By Chance

Inspirational song: Take a Chance on Me (ABBA)

I learned a new food today. Not one I had never eaten, but one I had never attempted to make, either before or after gluten left my life. I always assumed that making crepes would be hard, and I always sort of sucked at making pancakes, so I never tried. While I was still feeling my way through the gluten free world, I assumed they would be terrible with substitute flours, and I told myself they weren’t worth learning.

Sometime last week, I was clicking through Pinterest for some other reason, and looked at the pins the site’s AI had targeted at me. I had just come home with a bag of real cassava flour from my local natural grocers (as opposed to ordering from online), and I was excited to try new things. Chosen for me by Pinterest was a cassava-based paleo crepe recipe. I didn’t read it right away. I just pinned it and kept going. Then the weekend rolled around, and my exchange student had a lazy Saturday morning. We all slept late, and no one had anyplace to be urgently. When I suggested making crepes, naturally XS was all for it, especially since we got a giant two-pack of Nutella at her urging. (In my entire life, as many crepes as I have scarfed down in my day, not once did I try them with Nutella. What was I waiting for?)

The recipe was simple: beat 3 eggs until pale and fluffy, add honey, salt, melted butter, and cassava flour. Then two cups of milk, and strain the batter through a sieve. Hot, lightly buttered pan, and cook, flipping once. Remember how I said I was never good at pancakes? The first few crepes were a disaster. I tried to turn the first one way too soon, and ended up having to scrape off a giant wet puff I created in my haste. The second one cooked too hot and thin, and tore, although it mostly turned. By the fourth one, I had it down. Slightly lower heat, slightly thicker layer of batter = success! I was using the largest stainless skillet I own, and now that I’ve done this once, I think I can splurge on a flatter crepe pan.

I filled one with Nutella and raspberries, the other with goat cheese, blueberry-lavender jam, and berries. Oh, all my life I have been waiting to learn this skill. I will not be waiting decades longer to perfect it. This recipe was amazing, too.

We spent the afternoon at the movies. Mr S-P wanted to see Ready Player One, and I had really zero idea what it was about. I didn’t know it was a book; I didn’t know it was a Spielberg production. I would have gone in completely blind if the lady at the plant nursery hadn’t mentioned that her son saw it twice, and told her it was full of a ton of 80s references. I underestimated how much she meant that. The entire movie was a giant string of obscure 80s pop culture, and nearly all of it was carved out of the particular corners where I store my memories. From the early shoutout to Buckaroo Bonzai to the late homage to Excalibur, this was aimed at me as much as it was the kids who live for VR now. It might not have been the most perfect movie of all time, but it sure hit a lot of my buttons. I’m glad I took a chance on it and went with the Mr’s suggestion.

About that trip to the flower store I glossed over just now.... more on that to come in the upcoming week. All of a sudden we have big plans... big, tiny plans. You’ll understand soon.