KASAA LIFE
FOUR SEASONS RESORT MAURITIUS AT ANAHITA
COASTAL ROAD, BEAU CHAMP, MAURITIUS
CREATIVE DIRECTION BY KASAA GROUP • PHOTOGRAPHER KSENIYA CHEBIRYAK • MUAH ELENA VINOKOUROVA • MODELS VIKTORIA GRECHIKHINA, JULIA KRASILNIKOVA
CREATIVE DIRECTION BY KASAA GROUP • PHOTOGRAPHER KSENIYA CHEBIRYAK • MUAH ELENA VINOKOUROVA • MODELS VIKTORIA GRECHIKHINA, JULIA KRASILNIKOVA
Incredible Women. Incredible Lifestyle.
KASAA LIFE
Incredible Women. Incredible Lifestyle.
KASAA LIFE
Incredible Women. Incredible Lifestyle.
KASAA LIFE
Incredible Women. Incredible Lifestyle.
KASAA LIFE
C R U I S E '24
Incredible Women. Incredible Lifestyle.
KASAA LIFE
C O V E R S T O R Y
WITH
ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA
ONE MORNING
Aleksandra Ralnikova comes to mind when you hear "Splash Asnieres," "Chez Monix," or "Pas Parisiens." Aleksandra the muse of the hippest, modernist, and swankiest eatery chain in Paris (France), talks to KASAA LIFE about how she balances work and family life and how she keeps the fit and other lifestyle secrets.
Art Direction JULIA KAPITONOVA SAADA / Photography IRINA BARDO / Location PARIS (FRANCE)
KASAA LIFE: Aleksandra, please tell us how you usually start your day?
ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA: Usually my day begins early in the morning (I love waking up in the morning) with a contrast shower and a warm drink with lemon - this helps me to warm up and tune in to the working day. After I bring my child to school, there is often not enough time for breakfast before that, so I have breakfast after home at those days when I work remotely or in the office with colleagues On weekends in good weather, my favourite start in the morning is to run on an empty stomach.
KASAA LIFE: Share your perfect breakfast recipe.
ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA: My ideal breakfast without hesitation is definitely the "Acai Bowl".
To do this, I take frozen acai berries (it is also possible to make it from berry powder), half a banana, a little vegetable milk, sometimes a teaspoon of honey and mix in a blender until smooth. The density is adjusted to taste, thanks to vegetable milk.
I spread the resulting mass into a bowl and add homemade granola chia seeds, nuts or seeds, sometimes berries.
Such a bowl is difficult to spoil, you can add various super foods to it - it is very useful, tasty, fast and beautiful! For those who like to get aesthetic pleasure from acai bowl food - the perfect breakfast. (Smiling).
KASAA LIFE: Please tell us about your daily sports and beauty rituals, if any.
ALEKSANDRA RALNIKOVA: Of the daily rituals, this is necessarily a stomach vacuum (tensing the muscle without moving it) 8 times for 15 seconds and a plank for 4 minutes, even when there is absolutely no time in the morning, these two are always with me. (Laughing).
On weekends, I add running to my morning routine.
From beauty, this is definitely face and neck skin care. In addition, there are various face masks, ice made with herbs to sooth skin and mood. These are always in my freezer.
KL: You are in amazing shape. Did you play sports as a child?
AR: To my great regret, as a child, I did not play sports. So after moving to France, I made up for lost time to stay in shape. Movement is the key to success.
KL: How to manage restaurants and maintain your health?
AR: Good question. (Laughing). My secret is not to eat, but to taste! It is important.
In order for food receptors not to "clog", literally half a teaspoon is needed to appreciate a new tasting menu. "Pas Parisiens" menu changes every 5 weeks, adapting to seasonal products. Over time, I learned to "love food with my eyes" and now I get an aesthetic pleasure no less than a gastronomic one.
KL: Is the restaurant business for women?
AR: The restaurant business is for everyone who loves people and loves to give emotions.
KL: What is your biggest restaurant accomplishment?
AR: This is the creation of a close-knit team of like-minded people.
KL: An essential part of a successful working day?
AR: The plan and its execution, and also a positive attitude.
KL: Aleksandra, you are also the head of your own communications agency, how do you distribute employment? Do you manage to be a wife, mom?
AR: The work takes most of the day, so I try to delegate work affairs, thanks to my team. Evenings and weekends exclusively for the family. Sometimes, of course, there are work exceptions, you have to ask for "help from loved ones".
KL: Do you often ask the chef to cook something not from the menu?
AR: When I have lunch or dinner in one of the restaurants of the Pas Parisiens chain I often ask the chefs to cook for me dishes that are outside the card, for example, just fish and vegetables. (Laughing). They are offended because they want to constantly add something to my plate.
Norbert Tarayre & Stéphane Rotenberg
KL: Tell us about the most successful promotions and offers from Pas Parisiens?
AR: Our guests can pamper themselves with the menu from the chef. We do not have long menus, so we do not use frozen foods and semi-finished products. The whole card is 100 percent made literally like at home.
This is our main advantage: the ratio of affordable price and high quality.
KL: Who are your celebrity guests?
AR: Plenty of them, starting from the actors, tv presenters, sportsmen to businessmen. Our partner and friend, a well-known TV presenter of the TV program Stéphane Rotenberg & Top Chef Norbert Tarayre.
KL: Tell us about Chez Monix. How did the idea for this project come about?
AR: Chez Monix is the winter version of Splash Restaurant. In our case, demand created an offer
The summer version of the restaurant is in great demand as Splash is a mini Cote d'Azur with a swimming pool and huge open-air terraces on the Bank of the Seine.
To create a new concept, it was inevitable for our customers to come to visit us.
That is why Chez Monix is the place to be this winter!
Our creative inspirer is our manager who generates great ideas every day. (Laughing).
Inspiration creates our big family.
KL: How to start your acquaintance with Pas Parisiens?
AR: Definitely a delicious lunch in a family friendly atmosphere.
KL: Dessert must try...
AR: La Sphère. An unambiguous must try in our family of restaurants.
A thin chocolate ball with various sorbet fillings and crispy homemade crumble is poured over with hot chocolate and melts before your eyes.
KL: Tell us about your partnership with La Mer à Boire and the Splash barge.
AR: The partnership came about by chance. The Splash restaurant is located on the banks of the Seine and during the summer period the restaurant was in great demand and we could not accept everyone, which is why it was decided to purchase a ship and moor it near the restaurant, thus creating additional places for receiving guests.
We thought for a long time how to "dress" this ship, thought about the design, and at this time we met the guys who are engaged in seafood straight from Brittany.
They only work during the summer in ephemeral restaurants and were also looking for a concept for winter.
Thus, this winter, the blowing of our two concepts was created, which allows our customers to have 3 different atmospheres in one place: bistronomic mountain cuisine with hot cheeses and fresh seafood from the lab.
Our concepts are not competitive, since we do not specialised in seafood, this is a separate kind of culinary art and the guys are doing excellently our clients travel between concepts that complement each other.
KL: What is your formula for a perfect weekend?
AR: Waking up leisurely in a country house in Normandy. Of course, sports and a trip to the ocean with the family without a phone are ideal.
In the warm season, my passion is to visit ancient castles and antiques markets and shops.
I adore stained glassware.
KL: Your personal rating of ski resorts in France. Are you planning to conquer the slopes this winter?
AR: I really love mountains and at the same time I am terribly afraid of heights. So skiing is a separate way out of my comfort zone.
I ride carefully and without fanaticism. My favorite stations are in Haute Savoie, Meribel and Megeve.
This season, if the stations are open in February, we will definitely go to the closing of the season.
KL: Aleksandra, you live between Paris, Normandy; Cannes and Nice in summer. Share with us your favorite outdoor workout spots...
AR: I love parks in Paris. My favorites are Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries. In Normandy, this is definitely the ocean, and its Deauville embankment. In the South of France, is jogging along the sea shores.
KL: What kind of music do you like and what kind of music do you listen to?
AR: I am very calm about music. I like audio books when running. I often listen to psychology. When I cook I turn on New York Jazz.
KL: How do you fight fatigue?
AR: Sports vitamins and a positive attitude help to keep going
Meditation and fresh air are great. Running helps, even with fatigue, to release thoughts and tune in the right way.
KL: If you could go anywhere, what place would you choose?
AR: At the moment, my thoughts are on the white sand off the coast of the Caribbean
After a two-year break, the soul requires a holiday. (Laughing).
KL: What's your best childhood memory?
AR: My grandmother in the Kirov region collecting strawberries in a pine forest, I still remember this aroma, which I have never met anywhere else.
KL: What are you most proud of?
AR: I am proud of the achievements of my loved ones and my dedication.
KL: Tell us about your three favorite books. Why did you choose them?
AR: The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma is an absolute bestseller on the secrets of personal effectiveness.This book contains many useful tips for everyone.
The story of Louis the Fourteenth and his life at Versailles is my particular weakness. I love everything related to Versailles and the Sun King.
Reality transurfing is also a very interesting book that can and should be re-read regularly.
KL: Favorite perfume brand?
AR: I really love perfume, I love it when the house smells of fresh coffee and my favorite scent from Louis Vuitton Rose des Vents.
KL: Who do you admire?
AR: I admire well-groomed women who, after forty plus, look gorgeous, take care of themselves, develop themselves. Often these women are mothers who manage to work and be in excellent shape.I take an example and I strive to be like that.
KL: What guests of Pas Parisiens can expect in the spring-summer of 2022?
AR: In the project of 2022 is the opening of 4 new restaurants and one hotel. It is a completely new project for us with the cooperation of the Top Chefs team and the French TV channel M6.
This summer we will tell and show more.
KL: Tea or coffee?
AR: Coffee.
KL: Cycling or jogging?
AR: Running.
KL: Ocean or mountains?
AR: Ocean.
KL: What is your favorite color?
AR: Blue.
KL: Sports leggings or jumpsuit?
AR: Leggings
KL: Yoga or gym?
AR: Gym.
SHOP THE SHOOT
Art Direction JULIA KAPITONOVA SAADA
Photography IRINA @CAPTAINRIRI
Styling MILA PROST
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