A workshop at Flädie Mat och Vingård

It has been years since I got the opportunity to be somewhere for work without me paying, so I was actually looking forward to the workshop I attended last week.
The location for the first day was Flädie Mat och Vingård, a nice place outside Lund where about 6000 plants of wine grapes grows and where some local wine is produced.
I don't know all the possibilities that the facility offers, but wine tasting, dinners, conferences and also weddings are some of the events that might take place there.

By being there the whole day, we had the opportunity to had lunch and dinner and also some breakfast and coffee breaks.
On top of the food, there was plenty of space for us to be divided in team and work and the environment was comfortable and, with a free wifi, gave us also a lot of freedom.

Food wise it was an interesting and sophisticated experience, although I think that presentation was emphasized over food sometimes.

The lunch

I like small appetizers and the lunch was constituted by a collection of different small dishes. It was just confusing if there was going to be something more or that was just the beginning of a long meal!
Unfortunately, we got disappointed and ended up have to pass the buffet several times.
The different dishes were quite interesting, from a beef salad with cilantro, to some pickled herrings served in a spoon, and a sort of pancake with some kind of jam.

The afternoon coffee break

The treat continued interrupting the hard work during the afternoon with a smoothie banana and passion-fruit (not that banana based smoothies are my favorites) and a nice chocolate pastry.
And after an hard day of work, we were all looking forward to the dinner.
The evening, I must confess was beautiful: it was still warm and the sun was starting to set. Being outside was pleasant and peaceful. It is a pity it was with work!!!

For the Swedes the amount of glasses and cutlery was in "Fantozzi style"

The appetizer: a salmon tartar with some roe and a potato sort of pancake (can't remember the name now)

Rooster

Chocolate mousse, raspberry ice cream and a rhubarb pie

All the dishes were quite "sophisticated". For example, the ice cream base was fresh cheese, but for my taste I'd prefer a bit less accurate presentations and a bit more of food. Not that after eating (ehm, working) the whole day I did need some extra food, but when you are finally getting the taste for what you are eating...well, it was over!
On the funny side, with the "food" there were served different wines (and for the ones interested, also some non alcoholic drinks). When the dessert arrived, the non alcoholic variant of the wine (which was a Brachetto) turned out to be a "Sövde Musteri Must". Pity it was just made by Discovery apples, otherwise I would have suspected there was a percentage of our last year 450 of apples... :)

Mila or Mimi'?

This can be possibly understood only by italians, but...

It is not the number 7 of Mila, neither the number 2 of Mimi', but it is maybe a beginning and a multiplication of the two numbers?
(Disclaimer, Mimi' wears a t-shirt with number 1 in some cases...)

Front and back of my first "real" volleyball t-shirt

A bit of Lund history: Hardebergaspåret/The track of Hardeberga

Few weeks ago, when it was snowing at its best (or better afterwards), we went out for a walk.
Walking (or taking the bike) here is always very comfortable since there are good paths for such purpose and in particular, we are lucky to live nearby a big track that crosses east Lund and continue towards Södra Sandby, when it ends, today.
Such track is called "Harderbergaspåret".

Our winter walk on Hardebergaspåret

The history behind this track can be found on Wikipedia, but unfortunately it is available just in Swedish.
Not everyone living in Lund knows that until 1966, a railway track was there, instead of the bycicle path. That was the rests of the line Bjärred - Lund -Revinge- Harlösa, that was active in the beginning of the 19th century (however, still kept in used until 1966 for transporation of stones and beats.

In the new neighbourhood, called Harlösabanan

At that time there were more stations in Lund. Lund Södra still exists but it is used for other purposes and it is still located on the track.

Lund Södra

  Lund Östra was located where we are living today, therefore, nearby Villa Sunna and St. Jörgens Park, but it was demolished 1949.

Nearby Lund Östra

The track was passing "behind" Stadsparken for then continuing north towards Bjärred, with an additional stop called Högevall. Högevall is part of the rests of the medieval wall in Lund, which is crossing the park.

If one is more curious about details of this undocumented piece of history (it would be nice to just see some sign about it there and then on the track) I think the best link to explore is this one.

Evighetsträd (eternity tree)

The other day, I was walking nearby when my attention got taken by a little plate on a tree.
I looked closer and I saw that there was written "Evighetsträd". I was puzzled.

Evighetsträd #9

Evighetsträd #498

I did a small search about this and I found an interesting link:Naturskyddsföreningen i Skåne. Here there is written what is this concept: basically, from what I have understood, this organization tried to preserve middle-aged or old trees that can be found around Skåne.

However, from the sign this seems to be an initiative of Lunds Kommun. They have decided to mark those trees that are supposed to live as long as they can, and once dead, the tree is left as habitat for other organisms (mushrooms, insects, etc.).

A terrible picture of the tree.

The tree in all its height

The tree is one of the 500 trees that have been selected and marked during the 2002-2004 timeframe.

It seems then clear that the two organizations are not connected to each other, although the concept is very similar and probably one is inspired by the other one. 

In all the years that I ahve been living in Sweden this is the first time I met one! I wonder if we will ever seen all the others (there is a map in the link above, but one has to guess where the trees really are, anyway...)