I love my friends. They are loyal, good people. And even those friends I don’t see that often are always there when I need them. Over the past few years, lots of changes have happened in my life. And I’ve learned a lot. And the one thing I can say is – except for my son dying – I wouldn’t change a thing. And I know for certain that the friends that are in my life now are the most caring, compassionate and true friends that anyone could hope for.
Two of those friends are Martin & Melissa Thoma. Their help and expertise through their company Thoma Thoma has catapulted my business to the next level. But along the way, we became friends. Not ordinary friends, but deep, to your soul friends. We’ve traveled with them and discovered how totally compatible the four of us are. And all four of our kids – despite age differences – really seem to like each other and enjoy each others company.
The Thoma clan came over for dinner last week. It started as a simple dinner invitation. But as soon as we learned that Claire was back from her Chicago internship, it quickly became Crepe Night! You see, Claire has a reputation for some great crepe fillings. And I have the reputation for making some great crepes. So the challenge was on!
I started making crepes about an hour before everyone arrived. They are not difficult, but they do take a little time. Simply mix eggs, flour, milk and salt and you’ve got your batter. We have one of those cool crepe irons, so I simply dipped the hot surface into the batter and then peeled it off when cooked.
When Claire and Melissa arrived, Claire got out mushrooms, spinach, onions, and got to work. She also brought the ingredients for a ham and cheese crepe, too. I decided I would try my hand and making my own butter as one of our appetizers, so I emptied a pint of cream into my Kitchen-Aid mixer and turned it on. Important in this process is covering the top of the mixer with saran wrap. Otherwise, your kitchen will be covered with little spots of cream!
After about ten minutes, I checked the mixer. There it was: little bits of butter solids at the bottom of the bowl. Delighted, I scooped them out, formed them into a ball and put it in a small dish. Then I poured the buttermilk out (make pancakes with this!). The butter is, of course, soft to the touch. So back it went into the mixer. I added a little salt and chopped, fresh from the garden, parsley. I mixed it briefly until combined and molded it again. The butter was done!
I sliced a fresh baguette and our appetizer was ready. Oh – we were all so delighted! It tasted like heaven. We cooked with some of it, too.
As dinner approached, I reduced some balsamic vinegar in a pan until it was a sticky sweet sauce. Claire put the crepes together. The spinach and mushroom mixture went with some goat cheese and the balsamic reduction. This was heavenly!
For dessert? More crepes, of course! We spread Nutella, bananas and coconut on some, and others just got a little sugar and lemon. We had to make another batch of crepes just for dessert – and there were no leftovers!
What made this dinner even more special was that even though I had set our dining room table, we never made it in there. All eight of us stood or sat in our kitchen, taking turns eating, making crepes, drinking wine, and just being together.
I think that’s the best part of a good friendship: being happy with each other wherever you end up. We didn’t have to have a fancy dinner. We didn’t even have to have a proper sit-down dinner. And no one cared that the kitchen was messy from crepe-making, or that the wine bottles were piling up. We were just all happy to be together.
