My Life as a Berry Pink Spaghetti and Green Zucchini by Thelma Alberts

ABOUT THE TITLE. Hi, I’m Thelma Alberts. I’m a BERRY passionate Pilya blogger. I enjoy sharing my writing like my strawberries. Yummy! Hmmm, I’m almost a BERRY Social Butterfly too. Oh, have you heard that flamingos are PINK because they eat shrimp? It’s because of carotenoids. It is these carotenoids that are what give salmon (and Pilya Blog Magazine) its PINK color. Don’t you know that when I also pass a flowering ZUCCHINI plant in my garden, my heart skips a beat! Now, don’t ask me why ZUCCHINI is GREEN!

Live Cooking Show with Andi Schweiger

Have you seen live cooking before on Facebook where you can cook with your favorite chef online?

More than a week ago, the publisher of PILYA BLOG MAGAZINE Maria Ces Seidel, called me and gave me the assignment to write about a chef Andi Schweiger, who was giving a live cooking show on tv that following night. Surprised but challenged, I accepted the assignment.

My publisher was talking so highly of him. It made me curious. I have not heard about this chef and so I started searching online about him. I was embarrassed to say that I have not seen one of the tv show that he was doing on tv. I love cooking and baking show on the tv but I have not seen any of his shows.

Introducing a Chef

Andreas (Andi) Schweiger was born on the 5th of  March 1976 in Karlsruhe, Germany. He started his cooking training when he was 17 years of age in Fallert restaurant, where he completed his cooking training and become a chef. After that, he worked in Wielandshöhe restaurant in Stuttgart. Then he went to London, England and worked in Hotel Dorchester as a chef.

Coming back to Germany, he worked in a star restaurant named Krone in Herxheim and later, in Mandarin Oriental in Munich. In 2003, he became the chef in a noble restaurant  “Cocoon“ in Munich. In 2006, he made his dream come true and opened his own restaurant called Schweiger² and got a few years later (2010) his first Michelin star. He cooks French, Mediterranean and Asian cuisine besides German food in his restaurant Schweiger². In 2009, he became one of the teams in the tv show “Die Kochprofis – Einsatz am Herd“. Chef Andi Schweiger became so popular that he opened his own cooking school in 2013.

My Source: RTL2 website

The Live Cooking Show The live cooking show on Fb started really well. Chef Andi introduced his assistant Annette who was helping him on his show especially on reading the Fb comments of the viewers so that the chef could answer them directly while cooking. He told the viewers about what he was going to cook and if the viewers were ready to cook with him simultaneously.

There were 3 dishes cooked in the live show.
Starter :   Zucchinicarpaccio mit Mozzarella und Tomatenvinaigrette (Zucchinicarpaccio with Mozzarella and Tomato vinaigrette)
Main Course: Kohlrabi Spaghetti mit Garnelen und geschmolzenen Kirschtomaten (Kohlrabi Spaghetti with Shrimps and melted Cherry Tomatoes)
Dessert: Erdbeeren und Quark im Glas (Strawberries and Quark in a Glas)

The first dish that was prepared was the strawberry and quark dessert. One of the ingredients was gelatine so the dessert should be put in the fridge to set in until it is served. This dessert was really easy to make. It was made with Ladyfingers (Löffelbiscuits), quark, gelatine, butter, strawberries and sugar.

While the dessert was in the fridge, the starter,  Zucchinicarpaccio mit Mozzarella und Tomatenvinaigrette was made. The ingredients were tomatoes, green zucchini, wine vinegar, olive oil, basil, lemon juice, pepper, salt and of course mozzarella. This starter is so beautiful to look at that you would not want to eat it. The only thing that is a “hassle” for me is to make a white tomato vinaigrette. Anyway, the outcome is worth the hassle.

Then, when the starter and the dessert were prepared, the chef started his main menu. It was Kohlrabi Spaghetti mit Garnelen und geschmolzenen Kirschtomaten. It was a new kind of spaghetti for me. It was not the typical spaghetti pasta that we all know but a Kohlrabi being made into spaghetti. It was cooked with butter, dry white wine, Italian cheese, garlic, onions, olive oil, rosemary leaves, broth and of course with shrimps. This is the best part of the menu that I would love to try.

If you want to check the live video, please, check the link below. https://www.facebook.com/andischweiger/videos/583442779268983/

My Review:

As I have seen in this live cooking show, Andreas (Andi) Schweiger is a good cook, maybe even better than what I think of. I have not eaten his food yet but I know I would love his cooking. He was cooking healthy but delicious food. The presentation of his food is a “true feast of the eyes”.

I can only say what I have seen in this show. He is a very talented chef. He is very passionate about cooking and knows how to make his cooking course online very interesting. Every now and then, he gave tips and advice to the viewers what they should do and don´t do, what ingredients they should use instead of gelatine or agar-agar, etc, etc. He gave a lot of information about ex. Kohlrabi. That the leaves of Kohlrabi are edible. I was surprised when I heard about it. I used to throw away the leaves of the Kohlrabi. What a waste!

Andi Schweigers´style and the manner in cooking are very unique, very clear, informative and hygienic. In this time of the pandemic, he observed the 1 and 1/2 meters of social distancing. This show is a great source of teaching people how to cook from home by watching tv.

Every show has its positive and negative sides. What I observed was that his wife kept on commenting on the show. Maybe she was just supporting him behind the “scene”, like be active on the Facebook comments and replying to the viewers´ comments. I have heard that some viewers didn’t like that. On the other hand, it might be good that she was asking some questions that were very useful for the viewers. Furthermore, the show was almost 2 hours. For viewers who didn’t participate in this online cooking course, it was too long.

Anyway, thank you for reading my review. Have a wonderful summer. Keep safe, yummy and healthy.

For more information, please check on my HubPages writing site https://hubpages.com/@thelmaalberts

THELMA ALBERTS, Pilya blogger

THELMA ALBERTS WITH THE “GENIAL SAISONAL” COOKBOOK OF ANDI SCHWEIGER. Thank you Andi for giving Thelma your autograph. The cookbook is available on the website: http://www.schweiger2.de. DON’T MISS THE FIRE! Andi Schweiger invites us all for a BBQ-GRILL, LIVE COOKING on June 22, 2020 i.e. Friday at 6 pm on facebook. That’s really Pilyamazing! Vielen dank! Maraming salamat po.