J’aime crepes. I love crepes. My first exposure to this delectable French
pancake was as a kid. Occasionally, my
mom would make us crepes for desert. My
favorite filling was chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and walnuts. Sometimes we would have ice cream in them,
with bananas and chocolate sauce. I
loved the nights we had crepes for dessert.
Fast forward
to the first crepe that wasn’t made
by my mom. This crepe was made by a
street vendor in Paris…the home of the crepe.
It was bigger and thinner than the ones my mom made. It was warm, coated with a thin layer of
Nutella, and folded up into a triangle for easy eating while walking along the
Seine and gazing at the Eiffel Tower.
[Pause for my heavy sigh and quick pout].
Okay, I’m back. Since then, I’ve had some pretty great
crepes in Portland (both at a food truck and at a creperie in the Hawthorne
District) and San Francisco on Pier 39.
And, I’ve made my own, but it had been awhile.
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| My family at the creperie in San Francisco |
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| Crepe Food Cart in Portland, Oregon |
So, on Saturday night, I decided to go to Paris. Not literally, but imaginatively. I would spend an evening eating French food,
listening to French music, watching a French movie, and even wearing French
perfume.
Arletty sings "C'est Mon Homme"
(translation: "This Is My Man")
I went to the store to get the ingredients I would need for
crepes, as well as a new pan. I’ve had
the same frying pan since I moved into my house 8 years ago. When I bought it, in my naivete, I thought,
“I don’t need to buy nice pots and pans, when I get married, I can just
register for them!”. Good plan, Sarah,
good plan. I’ve been using the same set
of cheap pots and pans since then, and I shudder to think of all the Teflon
that I’ve digested over the years….they’re pretty scraped up. So, I
decided that I would at least buy a new frying pan….one that wouldn’t leave
black flakes in my crepes!
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| My new pan |
I downloaded some French music from the 1940’s…Josephine
Baker, Arletty, and Edith Piaf. I put on my new French playlist and got to
work making crepes. My secret ingredient
(actually, my mom’s secret ingredient) for dessert crepes is almond
extract. YUM!
I was too lazy to climb on my counter and get
my blender out of the upper cabinets in my kitchen, so I just whisked it
briskly (using the blender is good for getting out the lumps of flour). My new pan made flipping the crepes really
easy! Usually, the first crepe is kind
of like the first pancake in a batch…a flop.
But, the butter I coated the pan with, paired with the slippery surface
of my new (unscratched) nonstick pan made for easy crepe flipping! The trick is, you have to wait until the
edges of the crepe start to peel up from the pan. By this time, you can actually swirl the pan
around and the crepe should slide around like a greased up kid on a
slip-n-slide. If you’re really good, you
could probably flip it in the air, but I’m not very athletic, so I use a
spatula.
Once my batter was gone, about 6 crepes later, I put them in
the fridge and started dinner. And by
dinner, I mean I sliced the baguette and the brie and plated it with some fruit
(my kind of cooking!). I settled into my
couch for a little Cinema Francais!
I found an article online entitled, “17 Feel Good French
Films you Should Definitely Stream on Netflix”.
There were several movies that looked cute, but I settled on “Romantics
Anonymous”, which would be appropriate for me, but it isn’t really what it
sounds like. In French, it translates to
Les Emotifs Anonymes”, or “”Emotionals Anonymous”. It’s about a man and a woman who are both
painfully shy and anxious in social situations.
He carries a briefcase with extra shirts in it because he sweats
profusely when anxious, and She sings a song to boost her confidence when feeling
insecure. They are also both
chocolatiers, which is very French (have you seen Chocolat?). Although it’s a rough go because of their
interpersonal insecurities, they manage to bumble their way into a relationship….it’s
very endearing.
Halfway through the movie, I paused it (because you can’t
just listen from the other room when the movie is in French) and fixed my
crepe. I made this one with nutella,
bananas, whipped cream, and slivered almonds.
Mmmm. I also enjoy strawberries
and whipped cream, or lemon juice and powdered sugar, or even just a sprinkling
of granulated sugar (this is when you really appreciate flavor of the almond
extract).
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| This one was breakfast on Sunday morning |
Whether you’re in Paris or in your house pretending you’re
in Paris, crepes are always a good idea!
Une magnifique idée!
