How to Have a Smashing Crepes Party

So, in my last post, I had sketched my experiences with fiddling around with crepes - or, as one of my more French-savvy friends pronounces it, "cleps." It turns out that my crepe-frying beginner's luck was put to good use at the party, for which my friend Sarah wisely quadrupled her crepe recipe!

We had already pillaged the local grocery purveyors (Messrs. Safeway, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's) for a variety of sweet and savory toppings:

• Strawberries
• Raspberries and blackberries
• Sliced mango
• Strawberry Chobani yogurt
• Melted Ghirardelli chocolate
• Chocolate chips
• Sprinkles
• Mango slices
• Bananas
• Nutella (divine with sliced bananas!)
• Gluten-free granola from Trader Joe's
• Ham
• Goat cheese from Whole Foods
• Goat cheese and herb spread
• Cava's red pepper and hummus spread

Wow, a lot more sweet than savory. What a horrible problem. :) Interestingly, our guests devoured the strawberries faster than any of the other toppings!

The Crepe Bar

Berries and Chocolate Crepe

The decor for the party was simple but elegant, inspired by Anthropologie's eclectic style and the crisp spring weather. Thanks to Whole Foods' floral department, fresh sprigs of purple-blue snapdragons and tufts of fun green bushy stuff made a nice bouquet for the side table. 

Construction Site

Riviera Blue Splash

I stuck small white and blue flowering "mini-bushes," technically Riviera Blue Splash from Homestead Gardens into various small glazed pots and even a large empty lantern, scattered an array of battery-powered votives in an army of miniature lanterns around the dining room, and added a few semi-tarnished silver pieces for extra character. My friend (whom the party was honoring) smuggled back a centerpiece from a wedding she'd attended the day before, and voile! Gardeny-springy-bohemian-decor! 

Decor on the Side Table

I deliberately omitted all pink from the decorations, since it was after all a co-ed party. It's not my favorite color, anyway. But at the same time, the guest of honor was a girl (still is), so why not keep it feminine?

Centerpiece and Garland

The mademoiselles

Crepe Expectations

Tonight, I delved into the art of making crepes for the first time ever, using a recipe from Living Without (dumb, negative-sounding name but great allergy-friendly recipes).

I used the multi-purpose gluten free mix by Bob's Red Mill, one of my favorite GF flour brands (hearty, tasty, fluffy flours and blends). This blend included bean flour, which is always a great addition to mixes due to its silky texture.

Interestingly, the recipe called for grapeseed oil, which I have never used before. It is pretty neutral to the taste, so served well in keeping the thin crepes from sticking to the pan without actually adding an overly oily taste.

I found out that the two tablespoons of batter didn't cut it in my eight-inch pan, so I just eyeballed it. I ended up with crepes that varied in thickness at first, but always stayed at a fairly delicate width and hopefully wouldn't be mistaken for pancakes (that'd be demoralizing!).

Delicious with something as simple as jam, especially since this is a low-effort trial run. I could see partaking in a more topping-diverse crepe engorgement in the future - according to one of my friends, people really can have fun with Nutella, bananas, chocolate, berries, yogurt, you name it. I could eat a hundred of these things!

Alice in Wonderland

I found a hilarious Alice in Wonderland mug at the Annapolis Bookstore, right on Maryland Avenue in historic downtown Annapolis. The Annapolis Bookstore is a gem. I have found scores of used and nearly new Agatha Christie novels, a like-new copy of Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (a gorgeously illustrated Cinderella-style story set in Africa, which I loved as a kid), and some neat, engraved "This book belongs to..." bookplates, not to mention an old-style inkwell, gold-colored ink... just about everything that can draw book lovers in like magnets.