Not A Cooks Blog ... Mastering French Cuisine With Julia Child ... (Once A Week): Week 3: French Onion Soup and Crepes

This week we were entertaining for lunch... and my "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" recipe book had not yet arrived. So back to you-tube to see what Julia had to offer on her cooking show.
I had contemplated the roast chicken and frozen chocolate mousse however this required having the needle for trussing and the right type of mould for the mousse. In absence of having a full fledged kitchen supply shop close to work (probably just as well) I suddenly became obsessed with checking out second hand and charity shops for cooking gear. I did purchase for 10 cents knitting needles I could use in place of a trussing needle. However I parked the chicken and chocolate mousse for another day as I believe that the stress of getting that organised for a lunch was too much for me (and the family) for a Saturday morning.

Back to the luncheon... my menu selection was to be French Onion Soup as the first course, followed by savoury crepes. This proved to be a good combination because you had to constantly watch the onions cook through the two stage approach, which you could do at the same time you made the crepes.
There were two high anxiety moments this week. Firstly after adding the red wine to the soup it smelled terribly and the colour looked putrid.... however following Julia's advice I let it simmer slowly and it all turned out in the end.
Second anxiety moment was making the crepes... by the time I had (semi) perfected the art of making a crepe I had gone through 1/2 the mixture. This was much to the delight of eldest daughter, who loves pancakes and was quite happy to eat the disintegrated little messes her mother made - albeit one that went to the chickens. I had considered making a Gateau de Crepes, however I abandoned that challenge for another day and focused on having the "conviction" to toss the crepe.
Paul and Caroline were our guests for the day and Caroline (who is a great cook) said that the French Onion Soup tasted like what a French Onion Soup should - now that I consider a win!
I need to work on my crepe making skills - there was a crepe booth in Manners street in Wellington where a French couple made the most amazing crepes... maybe I could go and work with them for a day!... Not that I am going anywhere soon, because guess what just arrived in the post.....