Two-Way Street

January 14, 2013

Let’s say you’ve been walking on the same side of the street for many years, and there is nothing particularly wrong with your side, it’s sunny and nicely paved and is generally considered to be in “the best area of your town”. Yet, after a while, you just start wondering how it is on the other side of the street, maybe there are things happening there that are fun and a bit more relaxed, just a nice diversion from your daily “upscale” life.

And then one day you master your courage up and say “what the heck!” and decide to cross the street. You’re immediately overwhelmed with new sights and sounds, and even though you’re no longer in the familiar environment of being among “the rich and famous”, this side of the street seems new and exciting despite your natural fears of the unknown. And then you get so lucky that you suddenly bump into one of the “natives” who without any hesitation instantly becomes your tour guide, and you think that having a companion is just what you need to explore this unexpected detour. Then honoring this sudden relationship, even for a short period of this excursion, with same good intentions is just a decent way to give back to your tour guide who decided to stop to show you around and even shared the food brought for the road.

Respect, attention, mutual understanding and satisfaction are definitely “two-way street” connecting points. You get what you ask for the first time, but unless you’re willing to compromise and show similar qualities back to the person, continuing collaboration will be jeopardized, as you may find yourself standing alone on that street. And, let’s face it, if your partner is not completely satisfied with your end of the agreement, it will also affect what you’re trying to get out of this connection also.

Nice, and easy, and attentive to each other’s needs and requirements is always the best, and shortest way, to cross the street and meet the other person.

There are circumstances though when glitches are more likely to occur, especially in the very beginning of any collaboration, when you’re trying to figure out the flow and the best way this connection could possibly work. So if an “oops” moment does happen, the way out of a sticky situation is simply to acknowledge that you “F****d up” with the intent to employ some corrective actions in the future.

Unless of course you don’t care and think that the tour guides from “that part of the town” should just feel happy about a chance to provide the service to “the upscale side” person.

What’s Cooking This Week

Somehow I can’t get enough of crepes lately, I’ve been making them non-stop for the past two weeks or so. And even though crepes originally come from France, you can’t find another cross-cultural dish that settled so firmly in Russian and Ukrainian cuisines. We like them plain with sour cream or honey, we like them stuffed with cherry preserves, sweet cheese or meat and mushrooms, to simply say – we just LOVE them! 🙂 But it is also a matter of preference how you want to dress them up (or down) to satisfy you the most. But if you happen to share them with someone else who has a different opinion, I see no reason why you can’t “cross the street to meet the other person”.

“Two-Way” Crepes

Crepes (makes 7 8-inch crepes):

1 cup of milk (I used unsweetened almond milk), warm

2 eggs, room temperature

6-7 Tbspoons of flour (I used gluten free Cup4Cup mix)

1 Tbspoon of sugar

1 tspoon of oil (use mild oil like canola), plus more

1/2 tspoon of baking powder

a pinch of salt

Toppings:

Nutella and strawberries

Carmelized onions and jalapeno cheese (I used Daiya)

Chopped mint leaves or chives for either garnish

Start with beating up the eggs and sugar together, add a pinch of salt and half the milk, continue beating. In a separate bowl, mix together flour and baking powder, then gradually add into the wet ingredients, you’ll generally need 6-7 Tbspoons of flour, but you may adjust it depending how thin the batter is. Add the remaining milk. Mix in oil at the very end.

Heat up a frying pan really well, don’t pour oil but rather spread a little bit either with a brush or paper towel. Using a small ladle, pour some batter in the middle of the pan (while you’re holding it off the flame) and immediately swirl it around to cover the whole surface.

Cook it on one side untill tiny bubbles appear and the edges start turning golden brown, flip the crepe using a wide spatula (it should come easily, and if not, add a bit more oil into the batter). Cook the other side less time than you cooked the first one, the crepe should easily slide off the pan. The whole process is very fast so make sure you’re paying attention as not to burn them.