Viva la France!

When my husband, Rick, and I were in Paris last September, one of our favorite memories is enjoying crepes from a street vendor. A lot of people had told us about them prior to our trip, and we finally had our first one while waiting to go up into Notre Dame.

Because I don’t speak or read much French, those guys in general aren’t exactly clamoring to help, and I was cognizant of how weak the dollar is, I simply got a crepe with sugar on it. Oh my gah, was it tasty. And in many ways, it marked the beginning of the changing tide of how we felt about our trip.

Up until then, we were lukewarm on the whole experience due to a variety of reasons I won’t get into now. Suffice it to say, this first crepe put us on the rebound.

Our second and final crepe (we were only there 3 days) was had in Montmartre. It’s that quaint, artsy-fartsy part of town where a lot of Paris landmarks are located – the Sacré Coeur, Moulin Rouge and the little café where scenes from one of our favorite movies – Amelie – were filmed, to name a few.

I got more adventurous – and loosened the old purse strings – with this one and ordered one with Nutella and bananas. Even better than the first! I had vaguely heard of Nutella before, but never actually had it. It’s a chocolate hazelnut spread. Who’s the genius that came up with this idea? Fantastic!

Not a day has gone by where we haven’t thought longingly about these crepes. We’ve even gone so far as to research crepe carts, sure we’d make a killing selling these French delights in downtown Cincinnati during the various festivals.

Last week, I was shopping at Costco when lo and behold, what do I see on one of the shelves but a double pack of Nutella. I promptly picked one up and decided to recreate the culinary treat we loved so much in gay Paris.

When I got home, I typed ‘how to make crepes’ into Google and the very first choice that came up was a great link to an in-depth, step-by-step, picture laden how-to created by someone at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

I followed this recipe and, despite the author’s warnings that one shouldn’t expect too much of oneself, that the first one or two would be ruined, I created the perfect batch of crepes from start to finish. I hate to brag, but facts is facts.

From the first crepe onward, they turned out textbook perfect. Perfectly browned. Perfectly rounded. And perfectly flipped. Yes, that’s right, I even flipped them, something the author said she couldn’t even do. [All that egg flipping is paying off in other areas.] And finally, perfectly rolled. I couldn’t have been more pleased –or more surprised – by the results.

So if you’re in the mood for a taste of Paris, I highly recommend firing up this crepe recipe*. And even if you don’t have Nutella, sprinkle a little sugar on it, fold and eat. C’est magnifique!

*I halved it and it made 11 crepes, which were way more filling than I thought they’d be – we could only eat 2 each. Next time, I’d cut it down to ¼ recipe just for the two of us. It's true, an 8" nonstick pan does the trick; and resist the urge to spray Pam in there. It doesn't need it.