Playing With Fire

Un crêpe c'est bon, un crêpe flambée c'est quelque chose à voir...

 

 Translation: a crêpe is good, a crêpe flambée is something to see:

When brown sugar and rum meet a lit match, this is what happens:

Looks burnt, but I promise it tasted good.

I love crepes.  I really do.  For proof, you can read THIS POST. 

So, I poured brown sugar and rum on a crepe, turned out the lights, and then lit a match.  Maybe not the safest thing but it sure made for awesome pictures.  My favorite discovery this time around with toppings?  Brown sugar and lemon juice on the crepe while it is still cooking.  The result yields a tangy caramel.  Mmmm... or miam miam as they say in France.

Au Revoir, Ti Couz

SF staple Ti Couz has closed - my introduction to the Mission 

& and feeling SO cool on Fridays during high school.  

This is where I brought French visitors to show them 

we could also make crêpes, and also our go-to for city eating.

Sunday May 15th was their closing so we headed into the city for one last hurrah.  

Crepes are traditionally a food from Brittany, France so I decided to go along with the Breton theme.  And also try out the jewelry layering I have been seeing around.

Despite my smile, I really am sad about it. 

Neckalces, inner-outer: from Greece; silver from mom;, chainlink belt as necklace;

black onyx and pearl, also de maman.  

And one of those vintage, pre-Reed Krakoff Coach purses, 

also from my maman.  I love that thing.  The scarf: mom.

Yes, I am still wearing many of her pieces.  The original purpose of the blog continues!

The view along the way on BayAreaRapidTransit: cranes in Oakland.

The sight of the blue pillars from the BART station or
your far-away parking place meant you were close:

 "Mieux vaut boire ici qu'en face"

edit 6/13 - Rough translation: better to drink in here than out front.

One of my favorite Ti Couz memories?  Dinner here with my boyfriend's 3 sisters, 

his mom, and my mom.  They were out from the Midwest on a "girls trip."

They loved it!  

Ti Couz, a San Francisco staple that will be missed terribly. 

Merci beaucoup, Ti Couz, pour des souvenirs inoubliables et des crêpes magnifiques.  

C'est pas chandeleur mais...

Chandeleur is a holiday in France, Candlemas in English.  Anyways, when I lived in Dijon, I learned how to flip a crêpe.  Traditionally, you hold a coin in your hand while doing it and if you catch the crepe, it means prosperity for you and your loved ones for the year to come.  Well, I can't wait until February to feast on crêpes, so I decided to whip some up now.

It's actually the small café Alice Waters founded after the success of Chez Panisse that features these delectable treats as a fixture on the menu.   Buckwheat crêpes (krampouz in Breton, and Mission, SF eatery, Ti Couz) in France are topped only with savory things.  The mix (pâte), however, is very simple and dry, sometimes made only with buckwheat flour and water.  The pâte to follow is more involved, requiring a cup of flat beer.  Both necessitate a rest time of 2 hours before cooking for the flour to absorb the moisture.  

My mom has always been a devotee to Alice Waters.  Reading the forward in the cookbook, Waters really did start using buzzwords like sustainable and local 30 years ago.  The book is older than I am:

Because this recipe is nontraditional, until I went to France, I thought it was cheating to use a white flour recipe for sweet crêpes.  I was raised on these, and Café Fanny serves them both with sweet and savory toppings. A secret?  Flat beer! 

 

The beer produces this tangy, yeasty flavor.  Now for cooking:

 

 My favorite: sucrée! 

Organic plain yogurt with fresh organic plums.  Alice Waters would have it no other way.  And later that night, a friend sought refuge from the heat outside:

I put him outside, in a rosemary patch.