Cozy Up With Crepes On Those Chilly French Nights!

I think this weekend is going to be the best time I have had during my stay in France! My French roommate and I have decided to throw a cozy little get-together this Saturday night. She is inviting all of her friends and I am inviting everyone I met during my vacation in France. I really want to impress everyone with a special (but easy) French dish they can snack on while they chat. The French nights are becoming quite chilly outside…what would make the perfect French snack? Crepes! I will make crepes and hot chocolate! Oh, but how do I make French crepes? I know where I can find a recipe! I saw an Audio Blog on FrenchPod101.com that talked all about how to make crepes in French! I had better go listen now so I can practice making—and eating—a few dozen French crepes before Saturday!

Learning French with FrenchPod101.com is the most fun and effective way to learn French! This French Audio Blog lesson discusses how much fun it is to make some French crepes and hot chocolate and throw a cozy little get-together with your French friends. The best part is that it is all in French so you will have plenty of practice listening and speaking the French dialogue.

Line-By-Line Transcript

Formal French

Mettez-vous à l'aise avec des crêpes durant les nuits froides françaises !

Avez-vous déjà mangé des crêpes faites maison ? C’est trop bon, c’est pas difficile à faire, enfin bref, que du bonheur !

Le week-end dernier, j’ai donc décidé d’inviter une dizaine d’amis pour une après-midi crêpes et chocolat chaud !

J’ai donc fait des crêpes à la pelle pendant une bonne heure et demie pour qu’il y en ait assez pour tout le monde et après c’est simple, on met de la musique, on s’assoie tous autour de la grande assiette avec toutes les crêpes.

Chacun choisit son assaisonnement : confiture, nutella, ou tout simplement du sucre ! On sert le chocolat chaud et je vous jure qu’une fois tous ces éléments réunis, on se sent tous un peu mieux. Les petits soucis de la semaine s’envolent et tout le monde rit à gorge déployée !

Une fois que les crêpes sont prêtes, tout le monde peut se servir au moment où il le désire et on peut regarder un film ou jouer aux jeux de société par exemple.

Pour faire ces fameuses crêpes, il suffit de préparer la pâte à crêpes et d’en verser pour chaque crêpe dans la poêle et bien la faire cuire des deux côtés.

Si vous êtes doué faites sauter la crêpe avec la poêle pour la retourner ! Moi j’y arrive une fois sur deux : bonjour les dégâts !

Afin de préparer une bonne pâte à crêpes, je vous laisse une recette dans le pdf !

Vous pourrez impressionner vos amis étrangers même si ce n’est pas très compliqué. Les meilleures choses sont souvent les plus simples !

Si vous n’aimez pas les crêpes ou le chocolat chaud, vous pouvez très bien faire des après-midi avec d’autres recettes, mais moi, vu que je ne suis pas un as de la cuisine, les crêpes c’est facile !

En plus, les crêpes au nutella, c’est vraiment trop bon !

Et vous, est-ce que vous aimez les crêpes ?

Formal English

Cozy Up With Crepes On Those Chilly French Nights!

Crepes and hot chocolate day. Have you ever had homemade crepes? It's easy to do, and really good. In short, it's total happiness!

Last weekend, I decided to invite a bunch of friends over for an afternoon of eating crepes and drinking hot chocolate. I made dozens of crepes for a solid hour and a half so there would be enough for everyone. After that is the easy part. You put on some music and sit down around the huge plate of crepes. Everyone can choose their own filling: jam, Nutella, or just plain sugar!

There was hot chocolate for everyone, and I could swear that a setting like this makes everyone feel a little better. The annoying problems of the week are gone– instead, everyone roars with laughter!

Once the crepes are ready, everyone can help themselves whenever they'd like. You can even throw in a movie or a play board game, for example.

To make these famous crepes, you just need to make the batter, pour a little bit in a pan for each crepe, and cook it on both sides. If you have the talent, you can flip it over by tossing it in the air! I only manage that half the time–the rest, I make a big mess!

I'm giving you the recipe for a good crepe batter in the PDF! You can really impress your friends even though crepes are not very hard to make. The best things in life are often the simplest!

If you don't like crepes or hot chocolate, you can throw afternoon get-togethers featuring other dishes. However, since I'm not really an ace in the kitchen, crepes are easy for me! What's more, crepes with Nutella are very delicious!

What about you, do you like crepes?

Vocabulary List

French / English / Class
as / ace / noun
impressionner / to impress / verb
dégât / damage / noun
doué / talented / adjective
rire à gorge déployée / roar with laughter / expression
souci / worry / noun
jurer / to certify / verb
nutella / chocolate spread / proper noun
assiette / plate / noun
à la pelle / by the dozen / expression
fait maison / homemade / adjective
crêpe / crepe (thin pancake) / noun

Expansion Section


as
Je suis un as de la cuisine !
“I am a cooking ace!”


impressionner
Je suis impressionné par tes talents de cuisinier.
“I'm impressed by your gift for cooking.”


dégât
La tempête a causé d'importants dégâts.
“The storm caused extensive damages.”


doué
Tu est doué en informatique !
“You are gifted in computer science!”


rire à gorge déployée
Sa blague est drôle. J'en ai ri à gorge déployée !
“Her joke is funny. I laughed about it out loud!”


souci
Pas de soucis, je m'occupe de tout !
“No worries, I will take care of everything!”


jurer
Je te jure que j'étais malade !
“I swear I was sick!”


Nutella
Le Nutella est bon avec des tartines le matin.
“Nutella is good spread on slices of bread in the morning.”


assiette
Les assiettes sont lavées.
“The plates are washed.”
Cette assiette est sale.
“This plate is dirty.”


à la pelle
J'ai des DVD à la pelle chez moi.
“I have DVD's by the dozen.”


fait maison
Tes petits gâteaux fait maison sont délicieux !
“Your homemade cookies are delicious!”


crêpe
Ces crêpes sont trop bonne !
“These crepes are too good!”

Cultural Insight

Salty Crêpe Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  1. 3 eggs
  2. 1/8 teaspoon salt
  3. 1 1/4 cups milk
  4. 1 cup all purpose flour
  5. 1/4 cup melted butter

Preparation:

Beat eggs until smooth. Add milk and butter. Sift flour and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Beat until the batter is smooth. Batter will be thin, like heavy cream. If possible, let the batter rest for 2 hours at room temperature or 8 to 10 hours in the refrigerator.

Grease skillet or crepe pan lightly; heat until fat is sizzling hot. Pour batter into pan and rotate quickly to distribute batter. If batter seems too thick, add more milk in very small amounts until consistancy is corrected.
Cook crepe until light brown; turn to cook other side. Remove from pan, lightly grease the pan, and continue cooking until batter is used. Fill crepes with desired filling or cool, wrap and refrigerate until ready to fill.

Variations:

a) Dessert Crepes
Add 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional) to crepe batter.

b) Whole Wheat Crepes
Substitute 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for 1/2 cup of white flour.

c) Chocolate Crepes
Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional), and 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa to the crepe batter.

Classical Filling:

Salty:
Ham and cheese
Ham, cheese, egg
Goat cheese and herbs
Chicken in creamy mushroom sauce

Sweet:
Nutella
Melted Chocolate
Chestnut sauce
Jam
Caramelized apple with whipped creamFlambé with Grans Marnier