cooking

Thomas Anders “Modern Cooking” book launch party

Thomas Anders “Modern Cooking” book launch party 1323 2048 Galia Brener

What an amazing evening at Thomas Anders “Modern Cooking” book launch party. Thank you my dear Claudia for the invitation. The food was absolutely delicious! Buy the book and try the recipes, you will love them!   Published by Tre Torri Verlag

I’m wearing the Viakoro Stelo jewelry collection. Take a look at the collection here: http://bit.ly/2wCgpQx

#ThomasAnders #ModernCooking #book #buch#Viakoro #mirrorofdesire #Degussa#GaliaxDegussa #GaliaxViakoro #influencer #frankfurt #galiainaction #galiabrener #tretorri #buchpräsentation

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Cooking with Matthias Schmidt at the Genussakademie

Cooking with Matthias Schmidt at the Genussakademie 1280 1263 Galia Brener

The long-awaited day has finally arrived, and I was very excited about this evening’s wonderful activities. This cooking class was a present, which I gave to my best friend for his birthday. We were both very happy at the thought of cooking with a Michelin starred chef!

We made our way into the cold night and arrived at the Genussakademie on Ludwigstraße 33-37 right on time. I was already familiar with this beautiful location because I have been to quite a few Christmas parties here before. It’s a cool, big, loft space, which is a perfect place to cook, laugh, dance, eat, drink and have fun! It was a chilly Sunday evening, but that didn’t bother anyone, because it seemed like everyone was wearing a big and warm smile. We were a small group of about 15 hungry people.

The guests were greeted with a cold glass of champagne. Our well-known and beloved chef, Matthias Schmidt, was walking around the kitchen, preparing everything for our big cooking-jam-session. Matthias worked in a few 1 and 2 starred restaurants in Germany. When he came back to Frankfurt, he worked at the Villa Merton and was the head chef there since 2008. At the beginning, they had 1 Michelin star. Within the next years, Matthias and his team created a kitchen, which was based on the culture and products of our region. They used as many organic ingredients as possible, and in 2012, they got the second Michelin star!

We waited until everyone had arrived and the introductions were made. The people were relaxed, in a good mood and eagerly awaiting the big cooking bash. This was my first time participating at such an elaborate cooking class. The only time I ever took a cooking course before was at junior high, but unfortunately our team burned the teacher’s hair off! Horror of all horrors – she walked around with a crew cut the entire school year! I tried to avoid public heating elements ever since. But finally the time has arrived to brave the public stove once again!

After the first glass of bubbly and Matthias’s extensive information about our 4-course meal, it was time to start! Our menu was: Gebeizter Saibling, Schwarzwurzel, Short Rip and Grüner Hafer Eiscreme. It appeared like they were all cooking pros, because everyone seemed to know the techniques, tools and ingredients. Only I was staring at the fish skin like an alien, and didn’t know what to do with it. Matthias walked by, laughed, gave me scissors and told me to cut the skin in strips. After obediently cutting the dried fish skin, I decided to walk around the room and see if there was any trouble that I can cause. Unfortunately there were no chance for trouble, so I had to behave and follow Matthias’s cooking orders. I ended up cutting some long vegetable thingy, which I swear I have never seen before in my life! It was long, thin and very strange. Ze Germans call it “Schwarzwurzel”. After putting the komisch thingy into the oven, it was time to try the delicious white wine, standing in mass amounts of bottles on the counter.

Of course there was one Schlaumeier in the group, who seemed to know everything better than everyone else. She even tried telling Matthias how to do things better a few times. I couldn’t help but clasp my glass of wine in the background and laugh at the silliness of it. Who the hell tells a star chef how to cook?! There is a Besserwisser in every group and it wouldn’t be the same without her. When the good wine flows, even the showoffs can be pathetically amusing.

Our menu was quite fancy and delicious. I could probably reproduce the appetizer myself, but the main course was too complicated for me to repeat at home. Therefore I just eased into “eating-mode” and stepped away from my “trying-to-remember-and-doing-this-at-home-good-girl-cooking-mode”. I was super entertained at how my fish skins puffed up into tasty crunchy fish chips in the frying pan. I found the crispy fish skin to be the best tasting element of the appetizer, and many agreed with this. I was also pleasantly surprised that the Schwarzwurzel tasted this good, after all, it looked like a tree log at the beginning. After the third glass of wine, nobody was really cooking anymore except for Matthias and his team. All I can say is that the short ribs tasted absolutely amazing! I don’t think that I have ever eaten anything so soft, tender and juicy before. This officially makes Matthias Schmidt the new Meat Master in my books!

The sweetest part of the evening had arrived. Since I’m not so big on desserts, I took more meat instead of the ice cream. The men loved it and the ladies thought I was crazy. All in all, everyone was laughing, having a good time and I was happy to see that my friend was enjoying his birthday present. There were interesting stories rotating the tables and many funny jokes. Matthias and his team seemed to be enjoying the evening as well. I looked down at my watch and realized that we were cooking and eating for over 5 hours already! How incredibly fast the time flies by when you’re having fun.

The cooking lessons offered by the Genussakademie are perfect to attend as a couple, with friends, parents, siblings or even single! You will meet many new people and have tons of fun. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many different food categories, styles and chefs were on offer. The classes vary in time, location and price, so there is something for everyone. There are lots of different foods and delicious dishes to try, and you might even leave at the end of the evening with a new recipe or two – that is if you still remember it after all the bottles of wine. Try it, enjoy it and bon appétit!

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Life Is Too Short To Only Eat Salads!

Life Is Too Short To Only Eat Salads! 1280 960 Galia Brener

In order to start this column in the most authentic way possible, I have ordered a family-sized pizza, with a soft drink and ice cream for dessert. Often I find myself thinking, how long do we actually have to live a lovely, fun, happy and satisfying life? 85 years if we are lucky. We start thinking about our body image at the age of 15 until approximately 70. That leaves us with 55 years of worrying about being skinny, having the perfect shape, no cellulite, toned muscles, fitting into smaller and smaller sizes, and having those bloody skinny jeans laying around that we so desperately want to fit into, but mysteriously never “comfortably” can! We force ourselves to eat a salad everyday – over and over again. Daily salad consumption, for 55 years makes it…. 20,075 damn salads! Congratulations boys and girls, we are officially worse than rabbits. I think it’s time to start eating what we want, and feeling happy about it!

Hungry = Angry. When hungry, your serotonin levels are low, and hence you feel angry, and sometimes even depressed. My mom knows not to talk to me until I have eaten a proper meal; otherwise I become a walking monster. I get irritated, and short-tempered. Even worse than that, my stomach and head start to hurt. Believe it or not, the “evil carbohydrates” help to rebuild serotonin quicker in your brain, which is responsible for making you feel happy. So do not run away from carbs, because if eaten in the right dosage, they are your friends!

We live in a time where being skinny has become the definition of beauty. Maybe I really am from another planet and do not understand the Earthly ways, but aren’t our curves and softness what makes us women feminine and beautiful? Yes? Then why is everyone going crazy to become a teeny tiny size? Somehow between the 1950’s and today, something got terribly lost in translation. This makes me angry! Who the hell started this mass confusion, and is responsible for this ridiculous chaos? Every (good) single man that I have spoken to lately says that he would love to meet a woman with nice curves. Can it be that we women are making our own life so complicated? Then again, I remember my 2nd ex blaming me for becoming fat after a visit to Japan (Without him…) I gained 4 kilos, and he made it sound like I became a blimp. Thank God I got rid of that freak. I was in a new country, and he thought that I wouldn’t try all of the delicious exotic foods? I would give him up again and again for a fresh piece of Kobe beef!

My friend Anatoly was dating a beautiful voluptuous Brazilian woman. They shared a huge passion for food. They cooked together, and tried out new restaurants. Anatoly adored her curves. She was the perfect vision of femininity for him. When they got married, his wife started spending more time with the snobby neighborhood women. They assured her that all the husbands have younger, skinnier and beautiful mistresses at work. They were crazy paranoid witches that influenced her very negatively. She lost a lot of weight, and did not eat much with Anatoly anymore. Their shared passion has disappeared. She was constantly hungry, moody, and angry. The love was suffering. She lost her beautiful feminine curves, and her bones hurt him while trying to make love. She became a ghost of what she once was, and eventually this led to divorce. He loved her desperately, and tried to show her the light, but she was lost in her own superficial world.

Guilt = Fat. I will share with you something important that I have learned from my past. If I would eat something really fatty, or in large amounts, I would constantly worry about it. I knew that the calories and fat were quite high, and felt that it will cause my body damage. I gained much weight in only just a week! I felt guilt all the time. It was a psychological jail, with the torture included! A few weeks later I lost those kilos, and decided to make an experiment. I ate exactly the same food and amounts, but felt no guilt or remorse after. I felt good about what I ate because I knew that for this moment of my life, I needed this food. The carbs made me happy! I felt relaxed because I could eat what I wanted without feeling bad. Well guess what? Same food, same amount, and my weight did not change. Sounds unreal, but it’s true. It’s all a psychological mind game. Guilt attracts negativity into your life and body.

Soul food = Happy person. The evil burger is calling your name. You tell it to shut up, but it doesn’t work because you fantasize about its juices in your mouth. Go ahead and eat the damn burger. Of course I am not suggesting you to exaggerate every day, and get a heart attack, but a bit more pleasure with your meals will make you happier. My theory is to enjoy and eat what you want, but not to overdo it. Have your healthy stuff in between, but leave space for the treats and goodies that your heart and soul desire. Love yourself and feed yourself. Do not starve, because your body will not forgive you. And remember… life is too bloody short to live on salads!

 

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