Baking and cooking recipe: Sunshine on a plate

I’ve always wondered why there are long queues outside all the crêpe stands in the world and what the secret of these flat, round baked creations is. Probably one of the reasons for the great success of the golden yellow pancakes is that they remind us of the sun on the plate. In any case, the flat cakes as well as all their variations, crêpes, Kaiserschmarrn and pancakes evoke a mixture of beautiful childhood memories and thoughts of sunshine – and remind us with every bite how beautiful and fulfilling life is.
My favourite recipe for pancakes à la Gerd: Ingredients for 2 people.

250 g flour, 350 ml milk, 150 ml water, 5 eggs, half a coffee spoon of salt, one level coffee spoon of sugar (fine raw cane sugar) and butter fat for baking.

Mix all the ingredients, bake in batches in a round pan in butterfat and then enjoy.

I received this recipe from Gerd Schabert from Stuttgart. Preparing and enjoying these pancakes always connects me with the people who are especially close to my heart, because food not only goes through the stomach, but also right into the heart – because we feel whether and how comprehensively it nourishes us.

Room recipe: Sunrise in the staircase

Latrace project: Zurich

Staircases are rooms that no one appreciates (any more). Yet everyone who wants to get from one floor to another on foot needs them. The change in the significance of staircases is obvious: while grand staircases in palaces served for representation and were an important part of the “entrée”, today riser zones wither to insignificance. They are often sparsely equipped and serve only to fulfil a purely functional purpose. Staircases in modern buildings and underground car parks are often very cramped, dreary and poorly ventilated. They receive little attention and belong to the category of necessary room areas. With constantly rising property prices, no one wants to make room for the most important connecting path in the house. Instead, many floor plans feature corridors and circulation zones that are given unnecessary generosity and are nowhere near as efficient or beautiful as a corridor could be. Yet a more conscious distribution of space and zoning between common areas, rooms and circulation areas would be worthwhile for everyone. Proportions, sun orientation and the conscious control of boundaries and connections deserve more attention because both added value and wellbeing increase.

In this project in Zurich, the staircase was part of the conversion measures. Radiant in new light and without glamour, but quite simple, it has become a place that is gladly used. It connects the ground floor with the residential floor.