I became a famous artist. Then all was forgiven.”

A creature of habit
As our courses come out of the gourmet kitchen in succession Vilks remarks about how different this is from his usual fare. “I boil all of my food,” he informs me matter-of-factly, “I put meat and vegetables in a pot and let it boil up while I have my shower. I never get tired of it.”

Up a 7 a.m. every day, Vilks is a man who likes his routine. He begins the day with his coffee and perhaps some painting. It is not clear exactly when he has his first creamy gräddbulle snack but it is certain that he consumes up to six of these chocolate dipped marshmallow-like treats every day. “I am an expert on the different kinds and qualities of gräddbullar,” he says with a charming grin, “I love all sweet things.”

Vilks seems to have boundless reserves of energy and makes almost daily treks down to Nimis. Over these 27 years he has been there well over 6000 times. He also finds the time to read copious amounts of text, make lengthy posts to his site www.vilks.net every day and is sleeping sweetly by midnight. Energy is seldom wasted on banal chores such as dusting and in fact, the complete lack of dust in the home of his live-apart girlfriend seems to concern him slightly.

The smoked shellfish in mussel foam arrives at the table. A little gasp of delight escapes my lips and Vilks muses sagely about why women in general seem to like seafood more the men. Our good-natured waiter pauses to listen while Vilks postulates, “I believe it is because women are more controlled by the tides and the sea than we men are.”

I wonder about his authority on women. “I was married once, for a year,” he had told me earlier, “but it was the wrong form for me.”

The fate of Nimis
Once the Swedish authorities learned about Nimis in 1982 and ordered Vilks to remove it, a legal circus in a hundred acts was set in motion, which Vilks sees as an important part of the artwork. Vilks sold the work to the influential German artist Joseph Bueys, creating difficulties for the Swedish authorities, and after Bueys’ death it was sold again to the famous land artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

“I called Christo to make a proposition and he gave the phone directly to Jeanne-Claude. She is the decision maker,” Vilks recounts.

Jeanne-Claude gave the definitive answer, “Christo says yes.”

Further down the rocky beach from Nimis is Arx, a concrete “book” about philosophers that has been “published” by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It even has a proper ISBN number and is protected by freedom of speech rights.

The only piece that the authorities have managed to budge is a modest stone sculpture called Omphalos but this also turned into a triumph for Vilks since the Swedish Museum of Modern art in Stockholm has taken Omphalos in.

Over the years Vilks has been fined for huge sums, arsonists have attempted to burn Nimis to the ground but it still stands and Vilks seems as buoyant as ever which is true to his own motto, “Everything is an advantage.” The local government has also been forced to accept the fact, however begrudgingly, that Nimis attracts approximately 30,000 welcome tourists to the region each year.

In 1996 Vilks declared the one square kilometer around his works to be its own country, Ladonia, which is the fastest growing micronation in the world. Over 13,000 people from all corners of the globe have been granted Ladonian citizenship and Vilks himself is the Secretary of State. “Running a small country entails its fair amount of administration work,” he concedes. Especially when three thousand Pakistanis requested visas over the Internet without realizing that Ladonia was a mostly virtual country.

The diligent Vilks has simultaneously been prolific, publishing several books (in Swedish) including such intriguing titles as, “The Theory of Everything”, “The Authorities as Artistic Material”, and “How To Become A Contemporary Artist In Three Days” with colleague Martin Schibli.

Now that he has momentum, the slow starter just keeps progressing. Vilks managed to give 80 lectures last year (he lectures entirely from memory) and he continues to develop his art theories, and projects like Ladonia and Nimis. “Nimis is not finished yet,” he puzzles, “I am not really sure how to finish it.” While Nimis is likely what most people think of when they hear his name, Vilks is most proud of having raised the level of discourse in the realm of art.

Vilks is a man of great wit and a most agreeable dinner companion. He is visibly elated when, after a rich chocolate dessert, an unexpected platter of decorative sweets materializes with our coffee. He is even happier when I cannot finish mine and comes gallantly to the rescue. The artist is content.

Live well & tread lightly

Living well entails much more than simply indulging in epicurean pleasures. It also implies living intelligently, ethically and wholesomely with respect for all living things and for yourself.

In trying to put together a brief guide to living well ethically I have discovered that it is inexcusably difficult to find out the whole story about most of the goods we consume daily.

The most basic action we can take to affect a change in this situation is to be diligent consumers, persistent in our demand for information and for the right to buy goods of ethical, sustainable and traceable origin.

Other good tips:

Buy clothes, furniture and art that is produced locally, ethically and sustainably. Shop at your local independant farmer's markets, fishmongers, cheese shops, butchers and bakeries.

Buy only local, in season, organic, sustainable, minimally packed, minimally processed and fair trade food. It is better for you, for the planet and for your fellow humans. Demand these products in your local stores.

Support the Slow Food movement, the International Fair Trade Organization, the Forest Stewardship Council, the Clean Clothes Campaign and Amnesty International. Visit their sites and inform yourself. The Ethical Consumer Magazine and the New Consumer Magazine are also great resources.

Encouraging indulgence

In the spirit of encouraging indulgence this Holiday season I have collected a few of my favorite recipes that should gratify the bon vivant in everyone.

Whisky Caramel Corn
1. Start with a large bowl about halfway full of popped popcorn, buttered and salted as you usually like it.
2. In a saucepan, melt a stick of butter with 1 cup of sugar over high heat while stirring constantly. Use a long handled metal whisk for best safety since the sugar is extremely hot when it starts to melt and caramelize. I use brown sugar but you can white sugar, raw cane sugar or a mix of any of these depending on the taste and consistency you like.
3. When the butter is melted and the mixture is bubbling add a splash of whisky - I use 2 or more tablespoons depending on who I am planning to share it with and a single malt that is not too smoky is the best (The Macallan!)
4. Keep stirring until the mixture is well caramelized but not burned. If you drip a little of the caramel into a glass of cold water and it gets a bit gooey then it is ready. If you want really crunchy caramel corn then let it caramelize until it makes a hard little ball when dripped in the cold water.
5. Pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn and start stirring/mixing until the popcorn is evenly coated. It is ready to eat as soon as it has cooled a bit but gets crunchier if it gets to sit and cool completely. I never manage to wait for long!
Note: If you add some heavy cream to this caramel sauce recipe it becomes a delicious butterscotch sauce for ice cream.

Swedish Lussekatter (Lucia Cats) Saffron Buns
1. Melt 50 grams of butter in a pan and when it has melted add 2.5 dl of milk. Warm the mixture to 37°C (100°F) and no more. Then pour a little of the liquid over 25 grams of live baker's yeast and stir to dissolve.
2. Add the rest of the liquid, 1/2 gram of saffron, 1 dl of sugar, 125 grams of sour cream and 8 dl of flour and mix to a smooth dough. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes.
3. Now, knead the dough and divide it into 16 pieces and form each piece into a ball and then roll between your hands to make a long "cat tail" and shape it in to the shape of and S or any other shape you like and place them on cookie trays that are either buttered or covered with baking paper. Cover your Lussekatter and let them rise for another 30 minutes. Make sure they have enough space on the trays to double in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 225°C (437°C). Whip an egg with a few grains of salt and when the Lucia cats have finished rising, brush them with the egg mixture. Bake your cats for 5 to 10 minutes in the middle of the oven - they should be yellow with golden 'tops'. They are best fresh out of the oven but will keep for a few days in an air tight container.

And the best for last...
Dark Chocolate Truffles
1. Melt 8 ounces of butter with a 1/2 cup of sugar. When it starts to just caramelize pour in 1/2 cup of heavy cream little by little and stir with a whisk till smooth and bubbly. Now pour 1/2 of good quality cocoa powder little by little while stirring constantly with the whisk. Remove from heat and keep stirring till shiny and smooth.
2. Now comes the fun part - divide the chocolate into a few different bowls and decide how to flavor each of them. Use can use vanilla, 2 tablespoons of whisky, cognac, rum or champagne, lemon or orange peel, nuts, peppermint ... well, you get the idea. Be creative. My favorites are whisky, champagne and peppermint. Put the bowls in the fridge to chill until firm.
3. When the chocolate has cooled use a teaspoon to scoop out chunks. Roll them into balls and then roll them in cocoa, powdered sugar, nuts or a gourmet sea salt. Hand rolling warms them up a bit so chill the truffles again before serving on beautiful plate. Space them out in one layer in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge or the freezer for up to two weeks.

Helsingborg & the Winter of a Bon Vivant

My article about Helsingborg has been published in the South of Sweden Magazine. Read the full article below or visit www.sosmag.se to download the pdf version of issue 4 of the magazine.

The Winter of a Bon Vivant

Helsingborg, the pearl of the Sound, is perhaps best loved for its summer pleasures when the sun shines on lively festivals, waterside eateries and miles of some of the best urban beaches in Scandinavia. But with stunning scenery, cultural riches and an epicurean flavor, the thriving “little big city” is also a winter wonderland for bon vivants as Laurel Williams reveals.

Discovering a rare blend
Helsingborg is one of Sweden’s most beautiful seaside cities, commanding the narrowest point of the Öresund Sound, a little bottleneck or ‘hals’ between Sweden and Denmark from which Helsingborg gets its name. This is Sweden’s closest link to the continent and, like the rest of Skåne, was Danish longer than it has been Swedish and that lends a tangible cosmopolitan whiff to the atmosphere. At once sophisticated and flamboyant, Helsingborg has become a magnet for young, active creatives and lovers of style and gastronomy. One thousand years of history and recent awards such as Sweden’s finest city center, Sweden’s best music city and the city with the best business climate for entrepreneurs in Sweden, offer a rare blend of the ancient and modern that beguiles visitors and locals alike.

Helsingborg is easy walkable and with the Sound to the west and the heights of the Landborgen ridge running parallel to the east, orienting yourself is effortless. A good starting point is Stortorget, the main square lined with upscale shops, restaurants, hotels and the impressive City Hall. Stand in the middle of the square and take in the view of the busy ferry harbor at one end and at the other, the magnificent steps that rise up to the Kärnan tower that has stood guard in Helsingborg for over 600 years. Climb up the ancient steps in the tower’s 4½-meter thick walls for brilliant views of the Sound and the menagerie of boats frisking about or heading out upon the seven seas.

Kullagatan, the oldest pedestrian street in Sweden, winds north away from the square and deposits you at the concert hall and the theatre. Beyond is the North Harbor, fringed by delightful restaurants and cafés with immense windows perfect for gazing at all the boats and people passing by. A welcome surprise there is a row of heated benches outside the marina building. Just south of the main square, discover the charming cobblestone streets around the beautiful St. Mary’s Church. In this, the oldest part of Helsingborg, almost every dwelling has its own ghost story. Ivy creeps prettily over the red bricks of St. Mary’s, the Danish Gothic masterwork that was completed in the 1400’s and that took 100 years to build. Bruksgatan leads pedestrians further south and eventually to the exotic, vibrant district of Helsingborg where the currents of the world swirl in dozens of languages around the daily fruit, vegetable and flower market.

All on a winter’s day
Winter is the perfect season to take in the unique wealth of culture that Helsingborg offers. A generous donation from resident industry mogul Henry Dunker, famous for his Tretorn galoshes, boots and tennis balls, fixes Helsingborg’s status as a flourishing cultural center for years to come. Go to Dunkers Kulturhus for its striking architecture, expansive views of the North Harbor and a bounty of concerts, theatre and exhibitions of local history, Nordic mythology and modern art. Take moment to stop in at the gift shop for some of the most unique and genuine souvenirs of a visit to the city including Tretorn boots and other rubbery novelties. The nationally renowned city theatre warms hearts during the dark winter months with the cabaret “Brel” in homage to Jacques Brel’s life and immortal songs. Take in a symphony at the concert hall or take a stroll in the magnificent gardens of the Fredriksdal open-air museum or Sofiero castle. Look for the juniper-hedge maze at Sofiero, ironically a puzzle in itself to find, and ramble down the ravine to the seaside where swans bob aimlessly about. Lately named Sweden’s most beautiful park, the grounds of Sofiero play host to flower festivals, art exhibits, rock concerts, Shakespearean plays and classic car shows during the spring and summer but is utterly tranquil in winter.

Stroll along Kullagatan and Bruksgatan for some superb shopping. All the usual chains are represented but the real gems are the many small clothing boutiques, interior design shops, galleries and cafés. This region is rich with high quality clay and you will find plenty of unique handmade stoneware available in Helsingborg. Visit the wonderful Gastronomibutiken gourmet delicatessen in the Tågaborg neighborhood where locally sourced goodies rub shoulders with European delicacies from the best producers. Their own fresh foie gras pâtés soaked in grappa, cognac or rum are incomparable. Many locals also make regular pilgrimages to south-side institution Tasty House where towers of baklava compete with exotic candy and, most importantly, row upon row of freshly roasted nuts.

Stop in at a cozy café for a cup of Zoégas dark roast gourmet coffee. The Zoégas beans have been roasted Helsingborg since 1881 and on roasting days when the wind is right the whole town smells like one big fragrant coffee shop. Take the waters with a glass of the local iron-rich Ramlösa mineral water that Carl von Linné raved about and that has found its way onto water menus around the world. The holiday season will find you nibbling at crisp gingerbread cookies or golden saffron buns washed down with piping hot mugs of sweet and spicy ‘glögg’. Helsingborg also boasts no less than three gourmet chocolate shops. Sofie Choklad and Peter Beier Chokolade keep their chocolate fountains gushing on opposite sides of the St. Mary’s church and Chocolatte on the Sundstorget square offers a unique white hot chocolate laced with fresh lime. For cappuccinos whipped up by Sweden’s best baristas head to the K&Co café off Kullagatan. Don’t leave town without buying some gourmet chocolates or Zoégas dark roasted coffee beans to stuff stockings with.

Bundle up and take a winter walk in the beautiful Pålsjö forest among towering beeches and oaks. A most romantic tunnel through the ancient hornbeam hedge near fairy-pink Pålsjö castle leads you to stunning views of the Sound and Denmark. You can link in here to a walking path that follows the edge of the Landborgen ridge and stretches nearly 15 kilometers from Sofiero in the north to the medieval Raus Church in the south, past sumptuous homes, secret gardens and along the valley of Råå Creek.

As the winter sun sinks lower make your way to the to the Påljsöbad sauna and bathhouses, set on stilts in the Sound, for a wholesome and magical conclusion to your day. It is a cherished tradition in Helsingborg to gaze at the sunset over Denmark from the sauna windows, emerging only to shimmy down steps for the occasional swift dip in the refreshing (read icy) water.

Hometown soccer hero Henrik Larsson is back in Helsingborg after a spectacular international career and has led Helsingborg’s own team, HIF, straight to the top classes of Swedish football. If they play their way into the Royal League then be sure to catch a game at Olympia, one of Sweden’s nicest outdoor sports arenas.

Eating, Drinking & Being Merry
It would be foolish to go to Helsingborg and not indulge in the gastronomical delights. Helsingborg’s reputation for offering Skåne’s best dining can hardly be disputed. It is home to the likes of GASTRO, NIKLAS HELSINGBORG and Sofiero Slottsrestaurang, three of the top four restaurants in Skåne and among the best in the country. The traditional Swedish Christmas buffet is served in grand style at Sofiero during the month of December and it is a most marvelous feast of homemade Christmas delicacies in regal surroundings. The White Guide recently proclaimed GASTRO the best restaurant in Skåne and the Christmas buffet stays true to the Gastro concept of preparing locally sourced fish, game and vegetables to perfection, capturing the essence of Skåne’s traditional cuisine.

Celebrate the holidays like royalty at the baroque Örenäs Castle, set on a bluff in Glumslöv, just 15 kilometers south of Helsingborg. Sweden’s youngest castle (a 92-year-old whippersnapper) houses a hotel and restaurant that hosts a Christmas buffet complete with a small orchestra to entertain guests. This is also the setting of an opulent Twelfth Night ball in January where ladies in rustling gowns and their tuxedoed consorts dance and glitter in the ballroom. The castle grounds are lovely and afford vast views of the Sound and the little island of Ven. The surrounding hills and valleys offer some Skåne’s premiere sledding if snow is forthcoming. The most enduring attraction in the area must be the magnificent Örenäs passage grave nearby. Several people at a time can creep into the large, 5000-year-old grave chamber but bring a flashlight and perhaps some candles for dramatic effect. Below the castle is the diminutive fishing village of Ålabodarna, “the eel shacks” where eel fishermen traditionally lived. Walk along the only road past picture perfect houses, to the tiny harbor where in summertime Sweden’s smallest restaurant serves visitors through a window.

Step back in time in provincial Billeberga, 20 km southeast of Helsingborg, where an out of the way farm houses Farbror Elofs Skafferi (Uncle Elof’s Pantry). This is the most peculiar restaurant you may ever set foot in but the experience is unforgettable, especially at Christmastime. The entry to the country courtyard is laid with evergreen boughs that fill the air with rich, green perfume. Crossing the threshold sends you into a wacky museum of random kitsch, where grown men and women sit at rickety yard-sale tables and play with whatever toy or bauble they find there. Meanwhile one lucky member of each party tries to keep track on an old clipboard of how many shots of homemade Swedish schnapps everyone is having. There is a wall of bottles to choose from with handwritten labels announcing such unlikely flavors as saffron, dill, ginger, horseradish and clove. Novel and zany as it is, it is hard to understand what all the fuss is about, that is until you see the buffet spread. Long tables sag under the weight of 22 different kinds of homemade pickled herring, the best of the rest of traditional Swedish Christmas dishes and an enormous Italian feast. Save room for the silky little panna cottas. If you find a trinket that strikes your fancy you will probably be able to take it home. Just ask the waiter to put it on your bill.

If Christmas fare is wearing thin head back into town and straight to NIKLAS HELSINGBORG where the dashing young celebrity chef Niklas Ekstedt devises beautiful winter dishes that please all the senses. The epic wine list matches his Classic French and Mediterranean cuisine where you will detect masterful currents of experimentalism, reminiscent of his time at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, El Bulli in Barcelona and French Laundry in Yountville, California.

When you are hungry, New York style, book a table at Brooklyn on the square by St. Mary’s church. Inspired by the legendary Peter Luger’s steakhouse under the Brooklyn Bridge, Chef-Patron Rickard Persson serves whopping Porterhouse and New York strip steaks and lobsters. In the lofty and genteel rooms of the oldest restaurant in Sweden, now home to the Café le Fils du Rasoir, you can savor a monstrous, steaming bowl of French onion soup and other French classics. Come in from the cold at the new Copenhagen-style bistro and wine bar, Papi, just off Kullagatan. Designed by esteemed Danish architects Vandkust, the interior features cozy sofa niches where you can nestle in for lunch or glass of wine. On weekends devour wonderful brunches at Papi, Brooklyn, Sofiero or the restaurant in Dunkers.

The word gourmet originally meant wine taster and at Lagmark on Sundstorget you can live out this meaning at a new shrine to wine, the “Vinotek”, that allows guests to sample some of the world’s finest wines for a song. The long gallery of stainless steel and glass proffers 40 bottles of fine wine but the doyenne of the collection is the Chateau d’Yquem. A sip of this, the world’s most exclusive dessert wine, always seduces first-time tasters. “In 25 years I never sold a bottle and now I sell one or two a week,” proprietor Torbjörn Lagmark declares. Lagmark is a foodie mecca that also offers catering, cooking lessons, a gourmet deli and an array of dainty Swedish tapas dubbed gourmetas.

Bask in relaxed ambience at MeNTO on Kullagatan, notably Helsingborg’s only Cristal restaurant and where each dish includes something fresh off the grill. Your hosts, award-winning bartender Susann Nilsson and bartender/sommelier Ola Book dazzle with clever concoctions of fresh fruit and flavor fusions inspired by the finer cocktail trends of London. Try the Frisky Bison, an artful union of apple, pear, crushed mint and lemon that is utterly fresh or the lavish pineapple Flirtini spiked with Cointreau and topped up with champagne.

If the night is still young, follow the music to Mink behind St. Mary’s church. This is the place to dance till dawn and if the floor gets too crowded patrons are welcome to board the tables and the long (though narrow) bar and very regularly do. If you make a go at it then you will be happy to discover that the ceiling is low enough to help you keep your balance. Bar tenders do brisk business anyhow, nimbly serving drinks through the forest of twitching legs. The Tivoli in the venerable old station building by the ferry harbor is buzzing almost every night with live concerts, stand-up comedy and drag shows. A jazz club lurks under Kullagatan and at the Grand Hotel’s piano bar champagne cocktails flow to the tunes of Elton John and Robbie Williams.

A night on the town will leave you feeling that the 122,000 residents of Skåne’s second city love life and are determined to live it well. So come hither, bon vivants. When the winter sun sinks into the dark slice of Denmark and the sounds feasting and laughter float out from candlelit restaurants, the pearl of the sound is your oyster.

Local heroes share their best winter tips
Håkan Nilsson, Wine Consultant and Writer
“I love going to the Pålsjöbad sauna and bathhouses in the late afternoon. I take all my foreign visitors there for a sauna and a swim in the Sound. It is wonderfully relaxing and also happens to be the best hangover cure I know of.“

Niklas Ekstedt, Celebrity Chef and Owner of NIKLAS HELSINGBORG
“I go to the theatre and concerts and take winter walks at Sofiero and Fredriksdal. My favorite way to warm up is to visit one of Helsingborg’s three gourmet chocolatiers for a cup of delicious, rich hot chocolate.”

Johan Wissman, Silver Medalist at the 2006 European Athletic Championships and Swedish record holder in the 200-meter sprint
“During the winter you really just want to find a cozy place indoors and Helsingborg has lots of restaurants and coffee shops to suit every style. I like the restaurant and lounge, Bara Vara, and the 50’s style coffee shop Ebbas Fik on Bruksgatan that has giant cookies and big slices of cake.”

Getting there
By air
Ängelholm's airport is just a 30-minute drive from Helsingborg and has direct flights to and from Stockholm. Kastrup in Copenhagen and Sturup in Malmö serve international travelers.

By land
Drivers can follow the E6 north from Malmö (1 hour) or south from Gothenburg (2 ½ hours) and the E4 from Stockholm (7 ½ hours). Trains run several times a day from Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm and deliver you to Knutpunkten, the central station in Helsingborg where all the train, bus and ferry traffic meet.

By sea
The most enjoyable way to arrive in Helsingborg is, without a doubt, by ferryboat from Denmark. The flags of Kronborg, Hamlet’s famous castle, wave you off from Helsingör.

Where to stay
The Elite Hotel Mollberg on Stortorget is a classic address. The site has been a hotel since the 1300’s making it Sweden’s oldest and it also houses the oldest restaurant in Sweden, now home to the charming Café le Fils du Rasoir. www.elite.se/hotell/helsingborg/mollberg

The Radisson SAS Grand Hotel in a beautiful 1920’s building on Stortorget houses an excellent restaurant and lounge, a piano bar, a chic coffee shop, an Italian trattoria and the divine Japanese city spa, Njuta. www.radissonsas.com

Villa Thalassa, perched on the edge of the Landborgen ridge in the Pålsjö forest, is one Sweden’s most beautifully located hostels. www.villathalassa.com

Farbror Elofs Skafferi in Billeberga provides quaint rooms for guests overwhelmed by the idea of returning to the real world too soon after dinner. www.elofsskafferi.com

At Örenäs Castle ask for the rooms in the castle itself. They offer weekend packages and special deals for the Christmas buffet and the Twelfth Night ball. www.orenasslott.com


Mark your calendar
December 3rd, Julskyltning
The shop owners in Helsingborg honor the Swedish tradition of unveiling the Christmas ornamentations of the shop windows on the first advent. White lights twinkle across town and candied almonds are roasted and sold on the corners.

December 7th, Port Wine Tasting
One of Sweden’s top wine experts, Håkan Nilsson, hosts a port wine tasting at bistro and bar Dahlberg on Stortorget. www.gastro.nu/gastropub

December 8th-10th, Christmas at Fredriksdal
For an authentic Swedish Christmas market do not miss “Christmas at Fredriksdal”, where you can buy old fashioned candies, homemade delicacies and crafts in old shops on the exquisitely preserved rural village streets. The beautiful manor house and gardens date back to the 1700’s. www.fredriksdal.helsingborg.se

December 13th, Santa Lucia Day
Take part in one of Sweden’s most magical Christmas traditions on Santa Lucia Day’s festival of light. A candlelight procession of young girls dressed in white glides into St. Mary’s Church and spellbinds the audience with song. The procession and concert begin at 7 p.m. and are free.

December 14th, Symphony
The revered Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to Mozart’s life and travels with the symphony, “In the Masters Footsteps” at Helsingborg’s concert hall. www.helsingborgssymfoniorkester.se

January 6th, Twelfth Night Ball
A black-tie affair at Örenäs Castle marks the traditional end of Christmas festivities. www.orenasslott.com

January 19th-21st The Cod Festival
Helsingborg hosts its 28th Annual International Cod Festival, one of the largest international sea angling competition the world, with a prize table of 400,000 SEK and 50,000 SEK for the biggest cod (upped to 150,000 SEK if you can beat the all-time record of 25.3 kilos). The festival, which usually includes over 600 participants from 20 or more countries, takes place in the North Harbor. Contact Hans Elmroth and Margareta Andersson on or Lisa Olsson on for more information.

Buying Time

My second article offering practical advice about living in Sweden has been published in the South of Sweden magazine. Read the full article below or visit www.sosmag.se to download the pdf version of issue 4 of the magazine. Ironically, almost immediately after penning this article we decided that it was time to move. So the search is on for our new home in Helsingborg and I have found my own advice very helpful, even printing out copies of the article to take to showings so I remember which questions to ask.

Buying Time

So you dream of owning your own apartment in Sweden. Visions dance in your head of snug holiday gatherings where you can feel confident about knocking in a nail wherever you please to hang the mistletoe. But before you start sending out the invitations know that buying an apartment here is a complicated affair.

The first thing to get to grips with when you set out to buy an apartment in Sweden, is that you do not actually get to buy the apartment. What you actually buy is the right to use the apartment for all eternity, as opposed to renting where your landlord is permitted to evict you with three months notice. In fact you become your own landlord, in a sense, because you also become a part owner of the whole building without actually owning any specific piece of it.

When you buy the right to use your apartment, you are also required to join the cooperative housing society of the building, to whom you will pay a joining fee and a monthly rent, on top of your loan payments on the purchase. This may seem perplexing, even outrageous, to a newcomer but any Swede will till you that it is all very straightforward; the monthly fee pays for property taxes, the upkeep of the building itself, the grounds, shared areas such as the laundry room, stairwell, garage and often covers services including water utility and garbage collection.

These housing societies function much like small countries. Each dwelling is given one vote at a yearly meeting to decide who will be on the board of directors and handle the finances and day-to-day decisions of the cooperative. The board must also approve your membership before you are allowed to join but it is uncommon that anyone is denied that right. Many organizations even hold informative courses for prospective apartment buyers to help them understand the logic of this system.

The best places to start looking for new apartments up for sale are on the websites of some the nationwide housing cooperative organizations such as HSB, Riksbyggen or SBC. You can also contact a real estate agent to help you in your search or check the paper or Internet for older apartments sold on the private market.

Go to as many showings as you can to get an idea of what the market is like and find out what similar apartments in the area or in the same building have sold for. Be aware that when an agent invites you to view an apartment, another 15 prospective buyers may be there at the same time. If you decide to buy the apartment, these are the people you will be bidding against. Many apartments sell for a good sight more than the original asking price in places where demand is high, that is to say, in almost every Swedish city. So prepare yourself for a nail-biter when the bidding starts.

Take your time in the apartment, checking the kitchen and bathroom carefully, and be on the alert for any signs of water damage or thin, poorly soundproofed walls. Ask about the condition of the roof, the heating system, the elevator, the plumbing, the electrical wiring and the windows of the building. Do not forget to ask about parking options and be sure to confirm with the agent or owner that the appliances you see in the apartment will still be there when you move in. Inspect the apartment and all of the shared areas including the attic, basement, laundry room, garage and stairwell. As the buyer you are responsible for making sure your observations get recorded on the official inspection document before you move in.

Get a copy of the annual report that each housing society is required to publish and read it to be certain that the cooperative is financially stable and well-managed. Check with the agent or the board to make sure that the previous owner does not have outstanding debts with the apartment as collateral. Ask for the building plans of the apartment so you can check the location of wiring, plumbing and bearing walls. You want to know before you buy if your bold plans for dropping walls, to make room for that competition-size billiards table, are feasible.

Finally, take out a home insurance policy that has a specific clause just for the special housing cooperative situation. Unlike renters, members of housing cooperatives have extensive maintenance responsibility for their dwellings.

As is often the case in Sweden, there are innumerable regulations specifically governing the sale and ownership of apartments. Refer to your municipal housing authorities and municipal consumer guidance office for all the details. And when you have run the gauntlet and emerged unscathed shock your new neighbors by throwing a grand old housewarming party, and inviting them all to come.

American ex-pat Laurel Williams lives in Helsingborg and has spent the past 11 years living, studying and working in Sweden. She is currently an English Copywriter at a B2B marketing agency and a Journalist. Having bought, sold and rented several flats in Sweden she offers some tips to first-timers.

A Place to Call "Hem"

My article on how to go about renting an apartment in Sweden has been published in the new South of Sweden magazine. Read the full article below or visit www.sosmag.se to download the digital version of issue 3 of the magazine.

A place to call ‘hem’

Much is made of the housing shortage in Swedish cities, and rightly so. The waiting lists for rentals are long and empty apartments scarce. Armed with some choice information, however, finding and settling in to your new home in Sweden should go as smoothly as slicing cheese with your brilliant new cheese-slicer.

Apartment housing in Sweden falls into three categories – vintage buildings with high ceilings and old tile stoves, sterile high rises from the Million Program or slick, fashionable new structures. Start your search for a room of your own by checking with the municipal housing exchanges or go directly to the companies who own rental buildings in your area. You will be placed on the waiting list but should also register your interest in each set of rooms that appeals to you. It is often revealed how many others have registered their interest and how long the person who gets first crack at it has been on the waiting list.

Out of curiosity, I recently looked at a modest 4-room apartment in central Helsingborg to see what an average waiting period might currently amount to. Ninety-two other people were also interested in that particular item and the number of days that the pole position apartment seeker had been on the waiting list was an alarming 12,845. Yes, that makes for just over 35 years! So, to earn eternal gratitude from your offspring, place children on every available waiting list as soon as they have got a personal number. If this seems tedious, you can always consider private housing agencies. They will charge a fee, but only if they successfully find you a new home.

The best strategy is word-of-mouth, so make everyone you meet aware of the fact that you are looking for an apartment. Place a wanted ad but if you include the word ‘hittelön’ i.e. reward, be prepared for people who expect to be bribed with a large illegal sum in exchange for the contract. The demand for housing far exceeds supply in most Swedish cities, which has given rise to an elaborate system involving (illegal) payment of rewards or ‘key money’ to bribe landlords and tenants.

Ideally, you are looking for a first-hand contract. Renting from another tenant compromises some of your rights. First-hand contracts are difficult to get and once you have one you can use it as a bargaining chip in a subsequent trade.

When you have secured an apartment, make sure you get a contract that documents your monthly rent and what is included in it. Get a checklist from the landlord that inventories existing damage to the apartment. This protects you from having to pay for the water stain on the oak floor from the previous tenant’s turtle tank.

The standard of quality in your average Swedish apartment is rather high and the building owners are required to freshen things up regularly. If you are made to suffer peeling paint, moldy bathrooms or the malfunction of essential equipment such as the refrigerator or toilet, your landlord is required to fix it.

You are allowed to paint and put up new wallpaper in your apartment but structural changes are grounds for eviction. And it is wise to talk to your landlord before you pry open that can of ‘solar flare orange’ paint. If you choose colors that do not sit well with your landlord, or if your work is less than professional, you may be required to pay for restoring normality when you move out.

Above all, pay your rent on time, follow the laws of the laundry room, avoid tap dancing after 10 p.m. and put up a friendly note to warn your neighbors of imminent partying. If you are a nuisance, your landlord is permitted to evict you by giving three months notice.

A good place to get advice if problems arise is the Swedish Union of Tenants called ‘Hyresgästföreningen’. They help you assert your rights as a tenant and assist you in the ‘Hyresnämden’ rent tribunal that exists solely to settle disputes among renters and landlords.

One last word of advice – if you do manage to snag an apartment with those beautiful tile stoves, resist the temptation to light up a crackling blaze until you get the landlord’s blessing. Most specimens are merely for show these days, but colonize them with a motley collection of candles and you can still enjoy a warm glow.

American ex-pat Laurel Williams lives in Helsingborg and has spent the past 11 years living, studying and working in Sweden. She is currently an English Copywriter at a B2B marketing agency and a Journalist. Having bought, sold and rented several flats in Sweden she offers some tips to first-timers.

The Physiology of Taste

Come hither gourmets, sybarites, sensualists, hedonists, epicureans, pleasure seekers and bon vivants. Celebrated author, french gourmet and lawyer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin said that living well was an act of intelligence by which we choose that which pleases us over that which does not. I do agree and would propose that living well is an intellectual adventure as well as a sensual one. It is the act of making every moment of our short but glorious lives into a moment of pleasure, wonder and poetry. It is taking all the little things we do, from the most mundane act of washing dishes to the most divine act of being in love, and investing our minds and bodies into making them works of art.

This book is recommended reading for any bon vivant or gourmet and is probably the best book ever written about food and philosophy. There are detailed scientific and anthropological descriptions on everything from chocolate and digestion and both Brillat-Savarin and M.F.K. Fisher are generous with anecdotes and recipes.

From Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's book, "The Physiology of Taste" Or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy, translated from French by M.F.K. Fisher

APHORISMS OF THE PROFESSOR. TO SERVE AS A PREAMBLE TO HIS WORK AND AS A LASTING FOUNDATION FOR THE SCIENCE OF GASTRONOMY.

I. The universe is nothing without the things that live in it, and everything that lives, eats.

II. Animals feed themselves; men eat; but only wise men know the art of eating.

III. The destiny of nations depends on how they nourish themselves.

IV. Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are.

V. The Creator, while forcing men to eat in order to live, tempts him to do so with appetite and then rewards him with pleasure.

VI. Good living is an act of intelligence by which we chose things which have an agreeable taste rather than those which do not.

VII. The pleasure of the table are for every man, of every land, and no matter of what place in history or society; they can be a part of all his other pleasures, and they last the longest, to console him when he has outlived the rest.

VIII. The table is the only place where a man is never bored for the first hour.

IX. The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star.

X. Men who stuff themselves and grow tipsy know neither how to eat nor how to drink.

XI. The proper progression of courses in a dinner is from the most substantial to the lightest.

XII. The proper progression of wines or spirits is from the mildest to the headiest and most aromatic.

XIII. It is heresy to insist that we must not mix wines: a man's palate can grow numb and react dully to even the best bottle, after the third glass from it.

XIV. A dinner that ends without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.

XV. We can learn to be cooks, but we must be born knowing how to roast.

XVI. The most indispensable quality of a cook is promptness, and it should be that of the diner as well.

XVII. A host who makes all his guests wait for one latecomer is careless of their well-being.

XVIII. He who plays host without giving his personal care to the repast is unworthy of having friends to invite to it.

XIX. The mistress of the house should always make sure that the coffee is good, and the master that the wines are of the best.

XX. To invite people to dine with us is to make ourselves responsible for their well-being for as long as they are under our roofs.