November 09 Edward VII's Birthday   Edward VII, during his reign and as Prince of Wales, was the symbol of opulence throughout Europe. His magnificently attired, overfed body; his addiction to beautiful women (many of whom became his mistresses), balls, dinners, parties, yachting, racing, and all forms of extravagant living made him the most colorful figure of his time. His extravagance was matched by an extraordinary charm, urbanity, intelligence, wit, and affability that made his excesses forgiven by everyone except his mother, Queen Victoria. English society since the days of George IV was relatively drab and lifeless. King William was probably the most insipid and listless of the English rulers. Prince Albert hated English society who returned a similar distaste for Albert's rigid, Teutonic, and often Spartan lifestyle. Queen Victoria was so remote, especially after Albert's death, that the closest her subjects ever got to seeing her was her picture on postage stamps. Therefore, when Edward and his new bride, the beautiful and enchanting Alexandria, began attending a succession of banquets, balls, and parties, London society embraced them with extraordinary enthusiasm. It was during Edward's reign that English cooking reached its zenith. At the palace and royal estates, luncheons and dinners were expanded to ten or fourteen courses and were predominantly marked with French dishes under the supervision of Edward's chef, Menager. Edward's two favorite dishes were grilled oysters and cold quails.  Traditional   HM King Edward VII of the United Kingdom by Sir Luke Fildes,

There were probably more dishes created for and named after Edward VII than any other English monarch, including many popular dishes not usually considered to be associated with him, such as Crepes Suzette and Poularde Derby. Poularde Derby ( Chicken stuffed with rice, goose liver, and truffles} was created by Jean Giroix in 1881 at the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo. .

Crepes Suzette were created by a fourteen year-old assistant waiter Henri Carpentierin 1895 at the Maitre at Monte Carlo's Café de Paris.  When notified that the Prince of Wales and several gentlemen companions had reservations for lunch, Charpentier created a special sauce for the crepes dessert. As he was nervously reheating the sauce near the Prince's table, the sauce caught fire. At first Charpentier thought that the sauce was ruined, but when he tasted it, he found that the flaming substantially improved the sauce's flavor. The Prince was impressed with the dessert and asked Charpentier what it was called. The chef replied "Crepes Princesse."  The Prince, fully aware of French grammatical rules, winked and replied, "How can that be, since there is no princess present? There isn't even a lady." One of the Prince's friends had brought his seven year old daughter, Suzette, to the luncheon. When Suzette heard the Prince's comment that there wasn't even a lady present, she suddenly stood up, curtsied, to the prince and declared that she was a lady. The Prince laughed and asked Charpentier to change the name of the dish to Crepes Suzette in honor of their charming lady luncheon companion. According to Charpentier. the next day he received a present from the Prince, a jeweled ring, a panama hat and a cane for his spectacular dessert.

*  In French, the adjective's gender is ruled by the gender of the noun that it modifies and
   crepes is a feminine noun 

Crepes Suzette