We spent a relaxing weekend in Wichita and then spent a night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. This was Camille’s present for getting straight A’s in Kindergarten this year.
Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor water park with several pools, slides and hot tubs. And the hotel.
Gabe’s big smile after ice cream.
This Mother’s day we went to Macaroni Grill for lunch with Charles and Mary.
Andi and Camille.
Gabe: “Just keep the Coke comin and I’m a happy guy.”
Andi and I.
Mary and Andi. We all went to eat chinese food tonight.
A while back we started a tradition of making crêpes on Sunday mornings. I grew up eating crêpes in France as a kid and it always made me feel good. I thought it would be cool to start a little tradition of our own. It’s also a great way for Camille and Gabe to work together and negotiate who does what. There are four dry ingredients and four wet ones. We finally got the splitting of who does what down to where the arguing is minimal.
The four dry ingredients: 1 1/2 Cup Flour, 1 Tablespoon Sugar, 1/2 Teaspoon Salt and 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder. The wet ingredients: 2 Cups Milk, 2 Tablespoons Butter, 2 Eggs and 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla. This should make for exactly 10 delicious crêpes.
Camille gets two dry ingredients and two wet ones.
Gabe gets… two dry ingredients and two wet ones.
Start combining all the wet ingredients. The order does not matter although generally we combine all the wet ones then add the dry ones on top or vice versa.
However you decide to do it, a great deal of concentration is required.
Before adding the butter in, we microwave it for 30 seconds to liquify it. Be careful, it’s hot. Mittens or a kitchen towel are recommended. The butter is a hard duty to split up as the kids think closing the microwave door and pushing its buttons require the utmost professionalism and they would rather not share. Camille gets to cut the butter and takes it out of the microwave as she is older than Gabe. She may let Gabe do the mechanical stuff if he’s treated her fairly thus far. After all, this all happens on Sunday mornings before Church and a little courtesy is generally extended.
Some ingredients may require the assistance of old pros…
While others are under the total control of the professional staff.
We use a high power blender I’d bought when I owned Smooth Blendz. It mixes the dough really smooth. I’m sure any blender would work just fine.
We’re ready for the real fun. Before putting the dough in the crêpe pan, we oil the pan with a paper towel which we folded really small and dipped in a ramequin filled with a little bit of oil. On a scale of 0-10, we set the temperature to 6. Anything less or more tends to cook too slow or burn them.
The crêpe pan, Andi and I purchased at Carrefour when we were in France when we got engaged. It has a very durable Tefal coating with somewhat of a tiny bee’s wax design on the inside. The pan border is very low. You can always froogle one.
So pour the dough in and with the twist of the wrist quickly move the dough around as soon as it hits the pan. You wait too long and you might as well eat pancakes.
You should see bubbles forming on the surface which is your signal to loosen the edges with a spatula and flip the crêpe over. For this step, it is recommended to hire a real pro. Generally, a spare wife without makeup does the trick. A minimum of an 8ft ceiling is recommended and watch for little ones observing too closely – that pan is hot and accidents can happen. The crêpe should be a light golden brown on the other side.
Kinda like this. Almost done…
Now for the most anticipated part, spread Nutella on half of the crêpe and fold it over on itself three times.
Let the staff taste the final product…
…before serving…
and your customers should be as happy as ours. Bon Appétit!
Andi is my wife of twelve years and I love her as much now as I did when I first met her. We met at the Fallout, a Kansas City nightclub, and she fell madly in love with my running man dancing moves. What can I say? I was young and I had a few more hairs on my head. We met at a park the next day and she had prepared the best picnic I’d ever tasted in my life – strawberries and banana nut bread. I was a starving college student at the time and I thought that must be what the rich people eat.
Andi is a dedicated mother and an addicted aerobics exercise instructor. She teaches classes at a couple of health clubs in Kansas City a few hours a week.
Our engagement story :: I asked Andi to travel to France with me to visit my mom and on New Year’s Eve of 1995, I took her to the Eiffel Tower. We were the very last couple in the last elevator at 10:30pm going to the summit about 324 metres in the air. It was cold but she was brave to follow me to the outside vantage point. There I kneeled and I asked Andi to marry me. Fact: we hid an american quarter with an F written in black marker on one side and an A written on the other, inside the metal structure. Maybe one day we’ll go retrieve it.
My wife Andi. Did I tell you I love her a lot!?
Mary, Andi and Charles on Andi’s Birthday.
Camille and Mommy with a Dolphin in Mexico during a cruise.
