Let Them Eat Crêpes

Au Revoir, Website

2012-01-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

After much thought, we've decided to say good-bye to our website, eatingcrepes.com. We initially created it to get the call for submissions out way back when our book existed only in our minds. Since then, it has been great for keeping contributors and fans up-to-date on the process, and then getting the word out about the book, events and all things crepe. But now that Let Them Eat Crepes is over a year old, we've decided that facebook, twitter, the blog, lulu and amazon are quite sufficient for any news we might want to share.

Washed Up

2011-09-01T07:29:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Susan Koefod on the release of her debut mystery, Washed Up! For details on the book, reviews, events & more, check her website.

Let Them Eat Crepes Goes Electronic

2011-05-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

Let Them Eat Crepes is now available via download on lulu.com for just $3.99. We're happy to offer this faster, cheaper version of our book. Get it now!

Easter Crepes

2011-04-21T13:45:00.001-07:00

Whether Easter is a serious religious occasion in your home or just filled with baskets of sweets, bring a little fun to your Easter table with this kid-friendly, oh so cute, crepe recipe. I just couldn't resist. No matter how you celebrate, enjoy!

Easy Lemon Crepes

2011-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

As March begins and it drops below zero yet again in Minnesota, spring seems far away. In fact, it seems like it may never arrive. But that doesn't mean we can't bring delicious, spring flavors to our tables. Conjure spring with these yummy and healthy crepes!

Recipe for an Anthology

2011-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Our article, Recipe for an Anthology, is featured in A View from the Loft. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the process of self-publishing Let Them Eat Crepes and hopefully share some advice for others out there thinking about taking the plunge. Happy reading!

Don Morreale at the Mercury Cafe, Denver on Dec 28!

2010-12-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

Don Morreale and Andy Rooney will appear at Stories Stories, at the Mercury Cafe, 2199 California St., Tuesday, December 28th at 7 p.m.

Andy will read Chapter Six of his award winning novel The Fact of Suffering. Don will read a recently published memoir of his days as a pushcart vendor on the streets of Denver.

Don, Andy and friends are gathering for dinner at the Mercury before-hand (around 5:30) and would like to invite you to join us. We look forward to seeing each and every one of you, and hearing your riotous applause.

Gracias de antemano.

#2 in Travel for Month of November 2010

2010-12-14T12:43:00.001-08:00

Thanks again, fans!

2010-12-13T08:48:00.001-08:00

We were saddened to see how much independent bookstores continue to struggle these days. We believe there is a place for e-commerce and e-books, but we felt it was important that our book be available in print only – reading is a sensual activity (just like eating!), so at this critical time for independents, we hope you'll visit your local independent bookstore and do some holiday shopping there:

• the book cliffs

• Common Good Books

• Micawber's Books

• The Valley Bookseller

New Retail Location

2010-11-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Let Them Eat Crepes is now available at The Valley Bookseller in Stillwater. If you haven't been there, it is a fantastic book store! You won't want to miss our reading & book signing event at 10am on Saturday, December 18th! Mark it on your calendars. Check the website often for new retailers & event postings!

#1 seller in Travel on Lulu; #65 overall this week!

2010-11-17T08:38:00.001-08:00

Lulu best seller! #2 Travel, #97 Overall

2010-11-11T06:53:00.001-08:00

the book cliffs

2010-11-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

Come celebrate Let Them Eat Crepes at our very first event! Join us at the book cliffs in Wabasha, MN for a reading and open house.

Let Them Eat Crepes

2010-11-01T07:03:00.000-07:00

Let Them Eat Crepes is now available for purchase! Find it online at lulu.com or check out our website for featured Twin Cities area retailers that will carry it in the coming weeks.

Vanilla Crepes

2010-10-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

While surfing for new crepe recipes, I came across this one. I can already imagine the aroma coming from my hot griddle. Vanilla is the perfect sweet, yet subtle flavor to combine with any fruit. Can't wait.

Yet Another Endorsement

2010-10-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

This one is from Jill Jepson, author of Writing as a Sacred Path, and transformative writing coach.

This enchanting collection explores life and love through the exquisite staple of French cuisine, the crêpe. A potpourri of experiences — from a woman meeting her father for the first time to a group of stoned college men holed up in a mountain cabin to a young man finding bliss as a street vendor — combine romance, humor, and personal growth with the sensory joy of eating.

Thanks Jill!

Another Great Endorsement

2010-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

We just received another wonderful endorsement from author and activist, Biloine W. Young. She has written numerous books, most recently My Heart It Is Delicious and The Dutiful Son – Louis W. Hill.

If you are not already in love with crêpes — that delicate concoction of flour and butter — you will be after reading these poignant stories of youth, love and, above all, remembrance. Set in Paris, the Catskills, Colombia, Helsinki, Spain, and elsewhere, Let Them Eat Crêpes is a graceful and mouth-watering read.

Thanks Billie!

Second Endorsement

2010-10-01T11:51:00.001-07:00

We've been blurbed again! This time by Kate St. Vincent Vogl, two-time honoree in Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition and author of Lost & Found: A Memoir of Mothers. How lucky are we?

A treat to read! These well-turned essays about crêpes will take you from Colombia to Helsinki and many points in between. Share the joys of these cross-cultural experiences as a gift or savor it all to yourself -- this collection is delicious either way.

Thanks Kate!

Carmel Apple Crepes

2010-09-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Blue skies with puffy white clouds and a gentle chill in the air. It seems Autumn has arrived. With the season comes all sorts of lovely flavors - spiced lattes, pumpkin bread and apple everything. If you are hankering for a sweet taste this season, why not try Carmel Apple Crepes? I know I will.

First Endorsement

2010-09-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

We are excited to be in the final stages of editing, formatting and getting Let Them Eat Crepes ready for print. Several authors have agreed to consider writing us a blurb for the back cover of our book. We recently got our first one from award-winning anthologist, June Cotner. Very exciting!

This touching and often funny collection of stories about family and foreign places -- all starring the humble, delectable crêpe -- is a must read for foodies, armchair travelers, or anyone hungry for a sweet story.

Thanks June!

Let Them Eat Crepes

2010-08-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

Let Them Eat Crepes will be coming soon in book form. After several years of working on this project, we've decided to self-publish. Stay tuned for details and a book release date. Until then, bon appetit!

Red, White & Blue Crepes

2010-07-02T13:20:00.001-07:00

Instead of that same old flag cake you make every year. You know, the rectangular white-frosted one with strawberries and blueberries. Try something new! Use red and blue berries, crepes and whip cream! Or ice cream or frosting, let your imagination run wild.

Lindsay Taylor

2010-04-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

The sight of the wide silver bottom and the slight tilt of the worn red sides transported us into a higher class. My favorite feature was the engraved words on the bottom of the pan: “Crêpe Pan.” I would close my eyes and trace the letters with my finger. No other cookware in the house was so distinguished. - excerpt from Eating Crêpes in My Mother's Kitchen

LINDSAY TAYLOR lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two young sons. She usually cooks spaghetti, tacos and hot dish, but when she's feeling celebratory, she turns to crêpes.

Martha Lavoué

2010-03-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Once production gets going the crêpes pile up on our large plate that is used almost exclusively for this purpose. He takes special delight in flipping them in the air and catching them in the pan, shaking the handle slightly to keep them from sticking. In 30 years, he has only missed the pan once, much to our dog’s delight. - excerpt from The Flip Side of Crêpes

MARTHA LAVOUÉ hails from California and has lived in a suburb of Paris, France for 40 years. She married a Frenchman she met while perfecting her French at the Sorbonne. She worked in IT, but is now retired and devotes herself to her first loves: reading, writing, painting and music.

Melissa Doffing

2010-03-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

I bit into my crêpe, letting the butter and sugar melt on my tongue and found the language that had seemed so foreign a few weeks ago was now soothing and familiar. This was what being independent was all about. Letting the sweet taste of a new experience overwhelm your senses and surround you. Simultaneously losing and finding yourself in a moment, in a crêpe, in a garden, while enjoying each luscious bite. - excerpt from Crêpe Sucre

MELISSA DOFFING has published a broad range of work. Recent publication credits include articles in Savvy Women's Magazine and book reviews in Women Writers: A Zine. She is currently working on her first novel, Chasing Fireflies.

Travel and Nostalgia

2010-03-22T12:36:00.000-07:00

Contributor Sasha Aslanian's ("Tin Pancakes") recent Star Tribune article beautifully allows readers to enjoy a trip—literally—down memory lane. Aslanian followed in the bike ruts of her great-grandparents and traveled Norway the old fashioned way. Reader her article: Biking Through Norway

Crêpes and Julia Child

2010-03-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Julia Child. As many a blogger before us has said, she was an amazing character, woman, cook and cookbook writer. Her attention to detail and food is unsurpassed. I'm almost done reading My Life in France by Julia Child (I read the first half when it first came out, but then I had to return it to the library. I've since got my hands on a paperback edition) and enjoying every moment of living her life vicariously.

Epicurious has a fine recipe for Julia Child's Crepes Fines Sucrees (although I, personally, have never felt the need to either use a blender or a sieve).

Philip Krummrich

2010-03-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

La Grange aux Crêpes is nothing more or less than the perfect crêperie. There may be other items on the menu, but with two dozen mouth-watering savory crepes and two dozen more tempting dessert crepes, who would order anything else? - excerpt from The Repeatable Pleasure of Crêpes

PHILIP KRUMMRICH has been teaching languages and literature at the college level for over thirty years and has published translations, poetry and travel writing. He has eaten crepes and other good things on three continents and in fifteen countries and looks forward to doubling those numbers. He lives and works in Morehead, Kentucky.

2010-03-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

Making crêpes at home is not always pretty. Here's a good example. There's the non-stick crêpe pan, the batter with buckwheat from the co-op, the hot gas flame. And yet, it doesn't look so good. They tasted fantastic, though—filled with some ham and gruyere. Can't go wrong.

Sasha Aslanian

2010-03-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

She called them "tin panacakes." Her American grandkids giggled about her Norwegian pronunciation, but we'd dive for the platter piled with pancakes folded as neatly as handkerchiefs. Her "tynne pannekaker," as they're called in Norway, were light brown with dapples from the frying pan, lightly sugared and then folded into quarters. - excerpt from Tin Pancakes

SASHA ASLANIAN is a reporter and documentary producer for Minnesota Public Radio. Her essays have appeared on National Public Radio and been published in Adventure Cyclist Magazine, Modern Bride, the Minneapolis StarTribune and St. Paul Almanac. In 2008, her words were pressed into cement as a sidewalk poet in the City of St. Paul where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

Rebecca Epstein

2010-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

My grandmother’s crêpes are sweet and mealy, chewy, gently browned. She fills them with jelly or warmed apples or banana slices or peanut butter or, best of all, broken bits of chocolate that melt in the warm cradle of the crêpe’s skin. - excerpt from Chocolate-Filled Crêpes

REBECCA EPSTEIN recently graduated from the University of Arizona with an MFA in fiction and is now an MFA candidate in nonfiction at the University of Iowa. Her fiction and nonfiction have been published in journals such as The Sycamore Review and Arts and Letters.

Anika Fajardo

2010-02-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

The last time I had crêpes had been years ago. My mother used to make them out of buckwheat flour and fill them with broccoli, cream sauce and cheese. I remember her rolling them up and placing them row by row into a glass baking pan, transforming a French delicacy into a Minnesota casserole. - excerpt from Eating Crêpes in Colombia

ANIKA FAJARDO is a writer, librarian, mother and avid cook. Her book reviews of women’s fiction appear regularly in Library Journal, and she has published work for the American Library Association, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and in various library-related publications. Most recently, her writing earned second place for nonfiction in The Talking Stick 18 and has been featured online in Frostingwriting, Midway Journal, and apt: an online literary journal.

In 2009 she was a winner of the Loft Literary Center’s Latino Inroads Mentorship and the Loft’s Mentor Series in Creative Nonfiction Prose. At present, she is working intensely with authors J.C. Hallman, Shannon Olson, Judith Kitchen, Pablo Medina, and Philip S. Bryant and Gene Yang to produce a memoir for publication. She is also a teaching artist at the Loft and on the prose advisory panel for the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant.

Last Minute Lunch

2009-12-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

Picture this: it's a Saturday afternoon and your family hasn't been fed, everyone's tired from holiday shopping and socializing, and the only thing your toddler's eaten all day is canned fruit and cookies.

What to make for lunch? Why not whip up some buckwheat crêpes?

1 c. milk
1 egg
1 c. buckwheat flour
dash of salt

Whisk ingredients well, coat hot crêpe pan with butter, ladle batter on pan and swirl to coat. Cook until edges loosen, then flip and cook another 30 seconds.

Toddlers will eat these plain, usually the fewer toppings the better. Adults might like them filled with meat and cheese, whatever you have on hand. Before removing the crêpe from the pan, pile on shredded cheese, meat of some kind, and any veg. Fold up the crêpe and remove to a plate. Lunch is served.

Meredith Escudier

2009-12-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

I can still see the face of the crêpe vendor on the Boulevard St. Michel. He had a dour face on the sallow side with a vacant stare, a gaze seemingly lost in space. All his customers got the look-through as if they were a bunch of bothersome phantoms flocking around his stand. - excerpt from Decrêpitude

MEREDITH ESCUDIER'S work has appeared in anthologies, literary journals and the Meanwhile column of the International Herald Tribune. She also has an ongoing column in a bilingual monthly journal, Blablablah, based in the south of France. As she has lived in France for many years, her writing is often informed by the pleasures of the table. She is pleased to have published the essay “Watching Him Cook” in the premiere issue of the food/lit journal Alimentum, "The Fig Lover" in Culinate, and "A Man's Castle is his Home" in Imitation Fruit. She is also a contributor in the anthology, Steeped: in the World of Tea (Interlink 2005).

Catherine Flowers

2009-12-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

Once my mother had tossed and slid a dozen or so into a pile, she would set about drizzling fresh lemon juice and sprinkling castor sugar onto each, and then arranging the rolled-up pancake on a large platter. I remember how the pancakes would melt in my mouth, leaving a sumptuously sweet yet tart aftertaste. I remember how in the blink of an eye my brother, father and I would devour them while my mother remained in the kitchen working steadily on another stack. - excerpt from Holy Pancakes

CATHERINE FLOWERS is a graduate of St. Catherine University where she currently works as a Financial Aid Counselor.When not advising graduate students about their loans, she loves to write about food, family and nature.Her hobbies include playing tennis and her conga drum.As an English major, it is a given that she loves to read.

Rochelle Mass

2009-11-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

The six crêpes looked beautiful, curled at the edge like a crêpe must, and I was proud. I sliced an apple, rolled it inside the newly formed crêpe, placed a little sour cream on the side and dusted it with powdered sugar. - excerpt from The Mother of Them All

ROCHELLE MASS is Canadian born and has lived in Israel since 1973. She won first prize and two honorable mentions in the Reuben Rose Poetry competition and has twice been Pushcart nominee, twice shortlisted by the BBC for a radio play and Middle Eastern Fiction. She has published poetry collections including The Startled Land (Wind River Press) and Belmont Street (Wind River Press).

Turkey and Crêpes

2009-11-18T18:36:00.001-08:00

It's the time of year when everyone (not just the foodies) are thinking about food. People who rarely cook are eying cutlery and sauce pans and reluctant hosts are ironing their Great Aunt Emily's tablecloth.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the leftover turkey. After the official guests have left, after someone (not me) has done the dishes and hand washed the wine glasses, after the red wine has been cleaned off the living room sofa it's time for leftovers. Turkey tetrazzini is one of my favorite comfort foods. You add a little leftover gravy to the cream sauce to give it that, well, je ne sais quoi.
Of course, the best thing you can possible do with turkey leftovers in stuff them into freshly-made crêpes. Stay tuned for a recipe.

Rachel Gabriel

2009-11-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

Just nineteen and hungry. We make love all afternoon until we are driven out of our hotel room in search of dinner, another bottle of wine, a stroll along the river Seine. It is your first time in Paris, my third, and I take you to Crêperie Saint-Malo on the Rue du Montparnasse. - excerpt from Crêperie Saint-Malo

RACHEL GABRIEL lives in Minneapolis. A recent winner of the Loft Mentor Series in Creative Non-Fiction, she is currently working on a memoir manuscript. She is the co-editor and a contributor to the essay collection My Red Couch and Other Stories on Seeking a Feminist Faith (The Pilgrim Press, 2005) and is a MFA candidate at Hamline University where she is studying fiction.

Gary Allen

2009-11-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

They stared, mesmerized, as her pale, floury hands formed incomprehensible arabesques through the air, air that gradually acquired a warm buttery perfume, a scent more intoxicating than anything else they had ever inhaled. One by one, tender crêpe-like pancakes materialized on their plates and, just as deftly, disappeared. - excerpt from A Bunch of Boys were Whooping it up

GARY ALLEN is the author (and/or editor) of: The Resource Guide for Food Writers; The Herbalist in the Kitchen; The Business of Food: Encyclopedia of the Food and Drink Industries (with Ken Albala); and Human Cuisine (with Ken Albala). He also blogs at onthetable.us, check him out!

Eric Gustafson

2009-10-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

I find my hotel in lively Marais and then head out at twilight to foot traffic and lovely smells and find a walkup crêperie counter and a young guy wearing a Yamika working the iron. I step confidently forward and say, "Bone swaw; own crape cone-fih-TAR-ay, see voo play.”

ERIC J. GUSTAFSON is a community organizer and writer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He writes personal essays about his experiences traveling independently, and primarily alone, overseas. Professionally, he critiques local government and writes in defense of grassroots neighborhood democracy, and organizes participatory projects including community murals, farmers' markets, and citizen journalism.

Re-Post: Working the Dough of the Draft

2009-10-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is a re-post from one of our contributing editors, Susan Koefod.

Today as I make pie crust for a quiche, I'm pausing between steps to work through novel revisions. My current favorite pie crust recipe is somewhat laborious, even for a pie crust. A multi-step process, there are three separate times you must chill the dough: first right after mixing the ingredients, next after you roll it out, and finally right before baking. Between the various chilling phases, you incorporate, press, mold, roll out. The crust takes many shapes -- first it's crumbled, then shaped into a disk, then flattened to a crust. Not having the precise measurements of ingredients -- including accurate amounts of butter, shortening, flour and ice water -- can lead to a tasteless failure.

I hadn't realized how much baking pie is like revising. I'm struck by the amount of molding, and resting, the material requires, whether it's that of my mystery or that of the quiche crust. Years of experience are required for both -- I know when I can work with -- or repair -- what I have. I've quit on my work, sometimes for years at a time because it's frankly too hard and when the result is so uninspiring to a reader, I wonder why I write. I've tossed out more than a few uneatable pie crusts in my day.

I often read about unpublished writers laboring for years on manuscripts, sometimes not even publishing until later in life, if ever. The laborious work of being molded and shaped by experienced hands-- is writing in a nutshell. It takes longer than I ever imagined -- at least for me it does. I'm long past the possibility of being discovered -- as an ingenue. Any younger writer I know who is published usually has been worked by tragic circumstances, and by the grace of being able to write, survived to tell the tale. While I could tell tales about my early years, I chose not to; instead I make up stories and hope that a reader finds an afternoon or two of escape, and enjoys the work of my imagination.

My personal story of writing is different, more nuanced, quieter, yes maybe even boring. It's composed of nothing more than persistence, hard work, and imagination, and I hope my books reach an appreciative audience one day. When a reader turns to the book jacket to see my picture, he or she won't be seeing some sweet young thing tinged with sadness, and still impossibly attractive. My face has wrinkles, my roots (when I let them go) go gray, I have a hint of jowls and lines in my neck (made for a turtleneck). I hope that my work will speak for itself. That's my goal.

Back to my dough -- now chilling in the refrigerator and almost ready for its filling of eggs, bacon, and gruyere.

Originally posted: Riverbaby

Tooting my own horn

2009-10-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

He sees them every day. They come alone, dressed in low heels with pointy toes, richly patterned scarves, and earrings that brush against the cashmere or silk around their necks. They carry large bags that pass as purses. He often wonders what a woman carries that takes up that much volume.

One of the contributing editors, Anika, just published a short story, Impressionist, online at Frostwriting. Check it out.

Susan Koefod

2009-10-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

The cloudberries, fresh and seedy, tempered the sweetness of the crêpe was a melding of flavors I didn’t quite recognize at first. They captured the essence of the northern summer, combining the flavors of honey, oranges and raisins. Tangy and lightly fermented, it expressed the fleeting lushness of a Finnish summer. It satisfied a craving I didn’t realize I had. - excerpt from Breakfast in Helsinki

SUSAN KOEFOD holds a MFA in Writing from Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota. Publishing credits include essays and poems, most recently in Literary Bohemian, The Talking Stick, Minnetonka Review and June Cotner's bestselling anthologies. In addition to being a co-editor for Let Them Eat Crepes, she is working on her new novel, Washed Up.

Jenny Rusinko

2009-10-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

Eating the family pets; gorging on crêpes with Nutella; trying to deconstruct Led Zeppelin; debating Coca-Cola’s takeover of the world—these were my experiences of France. Yes, I will explain how we ate the family pets in a moment.
~ excerpt from More Crêpes, Please

JENNY RUSINKO lives in Malibu, CA with her husband and daughter. She is a full-time mom and a part-time freelance writer and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University. She enjoys the beach and loves to travel.

More Crepes!

2009-10-10T10:04:00.001-07:00

There was recently, yet another crepes shout-out in the November issue of Everyday with Rachel Ray. Peanut Butter crepes were coined the easy, no fail dessert plan! The mag website features a buffet menu for a crepe party. Check it out. Simple, elegant, delicious and popular!

Erica Rivera

2009-10-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

I lean over my plate and inhale the steam rising from the piping hot surface. I slide my knife slowly, seductively, between each billowy layer. The butter dissolves into a lipid gloss across the surface. The powdered sugar falls from the serving spoon like snowflakes. - excerpt from Spanish Pancakes

ERICA RIVERA is the author of Insatiable: A Young Mother’s Struggle with Anorexia (Penguin Group, 2009). In addition to columns in the Star Tribune newspaper, her creative non-fiction writing was featured in LaChance Publishing’s Voices of Breast Cancer anthology. Rivera recently launched maneaterbook.com, a website for foodies and infatuation junkies. She lives in Minnesota with her two daughters.

Erica's memoir was released this week! Check out a sampling of her interviews and book reviews. Congrats Erica!

Chocolate Pudding Pie

2009-10-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

No, pie is not the same as crêpes. But there does seem to me to be a sort of kissing-cousin relationship between pie and crêpes. After all, both can hold sweet or savory fillings, both start with pedestrian ingredients we might find in our kitchen cupboards everyday. And both have a sort of homey, welcoming feel to them whether you're the one eating or the one cooking.

If you are the one cooking, check out our recipe for Grandma's Chocolate Pudding Pie. It's easy, quick, and you might even be able to make it without a trip to the grocery store.

If you're the one eating, pass the recipe along to a favorite cook and wait for the results.

Bon appetit!

Crêpe Craving

2009-10-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at my work computer on a grey day. I can tell it's cloudy and I assume it's raining, although I can't see very clearly from where I sit. There is a quiet mood in the air and I can feel fall upon us.

And I want crêpes. I had a very light lunch today and my stomach is rumbling. I have a half pound of buckwheat flour sitting on the kitchen counter at home and I can just taste the crêpes I will make later. I know I have eggs and milk in the refrigerator. Leeks and butternut squash come in my CSA box today, so I know I fill my crêpes with something savory.

Nothing is quite so perfect as a warm crêpe on a cold day.

Lucy Ferriss

2009-09-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

“C’est magnifique,” said Mary—the first flawless thing she had uttered since we arrived in Belgium. I was transfixed by the colored fire, which flickered, died away, and left behind a smell of longing and desire. Genevieve distributed the crêpes. I ate mine with pears and a dollop of crème fraiche. - excerpt from The Nuns of Berlaymont

LUCY FERRISS is the author of six published books of fiction, most recently Nerves of the Heart (U. Tennessee, 2002) and the memoir Unveiling the Prophet (U. Missouri, 2005). Her short fiction and essays have been published widely and she contributes occasionally to the New York Times. She is the Writer-in-Residence at Trinity College in Connecticut.

Starting a Crepes Revolution

2009-09-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

Kim O'Donnel started a canning revolution with just a crazy idea and an interest in canning. We're going to follow suit (imitation is, after all, the highest form of flattery) and start a crepe revolution.

Thanks to some ingenious Friends on facebook, we'll focus on buckwheat crepes. Stay tuned...

(things to do: buy buckwheat flour)

Shane Noecker

2009-09-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

"I imagine a morning a decade from now, my wife, our brood, and I are all sitting down to a breakfast of plump berries, pineapple, crêpes smothered in raspberry sauce, caramel rolls and kosher vegetarian ham." - excerpt from One Tradition

SHANE NOECKER grew up in Minnesota, but is currently living in India. His essays have recently appeared in South Dakota Review and Knock; his short stories in Bryant Literary Review, Silk Road, and Wisconsin Review. He is the former editor-in-chief of New Delta Review. Shane's crêpe essay will be featured in The Two Review 2010 issue, to be published in November 2009.

Israeli Crêpes

2009-09-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

No holiday is safe from crêpes! Rosh Hashanah begins Friday, September 18 and why not include crêpes in your menu? Jewish Exponent features a recipe for Israeli Crêpes and Sabra Sauce. What a delicious combination to include include orange in sweet crêpes.

And why stop there? One of our contributors, Rochelle Mass, includes a recipe for crêpes with matzo meal in her story, The Mother of Them All. Ms. Mass has lived in Israel since 1973. Stay tuned for more recipes.

Health Care Debate and Food?

2009-09-12T17:52:00.000-07:00

In his recent op-ed in the New York Times, Michael Pollan posits that the health care crisis is tied to the food crisis in America. In his bestsellers he connects American's eating (corn syrup and other refined convenience foods) with our health.

I've always been a pretty healthy eater (not counting the two years in a college dorm) and have always loved to cook. What better way to keep healthy than to cook your own food, to see the food from the raw ingredients to the table? The idea of making crepes can seem daunting to some home cooks, but they're actually a quick and easy dinner, lunch or breakfast idea. Eggs, flour, milk. Done.

So, who would have guessed that there'd be a connection between the healthcare debate and eating crepes?

Alice Owens Johnson

2009-09-07T12:04:00.001-07:00

"I saw for myself in Paris how crêpes can start revolutions... As this dispute wore on my attention wandered. All I wanted was a crêpe. A hot crêpe filled with raspberry jam, drenched in butter." -excerpt from Revolutionary Crêpes

ALICE OWENS JOHNSON has published short stories and non-fiction in The Lyricist, Pembroke Magazine, The Guilford Review, The Crucible and the O.Henry Festival of Stories. Her work has appeared in I Thought My Father Was God: And Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project edited by Paul Auster (Picador, 2002) and Alice Redux: New Stories of Alice, Lewis and Wonderland (Paycock Press, 2005). Owens Johnson and her husband currently live in North Carolina and run an event center in Black Mountain called Wolf Creek Cove.

Don Morreale

2009-09-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

"Flipping flapjacks as peak experience...now there's something they didn't teach us in the Department of Religion." -excerpt from Pipi la Pushe

DON MORREALE is the author of Buddhist America: Centers, Retreats, and Practices and The Complete Guide to Buddhist America. He lives in Denver, Colorado and travels and lectures worldwide.

Standard Crêpe Filling Reaching Out for American Audience

2009-09-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Nutella. Yes, that smooth and creamy chocolaty hazelnut spread that made a warm crêpe ring with sweetness is attempting to capture the American peanut butter market.

There's been an ad aired on television lately that sells Nutella as the perfect spread for whole wheat toast...send your kids off for school with a nutritious breakfast! The ad makes it sound healthier than a bowl of Cap'n Crunch or a Pop-Tart, but I wonder if it'll catch on.

Crêpe lovers and Americans in Europe already know the pull of Nutella is strong. But it seems almost sacriligious to push it in the U.S. Those of us who have discovered it while studying abroad or while dating a French girl in high school would like to save Nutella as our own. We don't want the masses to consume the same treat as us.

On the other hand, if Nutella really does become the next best thing, maybe this'll be a boon for us? Imagine if you could pick up a jar at the 7-11 or the corner grocery? Anytime you wish you could fill a fresh crêpe with a little chocolate-hazelnut. And, according to the advertisements, it's healthy?

Now, what's next? Peanut butter in crêpes?

~Anika

Noshing in Flushing

2009-09-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

What do crêpes and tennis have in common? The U.S. Open. What could be better than chewing a spinach crêpes while listening to the pin-pon of the ball?

Writer John Del Signore had both a mushroom-spinach crêpe and a classic banana-Nutella dessert crêpe at the Open. Of course, he didn't stop there. Food included ice cream (sherry-flavored?), shrimp, and the Open's official drink, the Honey Deuce.

Crêpes and tennis anyone?

"Divorced Kid" on Minn Public Radio

2009-08-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

Sasha Aslanian, one of our contributors ("Tin Pancakes"), produced a documentary for Minnesota Public Radio called Divorced Kid: Stories From the 1970s Divorce Revolution.

As a child of divorce myself (my parents divorced in 1976 when I was 2 years old), I appreciated the program. The varied experiences and varied "professional" opinions on divorce were fascinating. It got me thinking about my own experience and made me grateful I was too young to remember any of it.

It also got me thinking about ideas for stories....So, thanks, Sasha!

~Anika

The Anthology Authors

2009-08-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

When we asked: "Crepes anyone"? We got a fantastic response from people all over the United States and abroad telling us their tantalizing stories about crepes. After a lot of thought, we've narrowed it down. So, give it up for these fabulous authors, whose essays will be appearing in our anthology (just as soon as we nail down a publisher)...

Drum roll, please...
In no particular order: Don Morreale, Alice Owens Johnson, Shane Noecker, Lindsay Taylor, Jenny Rusinko, Lucy Ferriss, Erica Rivera, Susan Koefod, Eric Gustafson, Rochelle Mass, Rebecca Epstein, Sasha Aslanian, Rachel Gabriel, Anika Fajardo, Martha Lavoué, Meredith Escudier, Gary Allen, Melissa Doffing, Catherine Flowers, and Philip Krummrich.

Stay tuned... we'll feature author bios in the weeks to come.

Crêpes and the New York Times

2009-08-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

An August 18, 2009 article in the New York Times (from Bitten by Mark Bittman) suggests crêpes as the perfect dessert.

Couldn't agree more, naturally. For most of us the simple ingredients in crêpes—milk, eggs, flour, butter—are things we have around the house all the time. What easier way to quench a sweet tooth than whipping up some crêpes?

I recently had heavy whipping cream in the fridge because of good-intentioned plans to make homemade ice cream. That never happened, but I took advantage of this luxury to make crêpes filled with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Of course, as some of the comments to the blog post indicate, fancy fillings aren't necessary. A little lemon juice and sugar or just a dusting of powered sugar can turn the mundane into the sublime.

Welcome

2009-08-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Let Them Eat Crepes blog!