Cooking Heaven
About this website and what we do.
A Passion for Cooking
Serving best steaks and BBQs since 1984
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Renowned Chefs
Meet The Taste Experts
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Careers
Be a Part of Our Restaurant
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Arthur Lee
Founder / Head Chef
James Lee
Co-Founder / Chef
Suzanne Grey
Lead Chef
Max Broody
Breakfast Chef
Review Us On
Nicklas Wicklander
My name is Nicklas Wicklander, and I own this website. I am from Örnsköldsvik, and I have kept myself busy since childhood. Many people around me have always been “at the moment” types of people and want to have things tidy before doing anything else. It often made them late to appointments, and many times have not made an effort to prepare for what we will do. This childhood made me very organized, and I usually try to optimize my time usage. This experience is a big reason why I always am doing something. I never try to sleep in, even though my girlfriend likes to.
My Journey with Cooking
I grew up in a house with a big property attached and with woods and farms nearby, and we had a lot of animals around. We had mainly cats and dogs, with some smaller rodents that made the cut and were a part of our family. With extended family and neighbors, I saw all the animals you could have as pets, including mice, gerbils, ferrets, rabbits, fish, snakes, lizards, spiders, horses, domestic pigs, turtles, and many other animals. In a nearby forest, I saw some wild animals too.
When I was about 6-7, my parents exposed me to my first two passions, Sports and IT, which are life-long. I started with football (soccer, for you Americans) and hockey. Hockey made for a weird experience as my club did not have a team for my year. I had all my friends in the year below, and in the year above, several of my school bullies played. So, it was short-lived, as I eventually had to move to the older team. I continued played to play football and used the school systems gym class to test out a lot of sports like basketball, handball, cricket, field hockey, and American football. Many of them I tried as a sport later but did not stick.
Relevant History
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Our Core Values
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1 Youngster
I grew up in a house with a big property attached and with woods and farms nearby, and we had a lot of animals around. We had mainly cats and dogs, with some smaller rodents that made the cut and were a part of our family. With extended family and neighbors, I saw all the animals you could have as pets, including mice, gerbils, ferrets, rabbits, fish, snakes, lizards, spiders, horses, domestic pigs, turtles, and many other animals. In a nearby forest, I saw wild animals too.
When I was about 6-7, my parents introduced me to my first two passions, Sports and IT, which have remained lifelong. I started with football (soccer, for you Americans) and hockey. Hockey was a weird experience since my club didn’t have a team in my year. I had all my friends in the year below, and in the year above, several of my school bullies played. So, it was short-lived, as I eventually had to move to the older team. I continued to play football and used the school system’s gym class to test out various sports, including basketball, handball, cricket, field hockey, and American football. Many of them I tried as a sport later, but did not stick.
I remember my mom using different techniques to get us to do stuff—some obvious things, like giving us a good relationship to make food. We could pick dinner. But have to make it ourselves. Others were less so obvious at the time. One of these was to start reading. My mom took me to a library, and we borrowed a few books in different categories. One was “The Book of Three” from “The Chronicles of Prydain” by Lloyd Alexander. She read the first chapter and said she needed to do laundry. I was too curious to wait and started to read. It marked the beginning of a reading journey that encompassed a wide range of genres. This reading experience also started the desire to write my own stories, which began soon after.
My mom was also a firm believer that we needed to be ready to care for ourselves when we moved out. That meant we needed to learn to cook, do laundry, and clean around the house. And not do some easy cooking like pasta and a little sauce. As we improved, we started making dishes like chili con carne, porter steak, and homemade meatballs. Swedish cuisine contains traditional Swedish dishes, with a few dishes influenced by other cuisines.
Games were another interest for me, like many other children. I followed the development of most consoles, from the NES with Super Mario and Zelda to the most recent ones. My creative side kept me from the most repetitive games like FPS, as I got bored fast. But strategy and simulation games were always big favorites, with some sports games sprinkled in. This gaming experience almost drove my mom insane, as I constantly came and went from the house for activities like playing games and then heading out to shoot hoops.
A byproduct of my parents’ love for and competing with dogs is a lot of time for me to learn about them. They also had puppies and a dog hotel for many years. When raising dogs, many people are surprised to know that I can read and respond to their behavior very quickly.
My mom and dad had a big yard. But we had to be creative to fit in all the different spices, vegetables, berries, and fruits. And to avoid using pesticides, we sometimes had some vegetables near each other to keep birds and insects away. This way of arranging plats can confuse their sense of smell.
2 Grade 7-9
My mom, a teacher, started to teach me how to improve my chances in school. From tips on studying to what to do before tests. A lot of positive thinking and digging in to get good results. “50% of doing well in tests is in your head.” The other one is a broad mix of hard work and using good techniques to remember what you are reading.
I started playing floorball and continued with football. As I was out of hockey by this time and football soon enough, I transferred to the 1st team. These sports taught me a lot about players and the players’ psyche. Some players made terrible decisions and blamed others, which ultimately led to them switching teams. This break established a rivalry that existed until they stopped playing. At first, they saw us as the worst team as they wanted to create a super team. But we beat them regularly by will and wanted to show which team was weaker.
I also started following more local and world-famous teams in different sports. Hockey, basketball, and football, especially.
Visiting the woods around my parents’ house taught me a great deal about survival, skills I would later apply in various situations. I live close to a lot of protected nature.
3 Year 10-12
Sports took a back seat here, even though I continued to play and practice. Schooling took a more prominent and significant role in my life. I developed an interest in IT, particularly in programming and the underlying software. So, to give myself the best chance to attend university, I changed my subject from Languages to Social Sciences with Culture. This change has taught me a great deal about history, geography, religion, and various cultures, including the differences between men and women. I found myself reading about all types of people and cultures in the library, and how they function and believe.
This quiet environment was the first time I realized I needed some background noise to focus. So, I, like many others, started with music, but that made the music the focus at times. So, I used other sounds, like bird sounds, to focus on animals that were regularly around the house. That excluded the sounds from others in the class but did not block all sounds.
I got my first dog at this age. A female German Shepard came from one of the litters of puppies. During this time, I also had my first and second girlfriends for two years. Just before I went to university, I had my third girlfriend. This girlfriend taught me a lot about what works and what doesn’t in relationships. I also became known as Dr. Phil by helping others in their relationships.
4 Härnösand - University Years
I moved south to start university. The rent was cheaper in Härnösand, close to my university town, and my girlfriend attended school here.
After this move, I began to experiment with different foods, diversifying and trying many new things from larger cuisines like Italian, French, and Asian. This food was what we did ourselves. And later, I would find out that many tastes were not original but European or Swedish variants of them, with a lot fewer spices than the originals usually.
My sports career took an abrupt stop in all sports because of favoritism towards other players (because their parents had vital roles in the club) and some problems with disorganization. Like forgetting times to send players to junior camps, I switched to coaching. I announced to different floorball clubs that I could take gigs coaching. I wanted to get a children’s team. But to my surprise, I got players emerging into division play. A women’s group had been playing in the youth division the year before. It was hard, but we turned things around and won games by the season’s end. This season was, unfortunately, my only season with this club. I wanted to continue to develop them as players.
Unfortunately, my 3rd relationship ended here. So, my next stop was my university town. This move coincided with the time my first dog died back home.
5 Sundsvall
Moving to Sundsvall was hard for many reasons. But another one was to leave my team behind. It took me a long time to decide whether to travel back to coach them. I decided it was unfair to both them and me to spend the time needed to travel every week, if it were even possible. But the positive is that my next team played in the same division. I could see that they continued to develop.
I could also expand my training to include various teams in different sports, such as trainer roles and specific areas, like a dedicated goalkeeper trainer and a fitness trainer. I even started training in martial arts. Years later, I coached several people to grow and play in higher leagues, with a bronze medal as a high point.
Besides my university studies, I also started taking courses in Creative Writing. To further improve my writing skills, I also started doing NaNoWriMo events. I could write while waiting for school, or we could start training.
I had very little time left over with school and hobbies, so after I adopted two cats, they would be more tolerant of me having a lot to do.
At this time when my experimentation with different foods took off. I was living in an area with many new people, many of whom were from other countries. I took the opportunity to learn a lot from these guys, which helped me improve at cooking recipes from different food cultures. Most cuisines in Europe, Eastern Europe, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Several American variants and some South American variants.
6 Back Home
At the end of my time in Sundsvall, I met my next girlfriend, so a move back home was inevitable.
Back in my hometown, I took a break from coaching to focus on other interests. My writing was one of these, and my volume of work increased. I also started several failed blogs before I stopped blogging for a while.
Several friends had children by this point, and I was soon known as the fun Uncle Nicklas. I got a crash course on children as a babysitter, and helped some learn skills like cooking and homework assistance. I also hosted almost weekly BBQs and food-related events. More friends from other food cultures increased my knowledge of cooking. This time, I’ve focused more on Africa and Eastern Europe, and I’ve also started working with an increasing number of others I met during university.
During this time, I also got involved in our local justice system. For Americans, it’s like being a semi-pro jury with 1-2 days a month serving as nämndeman. I appreciated how hard it is to get convinced of someone’s guilt. I also have a considerable interest in politics and how research and statistics can be misused to portray something to prove a point. I was surprised that so many parties use this tactic.
Humor has been a big part of my life. I even took a stand-up course with a famous comedian during this time. The time investment in traveling made it time-sensitive and complex, so I quit.
Nicklas Wicklander
