Paris

Bonjour!

O and I are in Paris this week!

Unfortunately, we traded out Istanbul's summer weather for a very very cold and very wet Paris.

With some study umbrellas and good shoes,  a little rain on no problem!  Museums and cafes galore!

And plenty of chocolat chaud (hot chocolate).

I haven't been to Paris in a long time.  Not since Chirac was president! Happy to be back and eating lots of decadent foods! 

My Handicap: Cooking Turkish

Turkish cooking is my Mount Everest. Its gonna be a long journey, but someday I'll get there.

Pots are brewing, oven whirring away. I have a recipe right in front of me with that picture staring at me, a glare on the glossy page. Its perfection is taunting. I follow it step by step.

Hours later I emerge.

I look at my creation. I look at the picture. I look back at what I made. That meal in the picture is something fit for a sultan. Mine looks like the cover of a dog food can. 

this is what its supposed to look like. I made this at a cooking course back in Feb 2009.

Monday night I tried to make stuffed eggplant. Again. I sliced, I diced and then at the end I hid my creation under a big pile of cous-cous and vegetables, like dust swept under a carpet. I put the yogurt closest to O with a big spoon so he could use it to mask the taste. He was surprised halfway through the dinner when he found the eggplant, buried underneath everything in a shallow grave. It had a rubbery texture despite being prepped. 

I can make stir fry, curries, meat and vegetarian burgers,  when I make spaghetti I make the sauce from scratch. I can cook. But not Turkish. Turkish is my achilles heel. So I have to practice, I'm told I have to "watch" old ladies do it. But actually, I'd rather go out and bring it home from a restaurant. Sometimes, if I'm in Cihangir, I go to Mucver and have them package up something from everything they made that day. Then I slap it on some plates and its the closest those dishes from Ikea have seen to real Turkish food in this house. 

Tonight we're having gnocchi with asparagus in a white wine mushroom sauce. Because thats easy! 

Update: a water main broke somewhere in the neighborhood so we ordered pizza instead!

I'm leaving Turkish food to the professionals, like moms. 

While mine are more of a what not to do, if you want some Turkish recipes from some talented folks here are some links to their delicious sites:

Ozlem's Turkish Table

Binnur's Turkish Cookbook

Ottoman Cuisine

My Turkish Joys

Istanbul Bicycle Project

Sunday some pals and I were picnicking on the grass in Cadde Bostan with some pre-packed Migros sandwiches amongst the throngs of other Istanbulites enjoying the great weekend weather. The biking-walking path was jammed with tots on tricycles, half naked roller bladers, show-off joggers and random aimless couples. And lots and lots of bikers. We noticed that quite a few bikes looked the same. Similar to what I've seen in Barcelona that can be rented by the hour.

For digestion we took a walk along the sea and stumbled across the source of bikes.

Its a relatively new project from Istanbul Büyüksehir Belediyesi (Istanbul Municipality) and from my understanding IsPark as well.

The boys were inspecting this suspicious new box.

Instructions are also in English too! You can rent the bikes for:

You pay for it with your credit card and you're only charged for the hours you use it for. A password is sent to your phone and you use that passport to unlock the bike from its holder (like in the top photo). Don't forget your receipt it says, just in case you have any problems. 

Currently I have only seen this available on the Asian side from Kartal to Kadiköy along the sea where there is zero competition with automobiles. It may also be introduced to Sultanahmet--for tourists with strong legs to peddle up those hills and through traffic. However, I've seen bike tours available in Istanbul the last few years. I've biked Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Munich, San Francisco and Amsterdam...but Istanbul? There must be one air tight waiver. 

Last year they built bike lanes through Bakirköy and I've been seeing them in other areas as well. While Istanbul is too hilly and massive to be overly bike friendly, perhaps some people will take to this 2 wheeled form of transportation over being stuck in 4 wheeled traffic jams. Just maybe. If you're willing to kiss your family goodbye each time like its your last and battle for the road with pepped up minibus drivers. 

Blog of the Month

It was a surprising little email on Tuesday that I had been chosen May's Blog of the Month from expat-blog.com! I have joined other bloggers-of-the-month from Honduras (April), Ethiopia (March), Australia (February) and Norway (January).

And here is the nifty interview that goes along with it: My interview with Expat-Blog!

And thank you to everyone who takes time out of their day to reads this! I certainly don't strive for literary genius and without a cup of coffee my posts are often riddled with grammatical boo-boos and a complete neglect for spelling. This challenges me to continue writing and to become more creative in general. What got me the most was that I was seriously considering throwing in the towel on whole spiel back in December.

Thank you, thank you! :)
-Moe

(and now I hope Fenerbahçe wins tonight!)

Cat-stantinople

I was inspired today by an article I saw about Gli, the cat who lives in Hagia Sofia. It was full of photos of the adorable, cross-eyed feline.

"A Devout Cat Lives at the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul"

(credit: buzzfeed.com)

As always, I collect photos of cats all over the city and have assembled a few here. Mostly as a distraction from this most violent May Day. 

'Looking for something mellow or something to piss off the neighbors?" - Record shop in Çukurcuma

Love comes in all colors - Bakirköy

Somebody got into the organic catnip *wink wink - Organic food store, Cihangir

'Excuuuse me, but I wouldn't even allow 50 Shades of Grey to line my liter box' - bookshop, Bakirköy

'When you put comfies on the ground, I sits!' - Mr. Oppertunity in Palma D'ora restaurant, Erenköy

Mr. Mooch sneaking to the breakfast table via the curtains - home

You can follow me on Instragram - Hippo-Dancer

Let me get this strait...

Is there such a thing as too much time spent along the Bosphorus?

Spring quickly transformed into summer and we're now sitting pretty in the mid 20s (mid 70s). Jackets have been replaced with t-shirts and the footwear of choice has become sandals. Everyone seems to be starting off on the same page with chicken white skin, freshly exposed for some post-winter vitamin D absorption.

We've spent a lot of time and walked quite a few kilometers along the Bosphorus this last week.

This 'Balloon Man" spent his morning walking back and forth, teasing children who were trying their best to convince their parents that a balloon was life or death. 

We breakfast'ed in Rumeli at the packed Sade Kahve cafe along the water. Full table of jams, butter, cheeses, bal kaymak, bread and even omelets. Hungry patrons walking in the door and eyeing our table, watching us as we finished the dregs of out tea and paid the bill.

Tulips blooming in Rumeli Hisari. We came here while my aunt and her friend were visiting last weekend. Besides being an impressive 600 year old fortress built in a few shorts months, it also affords beautiful views of the Bosporus, Asian side and FSM bridge for just a few lira (or free with muzekart).

Judas trees in bloom, adding a purple highlight to the landscape. 

While my aunt was here, the mornings and early afternoons were pretty grey and sloppy. It would slowly burn off towards evening, leaving us with blue skies (to prove they exist).

From Rumeli, we walked down the 6km and reached Ortaköy just as the sun was setting.

I'm more than a little sure we'll be up there again next weekend. There is a fish restaurant in Arnavutköy, a small place with no view, so it needs to make delicious food to survive. A whopping portion of mackeral (istavrit) with calamari, eggplant salatasi, Ege salad and homemade cornbread.

The Dapper Cat Man

I see this old man in the park next to the mosque every so often. He always has a bag full of goodies for the kitties. He sits away from his gossiping peers, always finely dressed in a three piece suit and makes sure all his feline friends are fed. I sometimes see pieces of sausage along the mosque walls, a tell-tale sign that he had just passed through, but this was one of those rare times he and I were in the same place at the same time. We've talked before and he's really kind, retired and his wife passed away.

He was cutting up pieces of lightly cooked meat, fresh. It looked like tongue actually, but they cats were happy and 9 of them joined him in the sun.

To Hell and Back

Intrigued?

Its hard to get a big group up and into a van after a night of binge eating and whiskey drinking. We managed and drove through Mersin, along the sea and straight to hell.

Can't go to hell on an empty stomach however.

The way up the mountain is littered with numerous breakfast joints beckoning customers with breakfast goodies, we passed them all until the one Cem knew as his favorite. There were 8 types of jams with black and green fig, eggplant for example. So many cheeses, fresh butter and olives.

I couldn't imagine eating anymore when the waiters came by with pans full of sizzling sucuk and eggs.

We moved from our massive banquet table to picnic benches in the garden, shaded by olive trees for some Turkish Coffee. The garden had a view of the turquoise Mediterranean Sea and children throwing unripe olives at each other with incredible force.

 Translation: The Entrance of Hell

This is Hell.

According to one of the myths, Zeus had a pretty bad brawl with the dragon Typhoon and lost. So Typhoon the dragon imprisoned the God of Gods in this deep cravas.

Hell is super easy to walk to. You walk along a short, paved path that goes slightly up hill.

Heaven was down 466 ridiculously uneven stone stairs. Oh the irony.

Hell was dry and hot -- how appropriate. As we followed the path further and further down into Heaven it actually got so humid it became really cold. Once inside the cave we could see our breath. At the bottom is a church for the Virgin Mary.

On our trip back up, I heard from behind me someone in the group ask rhetorically "Why did Christians keep putting everything in painfully hard to get places?" (referring to the fact that so many sites in Turkey at at the sides of cliffs, inside caves, at the tops of steep hills). It made me chuckle.

There were also camels.

We were kaput once we got back to the top and tumbled back into the van for snack time.

As a reward we wound down the hill into Narlikuyu, along the sea for a snack of lokum and black berries. 

By the time this was all finished it was time for us to start heading back to the house to grab our bags and begin our way 200km journey to the airport in Adana. 

Before the airport, we had 35 min to chow down on Adana Kepab. It would be insane and perhaps insulting to the locals if we were to not at least taste Adana Kepab. We also order cig köfte and I ate almost an entire plate of roasted onions like they were candy. 

We went to Eyvan Kepab and I ordered mine "acisiz" aka no spice aka I'm a wuss. It was delicious and kept us full for the trip back to Istanbul. 

Our culinary and culture tour of Mersin was finished. It was a fantastic weekend and we weren't hungry for 2 days after we got back. O always has to go down for business, but at least he's had a chance to see something outside of the factory. 

There is still more to see down there as well. In fact, there is a castle that you cross a sandbar in the Mediterranean Sea to get to. 

Heaven and Hell cost 5tl to visit, free with Muzekart. 

Monkeying Around

I've seen some pretty random things on the streets, but Thursday kind of blew them all out of the water. And this is why:

Its a monkey. I'm still trying to ascertain as to which type of monkey.

I walked out of a house and saw a bunch of cats mingling on the sidewalk. Thought nothing of it. Then One got up to walk away and I realized it wasn't a cat at all! Long tail straight up in the air, just wandering around. Scared the bejeebus out of me.

It must be someone's pet, as it had a collar. Its terrible to have a monkey as a pet, but then its either lost or they just let him out unsupervised. I thought about going to the police, but a foreigner showing up and raving about a monkey on the loose...it probably would end up with me in the mental asylum at the other part of town.

Mersin and Tarsus

It was a rather randomly planned trip, but we spent the past weekend in the Mediterranean Port city of Mersin. O goes down there a lot for work, but its always the airport-factory-hotel-factory-airport shuffle.

We stayed with one of O's HR buddies and his wife. O's friends/fellow HR colleagues came with, so a group of us descending on all sleep-able places in the house. There were 13 of us at one point, with only 3 of group (including me) being in different careers from the rest. 

Cem took control making sure he fed us and transported us from place to place in the big rented van for optimal sightseeing. 

With all those mouths to feed we had a massive breakfast. Toast, cheese, honey, jams, salad, sucuk and eggs and of course tea. Lots and lots and lots of tea. In fact, we estimate that O drank the most with about 26 glasses over 2 days. 

The first stop was the city of Tarsus where we visited the Well of St. Paul. It was rather anti-climatic, but with muzekart, none of us minded at all. 

However, the city of Tarsus its self was adorable and we strolled through the old town watching couples every few feet taking advantage of the great weather to snap some wedding photos. 

Everything was in full bloom and the orange tree blossoms smelled amazing. O said he would have to take my word for it as he sneezed and sniffled from allergies the whole time. 

Old man on his bike loaded with loaves of bread in the back and hanging from both handle bars in the front. 

While in Tarsus, we visited the Forty-Spoons Bazaar for a walk around and sat down for cold drinks. 

We also went to St. Paul's Church...which was pretty lame and once again all of us were thankful for muzekarts. 

Not even a 5 minute drive from the Tarsus Old Town were there waterfalls. 

We then sat down for lunch. C made sure to keep us fed and then some. We had salads, fresh herbs, piping hot pide, hot hummus and then this:

Freaking delicious. Pide, meat, spices, veggies are done in this pan. The pide was filled with cheese. Freaking cheese! Everyone gobbled it down with salgam--a salty drink made from fermented carrots. Its the Tarhana soup of beverages in my opinion, but the region is famous for it.

It totally didn't matter that we had had a massive breakfast and an even bigger lunch, we only took a small break before heading to the chic Mersin Forum shopping center for kunefe (hot cheese dessert), to be followed by drinks at Mersin Marina and a surprise birthday cake from everyone to me since I have just leveled up and am now 29. Feck, that freaks me out, especially when I think back to the fact that I moved to Istanbul when I was 24.

Were we done eating then? No. No, we were not. The whole group packed up and went off to eat ciger  (liver) shish. Who cares thats its 1am? Grab some lavas, onions with sumac and dig in. 13 people eating shish with those incredibly long skewers at the same table is kind of dangerous, but no one lost an eye.

Were we done? No.

No. No. No. No.

Back at the house snacks were eaten, left over breakfast foods consumed and glasses with ice and whisky clinking away.

Were we done?

This time yes, because we were all too tired to eat, but it started all over again the next day.