So it's already the 20th and I haven't posted anything here since the 16th. But just for you, my loyal readers, I'm going to backdate a few posts here to fill in the gaps.

So where have I been? Well, cooking for one thing. I'm in the process of picking up cooking as a new skill, and it turns out there's quite a bit to it.

I'm not talking about heating up spaghetti sauce in a pan or boiling eggs, you understand. I'm quite capable with the basics. But lately I've been wanting to learn how to make dishes with more interesting names, like beef stroganoff or creme brule. Things that would impress people at parties. Not that I go to any parties. I can't remember the last time I went to a party. But I'd still like to be more impressed with my own cooking, so I'm branching out.

Today I tried crepes for the first time, and I'm sorry to say that there are good number of "hints" that got left out of the Better Homes and Gardens recipe. Perhaps people with better homes and gardens already know these things, but I'm clearly not in the loop. I think the editors of this rather voluminous tome ought to come out with a "beginner's edition."

Crepes may not seem like a "beginner's" dish, but there's a first time for everything. Just because you can make pancakes does NOT mean you can make crepes. Trust me on that. Here are a few "translations" I think the editors should have included...

1. "Heat a lightly greased 6-inch skillet..." Butter works better than canola oil. I didn't try any other oils, but I suspect the results would have been similar. The butter sticks to the pan and really greases it, but the oil runs all over the place and doesn't coat the pan very well. It would probably work fine if you didn't mind letting the pan cool between crepes or using some heat-resistant tool to do the greasing, but if you're more of a "just tilt the pan around" sort of person, you should really use butter. Also, "heat" on an electric stove labeled from 1 to 9 means somewhere between 3 and 4. I guessed pretty well on that one.

2. "Invert over paper towels; remove crepe." This sounds a lot easier than it is. My first two crepes came out in shreds. I got far better results by running a spatula under the edges of the crepe to loosen it before inverting the pan. Nonetheless, there was one inexplicable spot in the middle that insisted on sticking every single time. Using a non-stick pan would probably help tremendously, but I was using a crepe pan of traditional steel--should we call these "stick pans" now, as opposed to the "non-stick" variety? For more hints regarding the stickiness problem, see number 3.

3. "Repeat with remaining batter, greasing skillet occasionally." Here, the word "occasionally" is being used in the sense of "every single time." I am reminded of The Princess Bride: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." I tried greasing the pan "occasionally," and every crepe after the first one stuck to the pan. So grease the pan every time, no matter what the directions say. (Unless of course you're using a non-stick pan, in which case the word "occasionally" may be appropriate. But the directions specify a lightly greased pan, not a non-stick pan, so I felt somewhat led astray.)

4. "Makes 18 crepes." Yeah, if you've never made crepes before and you're still willing to stand in front of a hot stove and go through this crepe-making process 18 times in a row, then my hat's off to you. Seriously. My recipe made about 7 crepes before I packed up shop and stored the rest away in the fridge. It's also worth mentioning that a beginner will be lucky to get three or four really good crepes out of the first batch, so make your first ones for practice. Don't take on a dinner party until you've gotten some crepe-making experience under your belt. Enough said.

So that's my first contribution to the beginner's edition of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Anyone else? (Or if you have a request, let me know. I'll try the recipe, and then I'll be sure to let you know everything that can possibly go wrong, just to save you the trouble.)