Nobel Fest

Tomorrow marks the start of Nobel Week, when this year's laureates gather in Stockholm with their families and a cast of thousands of support staff, media people, royals, dignitaries, celebrities and students to celebrate great accomplishments in literature, economics and science. Early in the week, the prize winners will give press conferences and a series of lectures on their topics of expertise. I will be outside Stockholm attending the Bonnier Media University Publishing Program 3.0, but if there's a break in the program I'd like to zip back into town to attend Paul Krugman's economics lecture.

If you're not familiar with Krugman (pictured above—without the dress), he's an American economist who became famous in his field in the 70s after developing a new supply system for international trade (Honestly, I don't know very much about this—this level of economics is way over my head. You can read a layman's synopsis of his research here). This is the work for which he's technically receiving the Nobel Prize. But Krugman is better known for his writing in the New York Times, in which he has spoken out against the Bush administration's economic policies since Dubya's first term in office. It's widely assumed that the Nobel committee chose to honor Krugman this year largely as a statement against Bush (although they would certainly have honored him at some point in any case).

Thursday, December 10th marks the Nobel Awards ceremony and banquet, a gala event held in the ornate gold and blue halls of Stockholm's beautiful City Hall. The occasion is extremely formal, but in many ways it's more like the Oscars than the stuffy affair most Americans might imagine. The Swedish and international press pool around the red carpet, remarking on the ladies' evening gowns and narrating the arrival of the celebrity guests and Nobel honorees, play-by-play. The dresses worn by the Swedish queen and princesses obviously get a lot of attention—not only because of who they are, but because they make some daring fashion choices. Queen Silvia was on a Nina Ricci kick for a few years there (which I think is cool), and then for a few years she wore extravagantly beaded numbers by Jacques Zender, that to me looked unappealingly like quinceanera dresses. The past two years she's worn interesting designs by Japanese couturier Gunyuki Torimaro. My favorite one, a dramatic bell-sleeved sheath from 2006, is pictured above. You can see the full gallery of her Nobel dresses since 1976 here, if you care.

Each year, 1,300 people are invited to the Nobel banquet from all around the world, and tickets are enormously coveted. Seats within view of Queen Silvia are considered extremely prestigious. Among the invitees each year are 200 university students from Stockholm, a symbolic gesture honoring future generations of academic achievement that will lead to tomorrow's Nobel Prizes.

The food is also a huge deal during the Nobel festivities: Sweden's top chefs are selected to create lavish menus for the banquet and other soirees during the week. This year, the desserts are being made by Magnus Johnansson, the pastry chef behind Xoko, a really great dessert cafe in my neighborhood. I'm not sure the menu for 2008 has been publicly released yet, but last year's consisted of: "lobster aspic with dill-baked halibut and Kalix bleak roe, young cockerel with cockerel sausage and almond potato-celery root terrine and raspberry and blackcurrant parfait on beds of pistachio with vanilla ice cream." Huh. I think that sounds extremely elegant, but a bit precious, and not sky-high on the yumminess index. Which suggests a fun game! What do you say we play, "What I'd Cook for the Nobel Banquet." I'm going to take some time and really think about that, and I'll report back later today or tomorrow. Please feel free to submit your own fantasy menus, keeping Scandinavian-inspired flavors in mind, of course.

You might wonder why I've been studying up so much on the Nobel Festivities... Well, I was hoping to cover some of the events for CNN International next week. I contacted the producer I've worked with in the past, and he was interested and asked for a more detailed pitch, but then Turner broadcasting laid off a bunch of people in his department this week, and I think he forgot about me (or, um, is no longer working there??). I plan to follow up on Monday, but with the Bonnier Publishing Program next week and the fast pace at work right now, it will be much easier on me if I don't do this additional reporting. Still, being in Sweden during the Nobel Awards is probably a once-in-a-lifetime affair for me, and reporting about it for CNN would be something to tell the grandchildren, for sure. So, we'll see what happens. In any case, I learned a lot about it!