one of philippe's friends back in france is Anne, who is one hellofa cook. She makes two kinds of crepes: sarrazin for savory crepes and froment for sweet crepes.

One the problems with translation of her recipes is that common mesurements are soup spoon, coffee spoon and a glass. The spoons I figure I can get in teh neighborhood with, but there are a lot of different size glasses in this world. My best understanding is that a glass is about two cups -- the size of a drinking glass found in motels.

Crepes ble noir (Sarrazin)

4 soup spoon de froment (sweet flour)
7-8 soup spoons de ble noir (buckweat flour)
4 oeuf (eggs)
1 yaourt (plain yogurt, 145 g)
sel (pas mal) a fair amount of salt
3/4 litre d'eau (or 1/2 liter of water, more of less)
1/4 litre de lait (milk)

At the beginning you must whip vigorously to put air in the batter.

Crepes Froment

4 persons

please excuse the vagueness of this recipe, it is verbally told to me by Anne, a Breton, and I wrote it rather hurriedly

200 g farine (white flour, preferable very fine)
3 oeuf (egg)
1/2 verre lait (+ eau) (milk, water)
4 full soup spoons d'huile (oil)
3 full soup spoons de sucre (sugar)
sel (une peu) (a little salt)
rhum o coiutreau (optional) (rum or cointrau0
& optional cannelle et sucre vanille (cinnamon or vanilla sugar)

At the beginning you must whip vigorously to put air in the batter

Christina: In France, a "cuillere a soupe" (soup spoon) is equal to 15 ml, the same as an American tablespoon. The "cuillere a cafe" is 5 ml, or the same as a teaspoon. A "verre", or a drinking glass, has not been standardized, but most cooks I know use 250 ml as an equivalent. This is slightly larger than a U.S. cup. BTW, a large gg in France is about 60 grams whereas a large egg in the U.S. is 50 grams.

The problem with crepes is the amount of liquid to flour ration used is a function of whether you want very thin and lacy crepes or thicker, more substantial crepes. ALso, the batter should sit for 30 to 60 minutes before making the first crepe.

Thanks for the tips. When I asked how big a glass was, my husband says "everybody know that."