As we're sitting and talking over a cup of coffee in the late afternoon, I ask Lukas his views on putting up a Stall at this year's Samichlais market in December. And so it began..  for a couple of weeks, we debate over the menu: Indian food vs French Crépes.. and finally we settle on the offering: Indian Crêpes, French Crêpes and Hot Chocolate... All Gluten free, fresh, homemade, organic and locally sourced.

Sounds romantic, but is it do-able? Of course there'd be a lot of prep work. First & foremost: we're newcomers in this game. We have no idea how many portions to prepare for, and if people would be willing to try something entirely new, and wholesome.. They're more used to the regular Bratwurst & Bratkäse. We slowly work through the logistics: From booking a stall; creating & testing recipes; making a list of raw ingredients and necessary utensils/tools; contacting local farmers for milk, eggs et al; defining the schedule; stall decoration; booking Crêpe griddles; creating menus; to even creating an iPad app for ringing in the sales..

We save all our tracking data (mostly excel sheets) on the local server. And 2 days before the event, my Mac overwrites the file on the server with a zero byte file  We cannot believe it - our weeks of preparation, including recipes is lost - in the blink of an eye. Slowly, we re-do the logistics.. recreating the recipes; the lists of items et al..

We wake up in the wee hours ~ 3AM on D-Day and get to work immediately: We prepare the batters; milk-cans, assemble all the items, load the cars and Lukas is off to Beckenried central square to drop off the first load. I follow with the rest of the items after feeding the cats. They're a little restless wondering what this whole racket is about!. I feel sad about leaving them alone for the whole day.

Back at the marketplace, we unload the car and get busy setting up the stall. Time flies fast... we're finally ready to Rock und Roll at 9:30AM. Lukas's Crêpe-pans are sizzling hot... (keeps us warm in this chilling cold weather!) and we have the first of the Crêpes.. yummy , I have the Hot-Chocolate pot on the gas-stove, the cashier box and the iPad App, all lined up in front of me.. The chocolate-smell soothes me down to the soul!

Claudia and Armand stop by for the first Crêpes.. they try the Indian version.. and a few others. Everyone who tries the Crêpes loves them - Gluten free buckwheat flour, fresh milk, eggs, local jams and cheese.. what's not to love??? I could devour them myself.. However, there are not too many takers for our home-made Hot Chocolate with a Oomph.. Perhaps i don't need to make the remaining pots 

At busy times Lukas is whipping up a Crêpe every 2 mins.. and thankfully there are those leisure times.. when we can just be. Heidi from the Käse Stall stops by with a Bratkäse (melted cheese over a slice of bread, garnished with paprika!) for us.. Oh how sweet!!! Amidst serving customers, chatting with friends and other acquaintances, ringing in the sales on the iPad app, and counting the money in German... it's soon late evening and the lights are being turned off for the Samichlais Parade. The rhythmic beat of the Trychler bells can be heard from a distance - no matter how many times you hear it, it never misses to penetrate straight to the heart.

A mad rush for Crêpes again. This time mostly kids and they all want Nutella. That was the most popular one and soon we're out of Nutella and kids are leaving the stall with sad faces. No other Crêpe or hot chocolate will satisfy them.. 

We need to close shop at 11:45PM, when they will turn off the electricity.. so we start to slowly wind up. And ~11:30PM all these drunk youngsters start to show up, asking for something to eat.. doesn't matter what. They're just too drunk and can't find anything to eat! Lukas makes a few more and we serve, but the management starts to take down the electric connection! Darn it, just when we were making really good sales..  Anyways it's been a coooooooold & loooooooooooooong day and we're both tired of being on our feet all day long. 

As we pack up our cars, and drive back home, I wonder -- will I do it again? Was it worth it? Yes it was definitely a new experience and yes we made a few mistakes.. (like the Hot chocolate!), but is it worth the effort?? We have another long day ahead of us, cleaning up, returning the Crêpe pans, distributing the left-over batter and so on.... better leave it for tomorrow, i say to myself.

As we enter back home, the cats come to greet us at the door.... Aww.. so nice to come back to these lovely beings... Time to put the Crêpe Stall story behind us and feed them.. Meow meow!!!