Turkish Delicacies Pt. IV

Salep! Boza!

Gezundheit? No! They're just two more wonderful drinks available this time of year.

It is my goal and duty to try as many flavors of this country as I can and I think I'm doing a pretty decent job of it so far. I read about two different beverages available only in the cooler months and it took some waiting, but both the cool weather and the beverages arrived on cue. First up was Salep, which I saw on a cool late October day, but couldn't find when I went back days and weeks later. It's okay. I see it in the stores now. What is it? Well wikipedia says this about it. I just know it's supposedly made with orchid root and it served warm and is a great way to warm up.

My experience with it came during a visit from friends on a day trip to Sultanahmet. It was cool, but not cold and I saw a man selling a drink from a cart with a lot of steam coming from it. I knew it wasn't the so-so chestnuts that are on every other street so I wandered up and saw the sign for Salep. I was so excited! It was 3 TL (~US $1.80) for a cup, not too bad. It it served with a dash of cinnamon on top.

Boy in tow. Drink in hand.

Ah, yes.

What is it like? Well, first off, it is hot as magma. Have you ever tried a big gulp of magma? I do not recommend it. Salep has amazing heat retention qualities. This drink is not for kids as they will have to hold onto the cup for ten solid minutes before the drink will be cool enough not to peel the skin off their lips.

After that, it is good. It is thick and sweet and very comforting. Thick as in a thin pudding. I don't remember a predominant flavor, per se, but it was good. You can also find Salep in the stores either as a pre-mixed drink or in powder form. We have a box of it that we have not cracked open yet.

Next up was Boza. I had read about Boza and was equally excited to find some one day in my outings. I found it at the grocery store the day before Thanksgiving. Boza is a fermented beverage made from millet. Again, here is what wikipedia has to say about it. Here are two more entries I found on the interwebs. One is from a food blog a friend sent and the other was discovered randomly, but I quite enjoy it.

http://cafefernando.com/a-winter-drink-that-makes-your-boobs-grow-bigger/

http://www.glamourgrannytravels.com/2011/10/06/boza-a-turkish-winter-drink/

I was happy to discover that the brand I picked up is from Vefa, the famous Bozacisi located in the Fatih neighborhood. It comes with it's own little packet of cinnamon. And what is IT like? It is sweet. It is tart. I was expecting something much more tart due to the fermentation, but it is very mild (and less than 1% alcohol). Leslie thinks it tastes a bit like apples and I think she's right. It is also very thick. I finish mine with a spoon. It can be served cold or warm, but I've only tried mine warm. And as the blogs say, it is usually accompanied by Leblebi, toasted chickpeas. I happened to pick up a half kilo of those from Malatya Pazari, famous makers of delicious Turkish Delight. I have to say that the leblebi really does add something to the Boza flavor. You have the toasted nut flavor of them with the tartness of the drink. It is quite wonderful.

So they look quite simliar and are found at the same time of year, but are quite different and delicious in their own way. Apparently, Boza is so nourishing, it was used to feed the Ottoman troops before it was banned due to Islamic restrictions on consuming alcohol. I am now supplementing my meals with it. Not really, it's just my new treat that I can justify drinking whenever because it is so good.

Play Date

The boy and I had a play date today* and it being held a bit further south of where are, but right up the hill from the Bosphorus, I decided we should take the boat and then a taxi instead of taxiing all the way. It's about a thirty minute walk to get to the terminal and the boat only docks for maybe three minutes so you have to be ready to go. The best part is, it'll take you to several stops along the Asian side and back to several European stops for 1.95 Turkish Lira or about $1.25. Cheap and fun.

*or yesterday. Oops. Stunned look on my host's face upon opening the door followed by the same look on my face. I felt silly, but had a good time since we took the boat.

The view before setting off. (I darkened the exposure to capture more detail. It wasn't this ominous looking.)

Passing a freighter.

Four story Starbucks right on the water. No boat-side service just yet.

Right next to the Starbucks is this lovely park and the ferry station.

I've seen these from a distance and they always look like they're going backward. It still does in this photo, but seeing it in person looked completely normal. This one is traveling towards the right of the screen.

Delicious Turkish Delicacies Pt. III

Behold, the simit with black olive paste and beyaz peynir.

Turkey has a lot of food that tastes like crack. Figuratively, having never tried crack, but you know what I mean. This is the latest crack addiction I have discovered. Simit, the ubiquitous sesame bread ring that is the bread of Istanbul, which I have only tried with sweet hazelnut chocolate spread, is instead sliced all the way around, covered with black olive paste and beyaz peynir (the also ubiquitous cheese, translated as "white cheese", although there are several kinds of beyaz peynir). I got the idea after seeing it at the coffee shops in the mall so I don't know how traditional this particular delicacy really is. It doesn't matter. It is delicious.

Oh and if you really want crack, we have that too. I HAVE tried this:

Dating a Celebrity

This isn't so much about how adored my beloved wife is here in Istanbul as it is a comparison I derived to what this lifestyle of living abroad is like. And I decided it's exactly like dating a celebrity. Or so I imagine, having not actually dated anyone who would qualify for a celebrity-based reality TV show.

Living this life. The weather has been lovely since the day we left Portland in April. The Bosphorus slowly crawls its way past us just down the hill. Go into almost any restaurant or cafe and the food, while possibly unfamiliar, will be astoundingly delicious. And almost all of it is produced somewhere in this fertile country. Friendly faces abound and are almost as numerous as the amazing historical sights that are sprinkled throughout this massive city of 15 million people and seemingly as many cars. We can chose to gaze out of our windows at the cool, still swimming pool or the fields dotted with goats and the odd stray dog. There's not much of a downside to living life this way.

Dating a celebrity invokes a certain mystique about you. People who know you intimately or not at all wonder how YOU managed to do this. "He seemed so normal, like the rest of us. And now he's over there. With HER." Her being our host country, of course.

Dating a celebrity allows you to do things that are outside of the parameters of what is considered normal. Bulgaria for the weekend? Yes. An invite for a private party from the Swiss consulate? Yes. Boat rides along the Bosphorus while sipping tea? Why not?

Where will a two hour flight/drive from Portland take me? Eastern Oregon. Northern Nevada. Seattle. San Francisco. Drain, Oregon. (all lovely places, don't get me wrong. Including you Drain!)

Where will it take me from here? Greece. Bulgaria. Russia. Capadoccia. The Dardanelles.

Which brings me to the point where I want to elaborate on my previous post. I have a hard time mentioning my day to day life because when I do anything that is beyond grocery shopping, it constitutes the "dating a celebrity" category and sounds like going off about my new celebrity-esque daily life. Do I want to write about our grocery store trips? No. (But the guys who weigh our produce are getting to recognize me and are becoming less surly. That's worth a mention.)

My life in a nutshell definitely falls into that category. But when you look at the details of my daily life, it becomes much more mundane and what you'd expect from any person, famous or not.

I've been quiet here because I honestly haven't been doing too much that's new and amazing (to me), but also because I felt the need to type this wordy disclaimer about who I am and where I am, literally and figuratively.

Everyday here is amazing and I thank all the powers that be, be they spiritual or administrative and know that this life is no different from my life anywhere else and is therefore, amazing and a blessing (define it as you wish) and not taken for granted. Especially when my surroundings are a gift of my love's hard work and the taxpayers of the United States. Thank you.

Four Months! (and then some)

I meant to write a comprehensive review of my impressions of my new host country and it's fun and foibles at four months (eleven days ago to be exact), but time runs away from me faster and faster these days. Or is that just my boy?

There will be other posts that include many nice and educational pictures. Not today. Today is about the day to day.

I have a hard time writing both here and via email about life here because my life is always at one of two extremes. I am either doing something absolutely amazing and beautiful that would be on most people's bucket lists or I am cleaning the house and taking out the trash and scolding cats for dropping litter and fur all over the house and wondering if I shouldn't be looking for work so I'm not stuck at home looking at a mess all day. It really does come down to that. My visits to the Consulate break up the day immensely and make it seem to breeze by. As do my walks to the park or the mall or to visit friends.

So I do not want to just write about the good stuff and sound like my life is all glamour, nor do I want to complain about the things that are a normal part of everyone's life (laundry, cleaning, going to the grocery store...AGAIN). I know I have a good life here. If you can't have a good life here, you will never have one, because this place is very forgiving with the abundance of beauty and excellent food, great people and incredible historic sights.

I am searching for the middle ground. Or maybe just the ground. Our place is still coming together and that is a huge relief. There may be a car in our future. Or there may not. I have changed my mind on the car situation and would love to have one now. Of course, driving somewhere creates a whole new set of complications.

There have been two humungous and amazing breakthroughs for me this week. First, I have successfully placed an order for online grocery delivery. It should be here this morning. I don't like to complain (really, I don't!) about doing the shopping, especially when our stores are visible from our residence, but I figured, that with the walk and the incline, it's close to climbing twelve flights of stairs, toddler attached. I don't know how I managed in July and August when daytime temps were close to 90 degrees for weeks on end. Oh wait, I do; air conditioning and cold beverages. Some days cold showers too. The second breakthrough happened at just the right time too; organic produce delivery. This should arrive tomorrow. Between the two, I think I am set for everything except beer. And as we all know, climbing twelve flights of stairs with a toddler attached is totally worth it if it's beer you're carrying.

Bulgaristan

Bulgaristan is Bulgaria in Turkish.

A group of wanderers. Look at those wide and smooth sidewalks! Swoon! You could roll a stroller down those!

We saw a few donkey driven carts in the small towns we passed to get to Sofia. Good as transport as any, I suppose.

Another common sight in the small towns were locals set up with produce stands. If those are tomatoes, they're mighty large tomatoes.

A typical Bulgarian village dwelling. Some were nicer. Most were not. At least the ones on the roadside.

The Shopska Salad. A thing of delicious beauty. This was the most beautiful one in town. Typical ingredients are cucumber, tomato, peppers, shredded cow's milk cheese.

Sofia has a wonderful evening restaurant/cafe culture.

The view from our pensione. That's the mountain in the background. I dream of it snow-capped.

Requisite picture of the Nevsky cathedral. If you do an image search for Sofia, Bulgaria, you will be rewarded with a thousand pictures of this cathedral. It is very solemn and beautiful inside. We saw a Moskvitch for sale on this street and really wish we could have brought it home with us to Turkey. What is a Moskvitch? Why it's one of these!:

Edirne

Here's are some pictures from Edirne, the first stop on our road trip to Bulgaristan.

The Selimiye Mosque. Quite the magnificent structure!

A little guy all snug in his backpack. This thing is a life saver! Now to get the water insert for it so I can hydrate!

Inside the mosque. It is equally magnificent on the inside! That calligraphy is simply amazing.

For propriety's sake. 

Some more amazing calligraphy.

More common than you'd think. Blurry and overexposed, but yes, that is a family of five on a scooter. Helmets? We don't need 'em!

Across the street from the mosque. Nah, we didn't ride.

Not the only horses we saw roaming the streets.