Luxury is...

A friend of mine from Monaco was writing to me last week for some help. She's close to graduation, and when she will be presenting her Maters thesis, just like I have done one year before her, she will need to present her luxury portfolio. "What is that?" you'd probably wonder...the same question which I asked myself last year. There were no boundaries for us: it could have been a ppt, a movie, a newspaper,...whatever we felt would represent best our learnings and our perception of the industry,...or better said of what luxury means to us.

I always try to take a distance to the swipe-swipe-process of buying and buying overpriced objects for status reasons. Luxury has to be more than that! And IT IS!!! It has evolved to an industry, agreed, but the basics should remain the same: attention to detail, craftsmanship, talent, comfort, love, balance, harmony, time!!!

I met a person who was working in the luxury business, but will never in their life understand it. You could see it through the body language, that even though the suit was extremly expensive, it did not make him feel well as he did not know how to wear it. Nor did he know how to appreciate his food. He'd just swallow it down to the last bit: task accomplished! He will never know what the essence of the luxury industry means, the essence of luxury: feeling!

My conclusion in my portfolio was that it all comes down to the 5 senses. Of course you can go out and buy any watch you'd like, but doesn't it feel better when you hold the luxury watch in your hand and know that some many people have worked manually to get it done for you? Or sometimes just one person, which makes the item more precious, more personal. I adore some fast food every now and then, but knowing that your food has not just filling-qualities, but it can be also healthy and lifted to the level of art, so that it can be a pleasure for all your senses, doesn't it make it better to go for luxury?

Luxury can not be put on a "to-do-list", it can not be integrated in the process of faster and faster which our life is taking,...because it will only loose its significance.

Luxury is when the fast-forward business man stops for a second to hear his breath, when he stops to do one thing which makes him human: feel!



(Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dusk_till_dawn_photography/4660958625/in/pool-highspeed/)

Food Stories

Lately I have been really busy. And finally, last Saturday I found the time to go swimming, as if I would have know what was expecting me. Looking at the next pictures, and reading the blog, you probably have the same impression as I have: my "life and luxury" tend to shrink down to one of mankind's most amazing occupation: gastronomy.

After approximately eight or so years I met on Friday a friend from Hamburg, who used to be the former neighbour of my current landlady. We decided to try Corean food for the first time. One little problem: I can't tolerate spicy food well, due to some biological reactions of my body to it. So what to do? I had been waiting for this moment for a few months. My fascination for Corean culture has grown lately a lot and I was so convinced that I would like the food, so much so that I was ready to support the consequences. I picked two dishes (my curiosity was bigger than my stomach - the restaurant owner, who was also the cook, was surprised!) which were supposed to be prepared in a mild way....pfff....it was hot-hot-hot, but still ok enough to tell the other flavours apart.

I don't remember the name of the first dish, unfortunatrly, but there were rice noodles and beef (prepared in a special yummy way), vegetables, all in a sauce which contained a lot of garlic and was also spicy. They also served rice with it.

The second dish, which I found more interesting, and closer to "very traditional Corean cuisine" was a so-called Bibim bap or Bibimbab (or other variations of the name). The restaurant owner, who was a really nice person, explained me that it means: mixing everything together. Indeed, I received a huge bowl in which I had approximately 8 vegetables, rice, a fried egg, sliced beef (very spicy) and kimchi, another very traditional and probably the most well-known Corean food. It was something like pickled cabbage, extremly spicy, but I absolutely adored it! So I had that bowl, and next to it there were two, smaller bowls. One with a red sauce, and the other one with a vegetable soup. I had to mix the sauce with all the content of the big bowl, and then eat the soup simoultaneously with the mixture. The soup was to make the food "less dry", as compared to the first dish which I had ordered, it had no sauce inside. So I tasted the red paste-like sauce: it was a flavour of flowers, then it went into fruity-ness, and then it just burned, all of a sudden, your mouth. I was not able to mix it in the Bibim bap. Nor was I able to eat the soup with it. It tasted very "fishy". It was a watery, clear liquid with few fine sliced vegetables in it, but once you tasted it, you had the impression of swallowing first sea water, and then a fish. It was worth a try, but it really didn't satisfy my taste buds. Nevertheless, the rest in the big bowl was amazing. Most of all I loved the kimchi.

As, unlike my habit, I was too amazed by the food when it arrived, I forgot to take pictures, so I'm using one I found on the internet, just as descriptive purpose:
(Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3209/2593507408_db53b7aa2a.jpg)


Pentecost followed on Sunday and Monday, and my landlady and I were invited to lunch, at around 15.00 (normal for a Sunday lunch, haha). What we didn't know was that it would be enough also for dinner! The invitation was mainly for eating lamb, but what we found there when we arrived, was a gastronomic delight in a four-courses-menu, for which we needed two hours to eat (with no breaks between the courses).

First on the list was a light salad with fried mushrooms (came on top after I had already taken these pictures) and a great sauce of at least 10 ingredients, for which I still have to get the recipe soon. Very soon!

As it is asparagus season, this so wonderful ingredient could not be absent from the menu. Here it was served on spaghettis, with pepper and parmesan on top. Mmmmm!!!

Finally, a big pot was open and the lamb cooked in vegetables amazed us with the luring scent. We were all really full by the time the lamb arrived, but it was so good, that we all ate an entire portion of it.


Finally the last course was extremly refreshing: vanilla ice cream with strawberries on a rhubarb sauce.



I have to tell you, it was a lunch I will not forget so soon.

Arrived home and played a bit with my looks, while preparing for other gastronomic encounter on Tuesday. This was when Jella and I decided to go out in Hamburg, in the "Schanze" neighbourhood. The initial plan was for sushi, so we went to a Japanese restaurant. Since I hadn't had a warm meal that day, I decided to get as hors d'oeuvre a chicken-teriyaki in a Japanese sauce which was sweet-ish, and I got two teriyaki sticks on vegetable and with rice served. Actually, this could have been enough for the evening. But the sushi had already been ordered.

Following the picture of my teriyaki is a chicken-? (forgot the name, but it was delicious) in a peanut-sauce - one word: amazing!

After the starter, I received my six makis and four nigiris (4 makis were left which I took home in a doggy-bag), all fresh and nice.

With filled stomachs and happy faces we walked once again in the neighbourhood and sat down in a pub (?) for a drink and a conversation. When I got back home I was smiling, feeling that I had just had one of the best times lately on that evening.

And today? It's back to swimming, to get fit for who knows what new gastronomic delights will come my way.

Luxury and Arts

A German saying goes like this "Papier ist geduldig", which means something like "paper is patient", as you can do a lot with it, write a lot on it (without it having to be necessarily true) etc.

Paper can also be transformed into art, and folding paper to create different forms (flowers, animals, objects) is an art of form called Origami. The classical origami uses mainly a square-cut paper without the addition of cuts or glueing. Before paper was known or spread, people used to fold material in various forms, then, as paper was scarce, it was used only for certain ceremonies for folding.

Nowadays you can find it in all types of colours and patterns, as well as sizes. So, in order to pay a tribute to their wonderful patterns on their silk scarves, Hermes presented the in a hand-stiched black saddle leather envelope a set with several origami papers featuring various patterns of their scarves. Presented in a black lacquer box, this final product is priced at around 600 €. I wonder how it will be sold in Japan.

(Picture Source: http://www.luxuo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/hermes-origami.jpg)

Gastronomic Pleasure

It is time for a new blog entry on my favourite topic ever: food! I must admit, I have started eating a lot lately, but maybe it is work-related: consuming a lot of energy during the day with a lot of work. Or maybe the cold weather rises the desire to eat?! I know in the evening I eat well and tasty, as during the day the canteen can't offer me this all the time. During the day, eating is more a filling function rather than pleasure, so that's why, when I come home, I am waiting for great tasting food. I want to feel the pleasure in that. I am extremly lucky to have a wonderful lady as my landlady, who is someone enjoying good way of life: a nice drink every evening, great food, good tea, nice music...etc.

Every now and then I also get to cooking (usually I come home from work after the first part of preparations have been done). Yesterday I had planned a thrilling dinner. It seemed that we were so filled after the main course, that we didn't even get to eat the desert.

So this is what I did yesterday: I filled half of a chicken breast with a self-made basil-garlic-pine nuts-pesto and fried it a bit, together with some spring onions and red pepper. I then took an oven form and put the vegetable in first, then the cicken, and covered it with freshly grated parmesan. On top I put some of the remaining pesto. After a while, the fork spaghettis were boiled and put them next to the chickn in the oven, covering them again with parmesan. We were so satisfied by this lunch,...and the desert will have to wait till this evening. For that I took one orange, an apple and a pear, cut them to small cubes, added some butter in a frying pan, added the fruits, added sugar, cinnamon and a bit of red wine: DONE! can be eaten warm, warm on ice cream or cold,which we will do today evening.

Excuse me, I have to run now, as the ice-man is again ringing his bell, and for the first time since I'm at this company, I am going to taste it finally now, as the weather is OK for ice, and so is my health.

Nürnberg trip

This weekend (a 4-day weekend) I had enough time to travel down to Nürnberg and see part of my family from my father's side. It was a weekend when a lot of things happened, a lot of smiles were shared and little sleep we got. But it was just great and I felt a bit sad to go back. The best feeling was of being in the middle of a family, which was MY family. Another very rewarding thing was that so many generations from so many backgrounds get back together and become ONE!


I also went a bit back in time during this trip. For those who don't know it, I lived 1993 in Nürnberg. Scarce memories still remained, such as moments from this building, which I called home for a while.



Going back in time was also due to the visit of this Zeppelinfeld and Zeppelintribüne which are part of the Former Nazi Party Rally Ground in Nürnberg. This was one of the places from where The Führer used to hold his speaches. Now it was just a rainy afternoon, and the ground which we saw from upstairs was filled with trucks containing animal food and toys, for a fair for animals held nearby.

After the Nazi grounds we went to the city old center, which is filled with old churches, a bit of a strong contrast to what we had seen earlier. But the rain was still there. So my cousin and I decided to get warm and have something to drink.

First we passed over a bridge which was somehow still in my memories,...so I had to take a picture.

Then we passed by a wishing well. You have to turn the golden ring and make a wish,..so they say. And so I did!

Then we entered finally this place: it looked very touristic at the beginning, but then we saw that there are many locals who were regular guests there. We talked with a few, as you were seated with other people at the tablee. Weird, I thought the first moment, but then I considered it to be fun. Fun, fun, fun!

The food was amazing! With full stomach we went then to the cinema close by and we saw a really good German movie called Vincent will Meer.

The next day, on Saturday, we went to buy dresses for both cousins, as we had planned to go to a dance ball later in the evening. Also some business clothes were bought, as my dear Monika would go this week to a political reunion in Berlin. We loved to try different outfits.

Back home we enjoyed a nice grill (was missing that) and then went upstairs to try the dresses.
The evening came and we went to the ball, but some of us went back home really fast, changed clothes and shoes and then joined happy crouds in the center of Nürnberg.

The little one was in the meantime already sleeping, so I enjoyed also the full presence of my aunt! It was a nice night.

The city was lit blue, as it was The Blue Night of Museums. People were singing "Country roads" around the fire and everybody was having a good time.

The Blue night didn't make us blue at all, we were very happy, and all a bit sad that the moment was so short. The next morning I left back for the North. But I hope to see these people again soon.

The Most Expensive iPad

Just a short blog entry today, but again about a "most expensive" item. I stumbled upon the most expensive Ipad today. I was not sure if this would be a useful, at least I did not see much sense in it, especially after I saw it at one of my work colleagues. But it's the I-craze, so one has to take things as they are and consider such gadgets useful. One of them costs on the German market a bit under 800 €. The front is a touch screen, not much one could do about it, but turn it around and you find a back side which one, for example the goldsmith Katherine Hughes, thinks you could transform. She used gold, a lot of it! The material which is now the back case of the most expensive iPad is made out of 2,1kgs of 22 ct gold. The apple logo is also bling-bling-ish, with 53 diamonds of totally 25,5 carats. So now, after all this gold-smith-creation has been done, you get an average new gadget with basic functions for a stunning price of more than 152.000€.

If you ask me, here is an example where an iPad has been integrated into a kitchen, lost therefore its portability, but is definitely more useful than the one presented above. What do you think???

Special Omelette

Today we are going to direct our attention to this little creature: the black-headed sea-gull.


(Source: http://users.rcn.com/becard/AK%2707-%20Black-headed%20Gull%20(JH)-1.jpg)

This 35-40something cm tall creature makes some very special eggs which are the main ingredients for the world's most expensive (so they say) omelette, served in a central London restaurant, Boisdale. They charge 90 pounds for the dish, but it is a really rare, seasonal treat.

(Source: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01374/eggs_1374173c.jpg)

The oldest restaurant in London, Rules, who has served meals to famous people over the time, such as Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens, also boasts with these eggs on their menu. Hard-boiled eggs are served, for example, with celery.

So what is it, that makes them so special? First of all, they are seasonal: 3-4 weeks a year (April to May). Second, they are limited by law: only around 40.000 eggs are sold each year, so really scarce! And to collect them, you need a special licence, which is also difficult to get (given, for example, by DEFRA - Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from the UK Government). Finally, the taste seems to be amazing and surprisingly un-oceanic, the flavour is subtle and the omelette made of these eggs is very light and fluffy.

I have missed this year's season, but will surely have my gull's omelette next year in London with someone special.