Julie and Julia - Crepes Suzette Flambees FAIL!

I love to cook. MacKenzie loves everything French. The two go together perfectly with this book: Mastering The Art of French Cooking - well . . . almost. More like Gran Marnier Crepes - but I'm not complaining. It was a fun TRY.



So, we've decided to do a dinner party Sunday night: MacKenzie, Kara and I will work together to make the meal, like Billy Crystal used to say, "Simply Mahhrvelous".

But . . . I know how anytime I plan something Murphy's Law takes over: Whenever something can go wrong - it will.

So, I decided to do a pre-party test. My husband and I tried-out one of the recipes by making Crepes Suzette, with an Orange Butter, Flambees. (Pages 649-652)






We had a few glitches in our performance but the meal came out tasting, "Complicatedly Marvelous!" A little heavy on the Grand Marnier but oh well.

We ran a little short of batter - we have a lot of people in our family - but the worst part was that the Crepes Fourrees et Flambees are supposed to be dramatic and flame with a short but distinct fire. The fire lit for a second - but you can't even see it in the video.

The recipe says: "Pour over them the orange liqueur and cognac. Avert your face and ignite the liqueur with a lighted match."

I did everything just as directed - one small problem - no flame, or at least not enough of a flame to actually see it in film.

Next time, I'll make sure I have a NEW lighter. We couldn't get the lighter to light enough to put a flame to the liqueur. FLAMBEES FAIL! :(

Oh well, there's still Sunday night's dinner to look forward too.

I love cooking on cast iron but it's heavy and gets so hot - Lars had to hold the pan to roll the batter around.





And, for those of you planning on grilling steak this summer, here's an Oregonian FoodDay recipe that I hear is Fab: so if you try it, let me know if you like it.