anna cooks - crepe bar

Yesterday, a few of my friends from college and I got together to skype a mutual friend who is living in Paris. Before the skype date, I cooked a mini parisian brunch for us. I decided to set up a crepe bar, where guests could fill their freshly made crepe with whatever fillings they wanted. I just pulled out whatever I had on hand, but you could substitute your favorite crepe fillings. Here's what I laid out:

Anna's Crepe Bar

- Nutella (I got mine at Venda Raviloi in Providence, RI - they import it from Italy, and it really is better than the stuff they sell at American supermarkets)
- Fresh strawberries
- Fresh bananas
- Parisian honey
- Granulated sugar
- Butter
- Marmalade 

I used a basic crepe recipe from allrecipes.com, to which I added a little vanilla. The secret is I made the batter the day before and let it rest overnight. I then used a non-stick pan to cook my crepes, which worked perfectly. 

While I was looking for tips on the internet about how to make the perfect crepe, I found a post from the blog theKitchn on how to make perfect crepes. 

The blog interviewed pastry chef Jehnee Rains who suggests putting beer in your crepe batter. Very intriguing. I might have to try that at my next crepe bar. You can find her recipe here. 

Brown, etc.

At Brown University this weekend attending the Women's Leadership Conference, which celebrates 120 years of women at Brown.