Today, during the hour or so which I rest my crêpe batter, I learned of an extraordinarily coincidental fish that made the BBC headlines. A two and a half kilo tuna caught fifty miles south of Mombassa whose scales, apparently, had grown into a verse of the Koran: "you are the best provider," it read. This Kenyan Koranic tuna.
When the National Museum came to get the fish, they found it had been stolen a few hours previously by National Museum impersonators! Who knows what they're planning--a careful textual-tuna comparison, a bumpy, ice-packed matatu ride to Nairobi experts, sashimi? There are photos of course--for who'd believe such a thing without photos ?--on the BBC for sceptics to dismiss.
This confession explains the coincidence: a Madonna and Child once appeared to me on a fairly ordinary evening, cooking with friends (witnesses!) in Maida Vale: a clear, olive skinned duo on one side of a delicate, brown butter scented crêpe. Really! And not the usual crêpe bubble that, yeah, fair enough, might pass as mother and baby if you cocked your head, squinted, and licked a psychoactive toad--and don't, The Church of the Toad Light is fed up with people reporting visionary pancakes, not to mention the misleading term "licking"--but a proper woman's soft-featured face, and chubby baby, seated on a chair. And, as one sober witness declared, possibly breastfeeding.
And although my attempt to freeze Miracle Crêpe in a ziploc bag so that I could share/sell my discovery was foiled by its damned fundamental thinness--the following morning when I pulled it from the freezer it shattered!--no matter, the crêpe will always be my little kitchen miracle:
For when there is nothing in the pantry--a crêpe batter makes itself possible with the fewest of ingredients and provides the best sort of snacking, sweet or savoury. I start with about a cup of flour, half wheat, half white, a pinch of salt, and spoonful of sugar. I brown a blob of butter in a hot pan, then make a well in the flour to drop in the butter, one egg, and some whole milk. I whisk from the centre moving out towards the edges of the bowl, adding milk so that the batter is never given a chance to get dry enough to clump. When I think it's thin enough, I add a splash more milk, and put the whole thing in the fridge.
Then I let it rest for an hour during which I read the news, scoff at Koranic fish (!), delight quietly in Thierry Henri's newly signed four year contract and culinary school friend's marriage--congratulations Robs!. And finally, in tiny bits of sizzling butter, I fry and roll up the tender crêpes with lemon juice and sugar. I realise other things might be nice: ham and cheese, wilted arugula and melty raclette, golden syrup, nutella, raspberry jam. The possibilities are endless, but it's to lemon juice and white sugar crêpes that I myself, am blindly devoted.
tagged with: crepes
i want to see mary and jesus in food!
i have a game to share with you. i do it on your site all the time. i begin reading and after the first paragraph i try to guess who wrote the article. i have gotten it right every single time. it is so funny how you are martha's writing styles are different enough that i can tell by the slightest diffs.
anyway, thought i'd share since i was so proud of figuring this one out!
Hi Sara! That's very funny and scary HOW can you tell? Wait, don't tell me. It's probably best if I don't know.
I wonder if other people can tell too?
As for Mary and Jesus, keep looking! Who knows how many pieces of toast (or whatever) you've eaten without checking for them first, that had them on it... =)
We got high-speed today! Yay! now we can visit your site in seconds and plan to do so regularly.
We have a natural teak root bench. If you look from above, it looks like a male and female vulture kissing or at least rubbing beaks.
If you look from a lower level, it looks like two mammals chatting.
I know, I know it's not food but i wanted to blog and your crepe story reminded me.
Love PR
Um....did you eat a magical mushroom tortilla in Barcelona or something--male and female vulture kissing? Mammals chatting?
We are talking about a bench made out of wood right? I mean, Mary and Jesus on a crepe is one thing but come on, who' s going to believe vultures rubbing beaks and mammals chatting? =)
Hey! Seriously, thanks from stopping by! So glad you've finally got high speed. Please stop by more often (and, er, sign off with "love" less often).