Chickpea salad. Great for summer.

Do you know those people who can eat anything at any time? Like pork roast and sauerkraut in summer or gazpacho when it's snowing. I can't. I am one of those who can't eat warm and heavy stuff when it's hot outside. I like to have a light lunch in the summer heat. But a normal green salad is never enough for me - I always end up hungry half an hour later. So this number here is a great compromise: It tastes fresh like a salad, but the chickpeas bring along some carbs and proteins, just the right amount to make you feel satisfied but not stuffed... And it's ready in minutes - literally - so you'll have more time to go outside and catch some rays.

Apricot rolls. Like cinnamon rolls, but different.

These rolls are a bit like cinnamon rolls, but filled with apricot jam and some other yummy things. My mom found this recipe in a German baking magazine ages ago and it's a regular in our recipe repertoire since the first time we tried it out. I was still a kid and soon I started making this on my own. Mind you - yeast dough! Don't be afraid, it's so easy a kid can do it!

Follow me and I show you how it works.

Spinach Salad. Like breakfast in the evening.

This is not even a recipe - just a combination of ingredients. Basically, it's almost everything you would eat for an English Breakfast: bacon and eggs, fried tomatoes and some spinach. OK, the mushrooms and the breakfast sausage are missing, but mushrooms are out for me because of their sorbitol content - and there is no way I will ever eat a breakfast sausage again.

Just arrange everything a bit differently and you'll have an excellent lunch or dinner salad.

Cosmopolitan & White Russian. Carrie meets the Dude.

As much as I like browsing through a menu and ordering a cocktail, I often had the feeling that you get more show than taste. While I think it's impressive when somebody can juggle full bottles of vodka, I think the taste is way more important. What's the use of a good show if you can barely drink the result? Believe me, I had my share of undrinkable Caipirinhas and Mai Tais.

So here are two very famous cocktails you can make at home with no show and no equipment at all. One got very popular with "Sex and the City" - though I'm not a big fan of this show, I like the cocktail that's strong, a little bitter and not too sweet. On the other side of the spectrum lies the White Russian, introduced to the masses by the Dude a.k.a. "The Big Lebowsky". The cocktail is sweet and smooth, the film is not.


All the hardware you need are some glasses, a spoon and some kind of measuring device for the liquids. I use a jigger I bought at IKEA for around 2 bucks, sporting a 2 cl and a 4 cl side. But you don't have to go and buy stuff, just look around in your kitchen: a shot glass, an espresso cup, hey - even those breakfast egg cups you never use will work just fine.

Now grab some ice cubes and let's begin: