Savoury Crêpes

As a farewell dinner (well, only for a little over a fortnight), SP and I made some crêpes. Twice, he flipped them using the pan, which was spectacular. We had various fillings: brie, peanut butter, fig butter (which has crunchy niblets!), and grilled tofu.



Regarding brie, a new cheese for me: I mildly dislike it. The rind has ruined it for me. Even after melting, the brie rind elicits some feelings of disgust, which have developed more strongly over the week. It tastes a bit earthy, but also reminds me of certain bodily fluids. This flavour is mainly due to retronasal olfaction - the volatile compounds that are smelled by the nose via the mouth while eating the food (as opposed to just sniffing the food). When I pinch my nose, the flavour is greatly reduced, and all I'm eating is a chewy rind that is mildly salty. So, I've been cutting off the rind and saving the pieces for SP, who enjoys it. In fact, some of the mold from the rind colonised a new patch of cheese in the interior, due to contact in the bag! The cheese itself is really soft, has a mild, earthy flavour, and is buttery. I don't think that I enjoy it that much as it doesn't pack much umami.


The fig butter goes pretty well with the brie, and I was too busy eating to take more pictures. There was no need to "prepare the Nutella" because we didn't have any. Crêpe combinations included:

• Brie + fig butter + tofu
• Peanut butter + fig butter
• Brie rinds (all SP's!)
• Peanut butter + brie

The first crêpes looked great (according to SP), although all our crêpes were on the small side as I possess a small frying pan.

"Brie and fig butter" has a fancy aura. Imagine going to a dainty restaurant and being served 

"Traditional, fresh, homemade crêpes cooked to a perfect tan colour, adorned with specialty imported double cream brie cheese curls and a generous smear of select fig butter with natural sugars"

...Or, you know, elicit a warmer atmosphere by getting your boyfriend to make them for you at home. Although he is expert crêpe-flipper, I am expert crêpe-batter-in-the-pan-spreader.

On the side, I made some bubble tea (Pu Er + sugar + milk + instant tapioca pearls) , which we both drank lukewarm. Then, like a four year-old, SP started shooting tapioca pearls through the straw, and got not only my bedspread, but also my light-coloured skirt splattered with milk tea.

We ended up with 7 or 8 crêpes, made with 1 cup of white flour, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of oil, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. This is a recipe that SP's mum uses.

International Dinner!

My dorm house holds an International Dinner each year, which isn't super international, but is chill nevertheless. There was Chinese, French, Spanish, Mediterranean, and Swiss food. I stayed far far away from Chinese food...because I don't like commercial Chinese food in the U.S. The "French" food was baguette with fondue, although technically speaking [according to my Swiss friend, who's an exchange student], fondue is actually Swiss. He made some swiss potato cheese thing which I didn't get to try :(. Also, he said that you're supposed to make the fondue first, and THEN stick it in the fondue warmer thing, to keep it liquidy. I'm not going to comment any further, because, when found by the Penn Internet Police [hey, they probably exist], I'm going to get suspended for criticising a professor's personality [or, my grade's going to go down].

Anyway, the cheese cubes basically sat in wine in the fondue-maker, because that's not how you make fondue.

This is some Spanish omelette, some corn or flour fried tortilla thing [It. Was. Drenched. In. Oil]. Soooo delicious though!

Mediterranean rice with pita. This pita was the thinnest pita I've never seen in my life... it was wafer thin. Interesthin'. Haha.

I'm not sure what ethnicity this cake was supposed to represent, but the chocolate truffle was extremely soft and ganachey, so I'm guessing it's French. It seemed to be really fresh, actually...Nothing hard and oily, like lower-grade truffles. This cake is definitely not American because it was a small slice by American standards [Think, 1/3 of the size of an American "slice of cake"]. It was extremely moist and gooey, and very dense. It didn't taste like bitter cocoa chocolate, but it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet either. It was almost pudding-like, and most definitely not a brownie. I would say there were plenty of eggs in this cake.

This is amazing... from the Mediterranean table: an almond stuffed into a fig! Amazing!

Not in photos: I had some potato [really nice spices] and dulce de leche [not to my liking] from the Spanish table, and I also didn't try the gazpacho :( since I didn't bring a cup. It's BYOUtensils/vessels!