Strawberry Fields Forever

Finally summer knocked on German doors this weekend, and we inaugurated the best time of the year with a grill party (to celebrate a good friend´s birthday).

The thermometer showed 32 degrees Celsius, a heat the central European country is not used to.

 Almost each guest, on top of a present, brought a summer dish along. Mine was a fresh salad I like making when the temperature is burning…It was pretty much a success! And that´s why I would like to share the recipe with you .

Strawberry-Goat Cheese Salad

My salad, ready to be served :)

For this salad I mostly used fresh ingredients bought directly from farmers. Not only it is fun to go to a strawberry field and pick your own strawberries for instance, but it also helps local businesses to stay in the market. Often we go for cheaper, mass produced products in order to save a couple of cents, but this way we endanger local production and we eventually digest a great amount of chemicals.

Here is the beautiful strawberry field I drove to in order to pick up the best strawberries I saw this season.

"Pick them Yourself" Strawberry Fields close to the Main River in Germany

Ingredients

Dressing:

§    Olive Oil (1/4 cup)

§    Walnut Oil (1/4 cup)

§    Honey (2 big Tablespoons)

§    Pepper (to taste)

§    Salt (to taste)

§    Dill (1 Tablespoon)

§    Balsamic Vinegar Cream (2 Tablespoons)

Pls note that these amounts can be varied according to taste, some might want more oil, others more honey etc..

Salad:

§  (1/4 cup) Green lettuce and/or fresh baby spinach leaves (I prefer those to be honest, but I didn´t find any)

§    Creamy Goat Cheese (80g) - alternatively you can use Camembert if you don`t like Goat Cheese.

§    Honey (2 big Tablespoons)

§    Walnuts (1 cup) - if you use Camembert take almonds instead

§    Strawberries (500g)

.

Preparation

Dressing:

That´s easy :) You just have to mix all the dressing ingredients, except for the balsamic vinegar cream, in one cup and keep this aside ;)

Spread the dressing on top of the salad right before serving

Salad:

§  Wash Lettuce/Baby Spinach and place on a big, flat serving plate

§    Cut Goat Cheese in  little cubes (note; this might be tricky as the cheese is very creamy, don’t worry

    if your cubes are not perfect, they don’t have to be :) ) and place those on top of the strawberries

§    Chop Walnuts and spread around the salad

§    Walnuts (1 cup) - if you use Camembert take almonds instead

§  Top with the Balsamic Vinegar Cream

§  

So that was it, easy right? And it only takes about 10 minutes!

Note: I am aware that some of you might be living in countries where strawberries for instance are not locally produced, but that´s not a problem. In this case I would advice buying them from an organic store. But if it´s strictly necessary well, you can go to the closest Walmart ;)

Guten Appetit, have fun and enjoy your evening! 

Happy Belated Birthday, Marilyn!

Source: Wikipedia

Yesterday would have been the 88th birthday of one of Hollywood´s biggest sex symbols of the 50s. Marilyn Monroe.  

Yesterday I saw lots of posts on the internet about her, showing her off during her best years. She had a turbulent love life and a very tight relationship with  psychiatrists. Maybe without all the problems that come with glam she would´ve lived longer. Who knows. As I was watching some of her videos on YouTube, I couldn´t help but notice how the conception of beauty in the media has radically changed in the last couple of decades.

Not only big fashion labels make it almost impossible to fit in their best garnments (and actually look good), also technology gives society – especially to the younger generations of women and the older generation of men - a hard time since 1988 (the year in which Adobe bought the rights to Photoshop from Thomas Knoll, its early developer).

If I compare what used to be sexy in the 50s and in the 60s, and what is thought to be sexy today, I can´t help to wonder „What the hell has happened to us“ !

Women like  Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Sofia Loren have written the history of beauty on the big scream. Sensual, curvy, woman like and sexy, those women should be more someone we look up to then today´s almost anorexic super models. Here is the cover page of People Today (June 18, 1952) showing what in the 50s was the portrait of a perfect woman

Source: http://www.pinterest.com/estudiop2013/marylin-l-magazine-covers/

I hear teenagers in stores being upset if they don´t fit size 32 pants (xxs), and them complaining about not looking like model Bianca Balti (L´Oreal Paris Make Up Line 2014) when putting on make up.  Others look at big celebrities and think they were born this way! Don´t forget that they spend lots of their freetime (and some of their money) on nutritians, surgeouns (yes, eyelids and eyebrows don´t lift up on their own, lips don´t become bigger with age, and skin does not become smoother as you get older!) and on lots of other little things which make them appear beautiful!

Do you really believe a Mascara will give you cover page eyelashes? If yes, then you must be pretty naive. Not only there are different make up techniques used for photoshooting (the kind of make up which is really not made for daylight but rather for flashlights) but also there is always an extra technology touch to make those thighs look apart, and those breasts look higher.

Here are two photos which I took from the following link (which you can definitely check out to find some unveiled beauties J )

collegetimes.com/2014/03/19/the-truth-behind-celebrities-without-photoshop

Pls don´t get me wrong, I love Mariah, but she has her bad pictures, too. 

Can you see the difference? I can. And I want to teach my kids (if I will ever havy any) what real beauty is about, I want to teach them the power a smile can have, but most of all, I want to show them that they can still be in shape and beautiful without giving up all the nice (and tasty) things in life!

So happy belated birthday Marilyn, and thanks for reminding me that beautiful does not equal anorexic!

PS: Want to see how things can really go on if you overdo surgery? Take a look at Donatella Versace. And yes. Versace. With this last comment I wish you all a good night :) xx

Travel Pill: Vamos al Tequila

 

So here I am, showing my best Tequila drinking skills in this shameless picture of myself, in a little Mayan Restaurant somewhere close to the Uxmal archaeological zone, in Mexico.

I am not much of a „shot drinker“, I prefer the so called „Lady drinks“, but as I was round-tripping in Mexico last month, I couldn`t help but try out their drinking culture.

Being quite ignorant on the subject, I was surprised to find out how all the things I thought were true about Tequila are completely wrong. I was convinced, like probably many of you are too, that you can choose between either silver or gold tequila – the former accompanied by salt and lemon, and the latter with ginger and orange.
I made quite a big fool out of myself on my first evening out in Merida (Yucatan, Mexico) when asking the surprised waiter to bring me ginger, and some oranges to accompany my shot. I used my best Spanish skills to explain myself and I still didn´t get what I then thought to be the best tequila ever. The problem was not the language impediment. The problem was that the waiter hat absolutely no clue what I was talking about!

So my dear readers there you go. Mexicans drink their tequila pure!

You can choose between Blanco or Plata (our silver), Joven (the equivalent to our gold, with a sweeter touch, Reposado, Anejo, and Extra Anejo (oh that one flows really smoothly!)

Are you planning to fly to Mexico? Don´t forget to bring a nice bottle of Tequila to share with friends of family on a Mexican evening J