Throughout my childhood we went out for dinner on Sunday nights. As my mother was not much of an ambitious cook (because she worked all week side by side with my father in his company) she had help during the week. At weekends we learned to help ourselves with simple dishes: I am still convinced that our family invented brunch to keep our mum away from the oven on her free day. The traditional festive Sunday lunch I only discovered with friends´ families much later in life.

On Sunday nights we went to "Ostermann", a modest but old-school-elegant hotel slash restaurant in our little town. My parents were friends with the owner, we got our special table and people stopped by our table to say "Hi" to my father or my mother all night.

Here I learned about two dishes that represent comfort food for me until today: "Baked Camembert with Cranberries" and "Shrimp Cocktail". I would also learn to devide and eat a complete fish properly and how to enjoy a chicken wing without using my fingers.

And I learned about rituals and how they suit me.

Last Sunday, when more or less all restaurants in Switzerland had reopened, we went to the one and only in our little town Kaiserstuhl, also a hotel slash restaurant called "Kreuz". We sat outside in a secluded garden terrace, had "Rösti mit Spiegelei" and some beers as well as some white wine spritzer.

Since almost eight weeks it was the first time we hadn't to clean up the kitchen after dinner.

And we decided that very Sunday to start a new ritual: From now on, we will have a late brunch on Sundays and an early dinner at "Kreuz" - at least as long as the garden terrace is open.

Pictures by www.hotel-kreuz-kaiserstuhl.ch