Living the Turkish Life

The title pretty much says it all, but this is my life in Istanbul, Turkey.

I am a regular Martha Stewart… November 24, 2008

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Well not really, but check out the week I just had. It started with me making sütlaç, a Turkish pudding, with my classes. Our theme was Turkey and our letter of the week was ‘P’ (hence pudding). Then we decorated Turkish flags with pieces of red and white tissue paper, and painted a giant map of Turkey too. It was a fun week at school.

On Thursday I made my best batch of homemade pie crust dough (I have been practicing). I wanted to make things easier on myself the next day, and it is better to work with it as cool as possible. On Friday I made 30 hard boiled eggs for deviled eggs, a pumpkin pie, and an apple pie (from scratch). In America we are so spoiled by having the pumpkin already pureed and canned. It is so difficult taking the rind off! My arms were sore the next day from the amount of pressure I had to use. After that though it is pretty easy going. Just boil until soft, strain, and mash with a fork. Everything went great but I did not finish everything until 1 AM.

The next morning I slept in a little too late and rushed out to buy the remaining ingredients I needed for the turkey breast. I made Dried Apricot and Date Stuffed Turkey , Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes,  and Ezogelin soup. It was a little windy during the day, but while I was couped up cooking it got downright nasty outside. The wind was so terrible that ferries were canceled and a pier sank. Yes, you heard me correctly…the Karaköy pier sank. It was old (about 100 years) and was the only floating one in Istanbul. I was actually on it the night before and noticed how bad the swaying had gotten.My friends were coming from all over the city and they all still made it. They came in cars, buses, on foot, in taxis, and in makeshift dolmuses trying to take advantage of the sunken pier and canceled ferries. It was a wonderful time with wonderful company, and pretty decent food. Can you guess the favorite of the evening? My pumpkin pie! I now have requests for more :-) . I am so thankful for all of my new friends, all my old friends who have been with me through it all, and of course my family. I hope you all have/had a great Thanksgiving yourselves!

The next day I took a ferry over to Eminönü and got to see the missing pier first hand. Karaköy looked so naked. I went to meet Cijay and go to a book exchange in SultanAhmet. I met some really great ladies and made some new friends. I got rid of 4 old books and picked up 4 new ones. These will hopefully keep me busy until the next one, but at the rate I have been devouring books I highly doubt it ;-) . Well that was just last week. I can not wait to see where this week takes me…..

 

Eyup, Yellow Feathers, and Definitely Maybe November 2, 2008

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Today I got a later start than I had hoped for. I planned an adventure to the Eyup area of Istanbul. It is all the way down the Golden Horn and I have been wanting to visit it for a while. I only knew about a giant cemetery and a tea garden named after Pierre Lotti (a French writer). I was invited to breakfast (at noon) with Murat’s brother Mehmet, his brother’s girlfriend Suna, his cousin Kadir, and their married friends Ozlem and Ozgur. We went to this really nice place near the Karakoy pier and ate our fill of cheese, salami, eggs, and honey-butter (bal kaymak). It was delicious, but we spent far too long there. A later start followed by another late start. We finally boarded the ferry that would take us to our destination.

It was another beautiful day today and the ride down the Golden Horn was wonderful. You know you have almost reached Eyup when you catch sight of the giant hill covered with terraced white graves. From far away they look rather ugly in my opinion, but later as we walked through them it was quite breathtaking. As we disembarked from our ferry I quickly learned two things about Eyup. One, there is a very famous mosque named after Sultan Eyup and two, it is the most conservative area in Istanbul. I once thought the title was held by Uskudar, but I was very mistaken. I had never seen so many women in carsafs (head to toe black robes, thanks Meagan :) and head scarves in one place. Kadikoy is the polar opposite to Eyup. Eyup was very crowded today. I do not know if it had to do with the weekend, good weather, or if it is just normal. There were also lots of brides walking around.

We leisurely headed towards our destination of the sky tram to take up up the hill to Pierre Lotti. When we got there there was a huge line and we decided to walk up. This lead to quite the adventure of trying to find out how to get up to the top. There are many small paths that just dead-end (no pun intended) in a bunch of graves. Mehmet finally found a way to the top and we soon were sitting at a table having some tea. The views were very nice but, after all the hype, Pierre Lotti was nothing special. I would have rather explored more down by the mosque and in the cemetery. We did not stay long because we had to catch our ferry back to Karakoy.

Murat called to say he was finished with work and was buying some Yellow Feathers for dinner. Yellow Feathers , or Sarikanat, are my favorite fish. They are smaller and taste delicious when covered in flour and fried. Yummy! I got home just in time to help with the preparation and then we ate and watched  Definitely, Maybe. I loved this movie. I have been meaning to watch it for months but never got around to it.  It was a love story but they do not make them like this very often anymore. Now it seems like  they are all How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Knocked Up :P . This was a rare and heartfelt love story. See it if that is your cup of tea or you want to smile and feel warm and fuzzy inside. It was a wonderful day that ended with my curling up in bed with my latest book, A Voice in the Wind. So far it is awesome, but that is a blog for another day.

 

Bake me a cake as fast as you can! October 31, 2008

Filed under: Uncategorized — charbar137 @ 6:27 pm
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I have been really enjoying the beautiful weather here in Istanbul. Starting on Republic Day it has been sunny but cool.  It is supposed to last through the weekend which is great. Republic Day was a wonderful day for me. I left in the afternoon to go to Istiklal (the big shopping street). I was meeting my friend Sharon and, a little later, Murat. I decided to take the bus instead of ferry because I thought it would be faster. I do not know if it was, but everything I saw on that ride was beautiful. I think it was one of those rare times when the light hit everything just so and you caught everything at the perfect time. To give you and idea…I happened to see a very beautiful apartment building I had never noticed. In the field next to it was a street dog, but it was sitting so regally and watched as a butterfly flew by. The sheep being fattened up for Kurban had a nice neon pink and green hair style going on. On the stairs under the overpass was a homeless man who was leaning back and covered head to toe in what looked like soot. It was breathtaking in an artistic sense, but sad to think of that mans life. We drove past the cemetery next and it was in full bloom and full of trees of every shape and size. As we crossed the bridge from Asia to Europe, a giant carrier ship was passing underneath. The every building in the following commercial area was draped in the biggest Turkish flags you have ever seen. These are just the things I can remember. I arrived in Taksim feeling like I was on cloud nine.

I met Sharon for a Chai Latte at Ara, and then she accompanied me on my mission. I had discovered a Turkish company that sells therapeutic quality (the only kind to use ;) essential oils. They do not sell to individuals but did give a list of suppliers in Istanbul. Yippee!!! I was beginning to give up hope, and ordering from the US is too much money and hassle. The store is called Ambar and it had EVERYTHING! Well, there were out of a few things, but they will get them in next week. They even carry rare and hard to find oils. I was able to pick up a few I was missing, and then met up with Murat for lunch. We decided to catch a flick, and the only non-Turkish movie, other than Saw 5 (isn’t it enough already!), was Max Payne. It was so-so. I was hoping it would be more like Constantine, but was disappointed by the less interesting story and very cheesy acting. We decided to make it an early night because Murat was feeling a little ill and we had to work the next day.

Thursday was uneventful, but today I made two cakes :) . Chocolate Biscuit Cakes to be exact. We cook something with the kids at school every week. It was super easy and lots of fun. Let me know if you want the recipe. I would maybe use a little less sugar but it was delicious! Here are some pics of me and the kids (you can click on them to see them larger I believe):