2023 bites the dust!

As another work year draws to a close a few moments of reflection are impossible to ignore, where did it go, what the hell did I do, thank god I’ve been able to check my telephone so I know what I’ve done and where I’ve been, this time next year I assume will be even more difficult to remember.

Høyfjellshotell, Gaustablikk

Early in the winter season I had the opportunity to work in Norway, it was the first time for me working over the "border". Fly in every second week during the peak winter season January – March. Gaustablikk is situated right in telemark county, a name with direct skiing connotations. Gaustablikk is more your prime nature and integrated tourist destination incorporated into an unspoiled "fjäll". Gaustablikk F&B operation centres on Høyfjellshotell with hotel rooms & the ambitious Björk restaurant with breakfast & bar and Stova, a ski-in high octane lunch drop with a barbecue kitchen, pizza kitchen, theme nights and a la carte with a first class a first-class bakery and café just thrown in for good measure.

The road to Gaustablikk is both historic and interesting.
This idyllic natural setting staged one of world war 2's most deciding confrontations, during 1944 German occupied Norway was producing heavy water at the Vemoth Hydro plant, obviously the Germans needed the heavy water for their atomic bomb research back in Berlin. Whereupon the heroic local Norwegian resistance together with the allies sabotaged the plant in Rjuken at the bottom of the valley. Later when the production had recommenced, and a shipment of barrels filled with heavy water was being transported on the local ferry “SF Hydro” the resistance struck again sinking the SF Hydro in Tinn lakes deepest depths. A poignant cost of this necessary operation was the loss of local lives on the ferry.

Visit also the nearby Gaustabanan "tramway" this underground railway ascends inside the mountain to Gaustatoppen, "the summit" the train climbs from 1150 to 1800 meters above sea level. The Gausta tourist hut and the cold war Nato listening post are atop the mountain.

During February we hosted an international restaurant promotion at Gaustablikk, we had from neighbouring Sweden restaurant Miss Voon, maybe not so international or exciting as one may think.
But Miss Voon is a well-established restaurant in Stockholm, specialising in pan Asian fusion food which they delivered at such a high level that it revamped our operation for a few days.

Specialised food or restaurant promotions have been an integral part of the cutting-edge restaurant industry for many decades. The early years were all about product promotion especially within the expanding tourist industry: The destination concept was later expanded to the “look at what we can do” big name chef promo, with a handful of Michelin stars, black tie dinners, wine maker’s dinners, ect. These concepts are still in vogue but have also been joined by the guest experience promotion offering something new to both the guests and restaurant team.

TUI Assignments

Croatia

March took me to the island of Brac, not much happens in Supetar off season.
I was there for the Holliday Village congress with a selection of their executive chefs and F&B managers from around the Mediterranean.

Turkey

Following directly after Croatia I was off to Sarigerme in Turkey, another TUI F&B congresses this time Suneo Club with approximately 30 executive chefs and food & beverage managers with delegates ranging from Egypt to Spain.
Even though it was the first time I’d been out & working with TUI since Corona it was great to catch up with some of the returning chefs and meet some new members in the extended TUI group helping them to get ready for the coming season.

Beyonce

Back in Stockholm a couple of friends and I were called in to strengthen the corona riddled Beyonce catering team, Beyonce kicked of her tour in Stockholm, they were here for 10 days or so practicing and getting ready. We were working with a big international team of eccentrics, a cool gang with their own musical tastes, it was loud in the kitchen but entertaining. And Beyonce, very generous with her team catering.

Create your own nightmare

New email adress and home page was launched around this period, if you're not IT savvy this is a great way to ruin months of your free time and give continuous headaches for months. now the new email is.

Holland, Brazil, Paraguay

Later in May I was off to South America, Asunción and the Chacao in Paraguay were our goals.

On the way we stopped off in Amsterdam and attended the PLMA trade fair, we were looking at own branding and diverse opportunities. The congress coincided with Bruce Springsteen, tourism and football. Hotel rooms in Amsterdam are a problem, expensive and yielded to the max, be out in good time if you are going there. & remember a cheap hotel in Amsterdam is a cheap, shitty, dirty, crappy & disgusting hotel room anywhere else. But Amsterdam has many attractions we ended up in the Ship bar, a bar I’ve visited on regular trips to the city since the early 1980’s, a great escape bar and melting pot of humanity.

Sao Paulo

Our next stop was Sao Paulo, a couple of nights in this enormous mega city, getting around is challenging, learning and using the public transport system during a short visit is impossible, it’s all uber and taxi everywhere and be prepared to get suckered. We even managed dinner in “A casa do porco” it was ok but nothing to write home about, we were surprised to see that it had been judged in the top 10 restaurants in the world. That dinner was my shout so I’m still positive about it.

Asunción

Arriving at Asunción airport was a bit of a time warp, we were the only plane on the tarmac. The airport seemed little dated and quiet, "a last frontier outpost". Childhood reading memories of Percy Fawcett’s exploration Fawcett re-emerged.

A good tip if you are planning a trip to Paraguay is to check if you need any immunisation boosters before you travel, yellow fever immunisation can be a bit of a stumbling block it needs to be taken two weeks in advance. And don't forget to take your immunisation documentation with you, some of Paraguay's neighbouring countries can be a bit finicky about immigration rules. I mean sneaking across the border from Brazil can be termed “as a bit risky”.

Today Asunción boasts a population of ca. 500 000 with its surrounding areas with a daily fluctuation amounting to many times this number, but nobody seems to know or care. Although there are the nominal high rise scattered around the city most of the old town area is only a couple of stories high, generally the roads and footpaths range from mediocre poor to dire need of repair through too, be extra careful on the way back from the pub too dangerous as hell. The old town or city centre is in various states of decay with many empty buildings and boarded up shopfronts. There is an array of smaller shops and street hawkers selling crafts & food. The old city centre is full of grand old colonial buildings echoing better times gone by. If they were renovated, the old city would become the pearl of the south, a new South American tourist magnet, as well as becoming a very charming and interesting city.

As you move out from the city centre areas of development, supermarkets, banks, hotels and the sterile west inspired shopping malls that only sell products with logo types pop up. Some are very upmarket and would make any affluent city proud, now-days its corporate logo types and western brands that dominate these malls "I'm trendy and have made it mentality”, exploiting and creating a dependency on material ownership.
We've tried a few restaurants and nightspots spread throughout the city. Bolsi in the old city is a popular restaurant, an old school diner or the hip Negroni bar in the 14th floor, there is a trendy bar and night life scene with some cool places, that pop up in the leafy suburban middle-class areas, Try Koggi, Muerto de Hambre or El Café de Acá concepts built in renovated houses in suburbia, the front yard could be a bar, the house is the kitchen & toilet ect, and the back yard an alfresco dining room/night club. Out on the street is the self-appointed parking tout, these in-official sharks are somewhat of a quality stamp, there’s no money to be made hassling outside an unpopular place. The parking sharks are a quality stamp similar to a Michelin star "a trip worth taking". If you don't agree on a payment, then you could loose a wing mirror.

The Beef and Charcoal road trip.

The drive through Asunción’s suburbs leads directly to the Puente Remanso Bridge, on the other side of the Paraguay river is the Chaco. The Chaco or Region Occidental (Western Region) is a semi-arid region in Paraguay, the surrounding Grand Chaco area spreads into Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil has a land areal of 1,100,000 km² or twice the size of France, of this the Paraguayan contribution is about the size of Great Brittan.
We drove about 7 hours and made it about two thirds up to the Bolivian border on highway 9. Leaving Asunción highway 9 starts off as a multi laned pot holed asphalt city street choking in all manners of commuters and transport, as the traffic thins out the highway is lined every 20 meters or so with lean to shops selling cheap Argentinian petrol and bananas. Further on up the road it’s bags of coal that they’re selling. There’s no doubt that the highway is an economical lifeline to the big business north in the Chaco and Bolivia, this is quite clear with the number of heavy vehicles and transport on the road. The highway is not complete all the way, but the good parts are good & when it’s finished it will even be better.
There are traditional pump and eating places as well, where you can grab some empanadas and eat them from the plastic set tables, if you don’t like empanadas stay home.
For a first-time visitor there’s lots to look at, for a seasoned highway 9 commuter it’s a distance one must make.

Mennonites

There are some 25,000 German-speaking Mennonites living in the Paraguayan Chaco region.
The members of the amenno Colony moved to Paraguay from Canada when compulsory education in English was implemented in 1917. Some of the more conservative Mennonites saw this as a threat to the religious basis of their community. In 1927, 1743 pioneers immigrated from Canada to Paraguay and have since turned the arid Chaco into fertile farmland, they created the first Mennonite colony in the region.
In 1930, another wave of Russian Mennonites fled their homeland for the Chaco.They were fleeing Stalin’s man-made starvation tactics in the Ukraine, even more came in 1947 after the end of the second world war.
We visited a large Mennonite owned state of the art slaughterhouse, it was extremely impressive, spotlessly clean, well-organised, effective production flow and high-quality standard with a slaughter capacity of 1200 head a day. Most of the cattle here are grass fed although there are many feed lots and wagyu production as well.
According to the locals the salt rich pasture and water also contribute to the tastiness of the finished product. We ate beef every day, predominantly well done not through our own choice, because the meat isn’t rested, and temp controlled it was often dry and tight.

Paraguayan Beef

Ranches are sprouting up all through the Chaco, beef and cattle is big business with Paraguay coming in top ten beef exporting countries in the world, this of course depends on where on the internet one seeks facts.Most of Paraguay’s export goes to Chile & Brazil.
The meat “beef” section in the supermarkets are interesting, they all feature a wide selection of different brands for each cut, piccaña is defiantly the local pick, other favourites, well represented are tri-tip an American cut “tail of rump” and flat ribs. Our standard western favourites, entrecote, fillet, striploin although present, they’re not as prominent, they’re more expensive and probably always gone to the landowner or to export. There are even beef shops a one company shop that sells only their own brand plus all the paraphernalia allowing you to partake in the national pastime of BBQ & grilling. It’s a class thing if you’re at the bottom of the pecking order you can forget the beef store it’s still empanadas.

Charcoal

Our destination, the Jealous Devils charcoal burning plant a few hours further up highway 9. Charcoal kilns in northern Paraguay.

Charcoal kilns at the Jealous Devil site in northern Paraguay.

Dalen Hotel

So back in Norway in August and Telemark, a short assignment this time at Dalen Hotel. The recently renovated Dalen Hotel is now-days a hospitality magnet in Norway’s Tokke municipality. The hotel was originally built in 1894 when the hospitality/hotel need grew and an overnight break became mandatory on the cross-country tourist trek that linked together the Skien - Bandak Lake and further westwards. Now-days Dalen Hotel is a fully functioning destination, open only during the summer season.

Escape the madding crowd and enjoy the public areas in the hotel, the salon/bar area is classic, move back in time with a relaxing open fire and pianist. The room is spectacular under the original ceiling from 1894 and the ever-imposing split fireplace with its M/S Henrik Ibsen model.
Food and Beverage is a focus area at Dalen Hotel which has a great kitchen, "design wise" very effective and well designed a machine park and equipment that many kitchens only dream of. The food matches all aspects of the hotel, with a high ambition. There’s a great breakfast a manageable and well-presented buffet and great little a la carte selection, as well as an afternoon tea to die for. Dinner is a 4 or 6 course tasting menu featuring a cornucopia of local produce, turbot, rainbow trout, trout roe, local duck and lamb. well thought out and presented.

August

Our new big green egg arrived, a new toy a bit over the top with a 2XL but none the less. I’ve done a lot of work on our house during the summer so this new addition on our back patio will be an enjoyable challenge.

Anuga

October back in Dusseldorf and Cologne at the Anuga trade fair. It was the second visit at this mammoth exhibition for me, book your hotel room a year in advance if you’re going, or be prepared for lots of travel hassles if you’re out in good time.
Lots of positive input, connections and possibilities arose from the trade fair.

Stockholm food & Wine and Bake & Chocolate Fair

During November this is becoming a habit. Back on the Swiss cheese stand, featuring Appenzeller and Gruyère two iconic Swiss cheese. Both cheeses are extremely well known and are very strong stand-alone brands. They are so well established in the Swedish market that they just sell themselves. Gruyère is strongly connected as a sponsor for winter sports, so its popularity stretches throughout the country.
During the three-day exhibition we literally had thousands of visitors at our stand.

The Swedish Christmas smorgasbord

December, ending out the year on a high note
Back on the tools working with two of Stockholm’s best Christmas smorgasbords, this 100% Swedish gastro experience should be attacked correctly, so if you are inexperienced you don’t want to cock it up and make a fool of yourself. Not being an expert on etiquette, take my advice only as survival tactics.
Your meal consists of five courses “visits to the buffet”, but again everyone has their own opinion.
Take a new plate and cutlery at each visit, your waiter/waitress should clear your setting each time you get up.
Some cultures think they should take loads of food to show their appreciation, this is a fool’s game, these guests only eat 10% of what they take & in our modern world it’s called food waste, and these individual are perpetrator.
Some feel that its courteous to leave food on the plate, we in the industry feel you don’t know how hungry you are or how much you can eat, you need to plan your meal so there’s no wastage.
Some try to cram it all on the one plate, some of these guests are just novices or ill informed, the locals that do this are ignorant to their own culture, we in the service industry laugh and mock them in silence and think they are idiots.
What to drink, Christmas soft drinks, beer, aquavit, wine, water ect.
The first course: Herrings & Baltic herrings plus garnishes, boiled potatoes, crispbread and hard cheese.
The second course: Salmon and other preserved fish, plus garnishes, boiled eggs with toppings, appropriate salads & dips, “nowadays the salads tend to be a bit more varied with vegetarian & vegan options, pickles and local variations.
The third course: Cold cuts and charcruterie, “here again are there lots of variations, sourced locally plus various game meats, mustard, pickles, the star here on this course being the Christmas ham.
The fourth course: hot, sausages, pork ribs, meatballs, vegetables, Janssons temptation, and often more potatoes, nowadays there is often vegetarian and vegan alternatives.Rounding off with sweets.
The fifth course: cheese and desserts, “this can be broken into two visits if needed” local cheeses of which there are many in Sweden plus a few international standards, various local and international fruit, puddings and conserves, chocolate, candy, toffee and old-fashioned sweets.
Enjoy the smorgasbord, these are the basic rules but obviously rule number one is, there are no rules, if you don’t like it hop over it and move on, but if you are curious try something new.
If you are going to a Christmas smorgasbord, get a bit dressed up, let your hair down, wear something a bit Christmassy, I guarantee you won’t be the only one wearing a bad taste Christmas jumper or Christmas hat.
Relax and enjoy yourself.

Hope everyone has had a great year, we always hope the coming year will be better so, all the best for 2024