Pudding Posse July: The Crepe Edition

It is so cold this week! I feel a bit like a broken record, but it really has felt like the depths of Winter have been upon us.  We've been indulging in lots of slow cooked meals, making our house warm and filling it with a wonderful aroma as it cooks. We've eaten batches of this, and meal after meal of this. It's been good. 

But what I was lacking was some good old fashioned dessert. Most definitely there was this pudding which was out of control, but sometimes you just need something simple. Crepes fit the bill, as since it was Bastille Day very recently, a very fitting dessert to choose for this month's pudding posse. We had only four of us, but we tucked ourselves around a table out of the wind at Elliott Stables, and after a sneaky pre-posse pizza and some mugs of warmed mulled cider*, dug into our crepes with gusto. 

The most simple of our choices was the toasted coconut and chocolate which was just nice, if a little gritty from the coconut. Next up we had the banana and chocolate, a favourite street-crepe from South East Asia.  This was as expected and worth the bite. 

Next up was a pleasant surprise: a berry compote topped crepe filled with a fresh fruit salad, lovely crisp bites of melon amidst pineapple and citrus. This was fresh, light and would be the perfect answer had the question been 'what to choose after a rich chicken, mushroom and cream galette. 

Moving right along we had the apple, cinnamon and maple syrup crepe which was divine. For a girl who loves her apple and cinnamon this was the perfect choice, and as it was the last to the table it was nice a hot, perfect on a crisp Winter's evening. The apple was caramelized beyond compare, sticky and delicious. I was in love. It may have not been the best choice alongside the mulled cider with rum, but it was killer with the Central Otago pinot noir that Cynthia had chosen. 

We saved the best for last. Or, at least the most impressive.  We ordered the crepe suzette more for the spectacle than for a love of orange or grand marnier and the little pot of flame that came to the table was more than worth it. It didn't quite burn sufficiently and we had a rather boozy crepe, but for my first crepe suzette it was pretty wonderful.

All in all this was a pretty great edition of pudding posse, albeit a small version and requiring significant effort. Conversation covered such grown up topics as life changes, intercontinental moves, weddings, adoptive fur babies and life threatening conditions. From the daily minutiae to the big picture, all was discussed and although no problems were solved, we were all the little bit better for the sharing, caring and a bellyfull of crepes. 

We dined at Torchon, in the Elliott Stables, 39 Elliott Street, Auckland

*the mulled cider with rum was from Reslau