The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
Saturday and Sunday mornings are often for homemade brunch and a board game at my house. Finding the right pairings, just like with wine, is an art.
As I write, the Olympics are thriling us with intense competition, agony of a defeat, ecstasy of the win, and beautiful glimpses of Paris. I wanted to capture some of that spirit at home, and indulge myself in a little bit of France. With a little bit of kitchen magic and a scan of our game collection, we brought a little bit of the Parisian cafes to our weekend.
We paired crepes, café, the Games, and board games — Paris: La Cité de la Lumière, On the Underground: Paris/New York, and Maglev Metro: Paris.
My husband and I love Paris.
Admittedly, that is not a super controversial statement. Many, many people love the City of Lights.
Our last visit was in August of 2021. Even then, preparations for the Olympics were everywhere. We feasted on all of our favorites, including croissants, crepes, and coffees. We drank more wine than we do all year, and we wandered to all our favorite spots in the city.
The Bougie budget did not, however, extend to visiting this summer during the games.
Instead, this week we are binging Olympics coverage in our game room, playing Paris-themed games, and I am cooking some of our Parisian favorites.
During the opening ceremonies, we played On the Underground: Paris and drank a bootle of French red.
Saturday morning, we settled in the game room with the Games on the television. I whipped up ham, egg, and cheese crepes with a Dijonaise sauce, poured espressos and sparkling water, and played MagLevMetro on the Paris map.
In the afternoon, the coverage kept running and we played Paris: La Cité de la Lumière and I made more crepes – this time Nutella and raspberry.
We enjoyed it so much, we did it the second weekend of the Games, too.
The board games we played were lovely — it was a little Metro-heavy, but all the games were fun and game us a chance to stop and watch when the competition was heating up on the screen.
And Nutella crepes always make me very happy.
Paris: La Cité de la Lumière
Paris: La Cité de la Lumière is a beautifully crafted board game that takes players back to the era of the World’s Fair in Paris. It’s a strategic two-player game where players compete to build and illuminate the most beautiful sections of 19th-century Paris.
The game is divided into two phases: construction and action. In the construction phase, players take turns placing cobblestone tiles on a shared 4×4 grid, aiming to control areas with their colors and reserve building tiles. During the action phase, players place these buildings onto the grid, strategically positioning them to maximize points from adjacent streetlamps, while also playing action cards that provide various benefits and disrupt their opponent’s plans. Scoring is based on the illumination of buildings by streetlamps, area control, and bonus points from action cards.
It is one of my favorite coffee games. It sets up and plays quickly. It’s great for a weekend morning with breakfast.
What I really love about it, though, is the game’s stunning artwork and components, inspired by the Art Nouveau style. Art Nouveau is one of my favorite art styles, and the game does a beautiful job of embracing it throughout in all its elements – postcards, tokens, even the board. It reminds me of visiting the Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris.
On the Underground: Paris/New York
When playing On the Underground: Paris players compete to build the most efficient and expansive metro network in Paris. The game centers around connecting key destinations on the map to attract passengers and score points. Each player manages multiple metro lines, aiming to create routes that facilitate the movement of passengers and link popular locations.
During each turn, players can place new track segments, expand existing lines, or create connections between different areas of the city. Players score points when the passenger uses their metro lines, encouraging them to build efficient and direct connections.
The board is beautiful with lovely script titles that feel very Paris. The markers for the popular tourist spots — wood Eifel Towers — rise up from the board. The watercolor art is gorgeous. I dig the colored tokens for the lines. Hubby always lets me play the pink-red-orange-yellow combination, and I love seeing the bright colors trail across the board.
Maglev Metro & Paris Map
We bought the upgrades and expanded maps for Maglev Metro. The Paris map has some unique play; in this version, players construct and optimize a magnetic levitation metro system in Paris, focusing on connecting iconic landmarks and efficiently transporting passengers across the city.
Gameplay involves laying track, moving trains, picking up and delivering passengers, and upgrading the metro system. The Paris map introduces additional objectives and constraints, such as navigating the Seine River and optimizing routes around historic sites. Players earn points by transporting passengers to key destinations, completing specific route objectives, and upgrading their system for improved efficiency.
I love the acrylic tiles and metal pieces in this game. They have real weight in your hands, and they look great on the board. Springing for the screen-printed meeples also give the game a little more character and makes the different types of passengers easier to tell apart.
We had a few other games in our collection we considered pulling out — Rocco (making dressing for the nobles at Versaille) and Castles of Burgundy — two very luxe games.
I guess we have one more weekend of the Games, and I have been dying to make a batch of French Onion Soup and a Quiche Lorraine.
In the kitchen
If you want to try your hand at crepes, they are pretty easy to whip up. You don’t need special equipment to make them, but I find mine are prettier and more even with my De Buyers crepe pan and the wood spreader.
I make the basic crepes, and then after the first flip, I add the fillings across the top of it and fold it up, just like my favorite street vendor. That includes cracking the egg on top of crepe and spreading it to mix it and let it cook. Add the cheese after a little (I like to use a Guyrere & Swiss blend) and then the ham last.
Crepe Recipe:
Crepe Equipment: