Grapevine: Celebrity chef reveals his cooking secrets for the holidays

Celebrity chef Yonatan Roshfeld is holding a pre-holiday workshop at his restaurant, Tapas.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Yonatan Roshfeld (photo credit: screenshot)
Yonatan Roshfeld
(photo credit: screenshot)
■ For people who love cooking and are always eager to learn more about the secrets of the kitchen, there is no greater joy than being in a culinary workshop conducted by a celebrity chef.
That’s what happened last week at Tapas on Tel Aviv’s Ahad Ha’am Street, where celebrity chef Yonatan Roshfeld holds sway, and where he conducted a pre-Rosh Hashana workshop for those who wanted to add a gourmet touch to New Year meals with an emphasis on fresh products. Roshfeld also shared several cooking tips.
Tapas is one of five restaurants in the Adi Lifestyle Group for which Roshfeld is responsible.
■ The Tel Aviv Cinematheque last week hosted the Tel Aviv premiere of the documentary film Aliza, the story of actress Aliza Rosen, who is one of the stars of The Farewell Party, which has received extremely favorable reviews in Israel and abroad.
The film, by brothers Tomer and Boaz Heymann, had already been shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival, which was highly appropriate considering that Rosen was born and lives in Jerusalem. And The Farewell Party is set in a Jerusalem retirement facility.
The Tel Aviv screening of Aliza, which was originally scheduled for earlier in the month, had been postponed due to the death of television personality Meni Peer.
Aside from Rosen and people involved with the production of the film, the audience included Shaike Levy and Gavri Banai from the now-defunct comedy trio Hagashash Hahiver; Yael Poliakov, the talented daughter of the late Yisrael Poliakov, who was the third member of Hagashash Hahiver; Tuvia Tsafir and Moti Kirschenbaum, whose relationship with Rosen goes back to the days when they appeared together in the wonderful satirical television series Nikui Rosh (Cleaning the Head), when most Israelis had access to only black-and-white TV; journalist, author, actor and TV personality Yaron London; actresses Keren Mor, Rivka Michaeli and Miki Kam; and many other well-known figures from the entertainment community.
The film goes back to 1995, when Tomer Heymann, at the start of his own career, first met Rosen, who was already a well-established actress and comedienne. They developed a close relationship, and he filmed her in many situations and productions, which he used as the foundation for Aliza.
■ There was a sense of familiarity when Erno Rubik, the creator of the first working prototype of what came to be known as the Rubik’s Cube, visited Bar-Ilan University last week, accompanied by Hungarian Ambassador Dr. Andor Nagy.
BIU President Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz is of Hungarian parentage and speaks fluent Hungarian.
■ At the fourth annual DLD Digital Conference Festival at the Tahana Compound in Tel Aviv last week, Mayor Ron Huldai said there was a reason why shuttlecock was such a popular sport in Israel. It’s because playing shuttlecock is like creating a start-up. “You have to improvise and continue playing.” According to Huldai, “Good entrepreneurs are usually good shuttlecock players.”
Of the numerous participants attending the conference of which hi-tech guru Yossi Vardi is one of the initiators, 1,000 came from overseas. Considering the huge drop in tourism during Operation Protective Edge, the conference came at just the right time. It included a large number of young people, but the speakers also included some very senior people, such as 91-year-old former president Shimon Peres, who advocated sending high-school students to work in hi-tech companies so that they would be better equipped for the job market after completing their studies.
Peres also advocated that children should be taught foreign languages, particularly English, from age three onwards so that they would not only be fluent in other languages but would speak them without an Israeli accent. This would lead to better communication between Israelis and their counterparts in other countries, he said.
■ Supreme Court President Asher Grunis last week joined Ashdod Mayor Yehiel Lasry in inaugurating the southern city’s renewed Magistrate’s Court. The extensive renovations of the building were carried out at a cost of NIS 24 million.
This included extending the ground floor and the construction of a second floor on top of the existing building so the premises could also incorporate the Traffic Court, which has been moved to Ashdod from Ashkelon.
Grunis observed that there are still courthouses in various parts of the country that are in shameful condition and declared that there was no excuse for a courthouse to be managed like a hovel. He was sorry, he said, that there are courthouses that do not respect those who enter them.
An agreement has been reached with the Finance Ministry for the construction of additional courthouses that will be built according to high standards, Grunis disclosed. He should not hold his breath, though, in light of the number of agreements on which the Finance Ministry has reneged.