SHF #18: Holy Crepes, it’s Chopper Day!
Happy Chopper Day!
It’s not his birthday. Our anniversary isn’t for another two months, so there’s really nothing special about this occasion at all, though it is Sugar High Friday and Chopper’s got a new rum poached dessert on the menu at his place of work.
Oh, and this week marks a year since Chopper’s official graduation from culinary school.
And that, in itself is extra special.
See, three years ago, Chopper was a high school dropout slinging hash at a shitty sports bar. The bottom had fallen out in his previous career: two theater-related jobs, one day and one night, and two companies folding in the wake of 9/11 and the economic freefall that followed. Shopping resumes to our city’s remaining theaters was a worthless endeavor. The vast majority of those that weren’t closed shops paid hardly enough to keep a college freshman in two-day-a-week beer money. It felt, on our darkest days, as if the nay-sayers were right. Chopper would never amount to anything. He’d proven that back in high school.
So, Chopper left theater behind and turned to his first love: cooking. That too wasn’t a pretty picture. After a muggy summer at a bento stand and over a year at the sports bar, we both knew it was time for a change. Time for a colossal leap of faith.
The scariest wagers are the ones you make on yourself and on your own future success. It’s so much easier to just take what you’ve got and make the best of it, but what it came down to for us was this: The best of it had sunk us deep into a pit of stagnant muck and we had to risk something crazy to dig ourselves out.
Thus, the leap of faith. Chopper busted his butt, snagged a GED (with high honors and a nifty little gold seal of approval from the governor) and we wagered every scrap of credit we had to enroll him in culinary school.
And school…. damn, but he never missed a day. Not even a tardy. Came just one B short of a perfect 4.0 and more than anything, more than the grades or the individual projects, or even his final externship up here on the island, school was all about one simple thing: the confirmation of not just a career, but a calling.
Gods, there are days when I look at our budget now (loan payments from hell — HELL, I tell you), and I look at our prospects and I still think we were completely insane. And then I ponder where we’d be — no, where Chopper would be — if he hadn’t taken this leap of faith.
Because let me tell you this: He loves what he does and his customers love what he does and I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.
Our future’s still quite uncertain. We know we’ll be living elsewhere a year from now, though we’re not sure where. We know there’s a chance, a glorious chance, that Chopper will have a fine job with decent pay and decent medical and dental coverage — something he hasn’t had since he was eighteen. We know too that I’m still struggling with my own (puny by comparison) leaps of faith and that anything’s possible, even scary things that land us back in that stagnant pit of muck.
For now though, I just want to say, Chopper baby, I am so proud of you. Keep at it. Create, invent, play, bake, fricassee, and flambé. But most of all, follow your bliss.
(And keep my tummy happy!)
Chopper’s Rum Poached Apple Crepes,
with Dulce de Leche sauce
Serves ~10
For the crepes
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 2 cups milk
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
Method
- Mix together flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Beat eggs, milk, and vanilla together in a separate container and add to the dry ingredients.
- Beat the mixture thoroughly until no lumps are present.
- Set batter aside for 30-45 minutes.
- After batter is done resting, heat a six inch non-stick pan over medium-high, and lubricate with either a light coating of oil, or pan spray.
- Add just enough batter to the pan to coat the bottom and allow to cook for 30 to 45 seconds. Flip and cook the other side for the same amount of time.
- Repeat until all of the batter is used. This should make 20-24 crepes.
For the apple filling
- 6 Gala apples, peeled, cored, and sliced in half
- 1125 milliliters (about 1 1/2 bottles) dark rum
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- As needed: corn starch slurry
Method
- Heat the rum in a deep but narrow saucepan and ignite to burn off most of the alcohol (this is my favorite part… FIRE!).
- Reduce heat until the rum comes down to between 160 and 180 F.
- Add cut apples and cover. Allow to poach for at least 30 minutes, or until soft, but not mushy.
- Remove apples and allow to cool. Cut into slices when cool.
- Bring the rum back to a boil and add corn starch slurry until it is thickened to your preference.
- Combine apple slices and thickened rum sauce.
For Dulce de Leche sauce
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
Method
- Place the unopened can in a pot with enough water to cover it and boil for 1 1/2 hours.
- If the can begins to bulge, remove immediately as it may explode.
To serve
- Roll small portions of the apple filling into the crepes and drizzle with the Dulce de Leche sauce.
- Garnish as you like.
April 22nd, 2006 at 12:03 am
Happy Chopper Day! And the crepes look amazingly good! (Note to self - do not read food blogs before breakfast.)
April 22nd, 2006 at 12:06 am
Hah! Anne, your comment arrived at midnight my time. Hmmm… breakfast crepes, or midnight snack crepes… tough decision!
April 22nd, 2006 at 6:35 am
Good on Chopper. It’s dreadful being in debt (I’m just out of law school, and my student loan payments take up only slightly less than a third of my post-tax income), but to actually enjoy what you do… yeah, it’s worth it.
Mm. Crepes for breakfast sound like an extraordinarily good idea.
April 22nd, 2006 at 7:11 am
Congrats Chopper!
April 22nd, 2006 at 1:15 pm
I hear ya, Danielle! And I have to say with your great blog name of Habeas Brulee, I figured you had to be either a lawyer or the reincarnation of Dorothy Sayers! (Or both!) ;-)
Chopper thanks you, Kevin. I told him he’s now obligated to write up a Mrs. D Day, but only if it doesn’t involve storming a beach and eating c-rations.
April 22nd, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I knew there was something special about yesterday (besides finding gorgeous rhubarb at Pike Place market). Congratulations, Chopper, and many happy, tasty, and eventually debt-free returns!
April 22nd, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Congrats to Chopper on such a cool anniversary. And good on both of ya for sticking with the dream. What’s the point in even having dreams if not to reach for them?
April 23rd, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Ah, Kimberly, I’m jealous of your Pike Place visit, and I don’t even like rhubarb. Ahhh… I need to get back to Seattle!
And…chris, when we do get back to Seattle, we need to take the U-District Farmer’s Market trip one step further and do some serious cooking, eh?
Now, I must wander off to find my dream. Ah, yes, I was writing a novel, wasn’t I? (Dammit, Chopper, stop distracting me with your fabulous food!!)
April 23rd, 2006 at 2:22 pm
That’s a beautiful picture!
April 23rd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Choppy Happer Day to you!!! Both of you!!!
April 26th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
Congrats to both of you. Sorry I’m so late on the action, but I’ve been out of the loop for ages. It’s really great that Chopper decided to make that leap, because he’s obviously got the talent and the creativity to make it all worthwhile.
Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous crepes. Yummmm.
April 26th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Barbara — the crepes or the husband? :-)
CC: Happer, I mean Chopper sez thankie!
Thanks, B’gina! It’s been worthwhile so far, and I can only think that Chopper’s passion for what he does will keep it worthwhile for the future. (Luck be with us, and all, of course!)
May 1st, 2006 at 11:03 pm
ooh. delicious. I booked a local restaurant “La Creperie” for my next twin club meeting. Ah. the inspiration