Crepes, crepes, more crepes...

I heard about Chandeleur around Christmas time. We had invited the Dean to our final Sunday brunch of the first semester (something  that the tenants of the Chateau have made an unofficial habit of). He, being french, suggested on making crepes. And then proceeded to school us on proper thin-pancake production...

It was then that he mentioned Chandeleur, a holiday on February 2, when the French traditionally eat a meal of crepes. A holiday about crepes?? Why hadn't I heard about this before? The idea is to celebrate the presentation of Jesus to the temple, but in this century, it means...crepes.

And crepes we ate. Traditional, buckwheat, egg-less, egg-less with beer, topped with chevre, swiss cheese, sausages, jams, sugar and of course, nutella.

So many crepes were made, and the kitchen became so smokey that one of the guests had to escape for a brief moment to get some fresh air - we weren't going to mess around. This was a holiday about crepes, and crepes we would have. Lots and lots of crepes.

The Dean, while we were eating, smiled and started telling us his own story of Chandeleur. His mother, very pregnant (with him) and very much in labor (though the nuns at the hospital had told her she was mistaken) was in such pain on the day of the Chandeleur that she couldn't stand still. Every time she flipped a crepe, she would give a little jump, hopping around the kitchen as the crepes flew.

Legend has it that if you can successfully flip a crepe using only one hand and holding a coin in the other, you will have wealth for the remainder of the year.

How did it work out for me? Well, let's just say I had been practicing. Cha-ching!