Crepes Redux - Bananas & Salty Caramel

The beauty of being a couple for nearly 8 years is that you can choose whether or not to observe Valentine's Day without the pressure of new coupledom or social convention.  Ben's opinion on the big VD (go ahead, snicker, I did when I wrote it), has always been something along the lines of "Shouldn't I just do nice things for you all year instead of just on a given day in February?"  And mostly, he lives that opinion so I don't mind.  My opinion on the day centers more on a childish chant of "I want flowers."  Flowers, I should add, I usually get, except the weekend before or after, never on the day, in keeping with Ben's theory of year-long generosity and kindness.

Theoretical snubbing of the holiday aside, I think the social pressures still set in because inevitably we find ourselves doing "couple" things we'd do throughout the year, but packed in densely around the VD holiday.  This year was no exception.  Having both complained since December about needing a massage, we spent the Saturday after VD being anointed with oil by masseurs at the Ritz Carlton.  And, getting to the crux of this post, I got up early the Sunday before VD to make homemade salty caramel and crepes.

Now I make breakfast for Ben from time to time on the weekends and he returns the favor (tasty Ben breakfast post is in the queue, coming soon!). But it's February, which means budget season in the bureaucracy.  I'm working ungodly hours, waking up in the middle of the night panicked I forgot to add in escalation for inflation into our latest future year budget build, hyperventilating over the time constraints associated with requirement gathering, blah, blah, blah for the nearly an entire month.  That means weekends in February, if I'm not working, find me collapsed on some soft surface drooling and trying to repair what is really irreparable brain damage caused by stress and too many hours spent staring at spreadsheets.  It gets so bad that the cat even gives up on me and goes to spend her weekend mornings in Ben's lap rather than perched on the sofa arm begging for my attention.  I even captured a photo of her looking at me disdainfully from the safety of her man's lap. So the fact that I hauled my exhausted behind down the stairs at 7AM to get cracking on the caramel should tell you that I clearly fall victim to the social pressures of VD (hehe, again).  But in the end it was worth it, because I produced a breakfast that was about as good as I could hope to get outside of a real (and glorious!) French creperie.  Both of the recipes you've seen before and recently, but this time with a twist or two.

To make the marvel that is Crepes with Homemade Salty Caramel and Bananas simply make the salty caramel recipe I debuted in January, courtesy of Ina Garten, but instead of heating it to 248 degress F, heat it only to 240 degrees F to keep it syrupy for crepe consumption.  This can be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated, you'll just need to warm it in the microwave for use in the crepes.  When you're ready to actually make the dish it's easy. First, peel a ripe banana.  Slice it into bite size pieces and toss in a bowl with a 1/2 tsp rum (adds a nice little touch of flavor and keeps the bananas from turning brown).  Make your crepe according to the recipe I posted in January or another preferred recipe.  After you flip the crepe, and just before you're ready to take it off the heat add the bananas and warm caramel to the center of the crepe, fold it over, remove from the heat to a plate, drizzle with a little more salty caramel and consume!  These crepes could make even the most long standing couple believe in the romance of VD.

 (My pretty, pretty non-VD hydrangeas, quite poorly photographed courtesy of my cell phone cam)

(Proof of the cat's weekend disdain, she has given up on me)