Food: Crepes 101

Food Photography by Ryan Macalandag

I really hadn't known crepes are real easy to make. Our French friends Miriam and Tuff had made them once at their home in Manga (when they where still here) but I was so busy at the liquor table. Pastis are irresistible you know, so don't bum me about not helping in the kitchen! #$@*!

Anyways, to make the long story short, my wife insisted we (meaning me) tried making some. Turned out it was real easy. Piece of cake.



Here my recipe to a basic crepe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups skim milk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons oil (or butter)
salt to taste (optional)

Preparing the batter:
1. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl. Get a bigger mixing bowl if you're clumsy like me or you'll be throwing stuff all around.
2. Pour in the flour and milk in small amounts at a time.
3. Mix well until there are no lumps of flour in the batter. I used a wooden ladle to mix and tried to squish the lumps on the side of the bowl. It works. Honest.
4. Mix in the oil and salt.

"Frying" the batter:
1. Get a real good crepe pan. One that is flat, round and non-stick. I heard in France, crepe pans are family treasures. They are kept for a long time and even passed along to children (when they grow up, not when they're small, dummy).
2. Heat the pan to about 200-and-then-some degrees or when it is really hot or about 3 minutes on medium heat.
3. Wipe some oil to keep the batter from sticking.
4. Pour in about 3/4 of a cup of batter into the pan. Flatten the batter by tilting the pan sideways and round.
5. After a few seconds, flip the crepe (I flipped the crepe one handed on my first try! Psheeeet). I like my crepes a bit browned on both sides. Then, that's it. A crepe for you and your family!

Eating the crepe:
Easy huh? There are a lot of ways to eat crepe. You can use choco cream, peanut butter, olive oil, margarine, butter, fruits, meat, or just about anything.

There are also different kinds of folds. I can't tell you the ways 'coz mostly I just dunk 'em crepes into my hungry mouth!

A word of caution though, never try to put all fillings altogether or you'll be full in no time!

Some references:
Basic Crepes
How to make a basic crepe
Cooking Debauchery: Crepes
Food Network: Crepes

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Photobin: Party Photography

In recent months, parties and photography merged into a whole new level. Parties are now made way cooler with photographers who've brought their "studios" to parties. And party animals are getting crazier. The portable photo booth is hotter than the bar.






And they're not even drunk yet.





But then again I lie. Because after all the pictures were taken and all the poses exhausted, the videoke machine still ruled -- until the wee-est hours of the dawn.



It's not time, to make a change.
Just relax, take it easy.
You're still young.
There's so much you have to go through.

(More of this set, here.)
_________________________________
Photos by Ryan Macalandag
Shot using a Nikon D80
Copyright ©2007 All rights reserved.

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