With only 8 days to go before we leave, I am realizing how many things I missed that I had no idea I would ever miss. These are things which make me happy or which I enjoy. Nothing like absence to make the heart grow fonder! Here is a list of things I am looking forward to enjoying again:
1) Sharp cheddar cheese
2) Free speech
3) Root beer
4) Sour cream
5) Thrift stores
6) Garage sales
7) Peanut butter
8) Bacon
9) Greasy breakfasts
10) All Mexican food
11) Chinese takeout
12) Indian takeout
13) Seeing kids in car seats
14) Pedestrian right-of-way
15) HGTV
16) Convenient recycling
17) Seeing signs that warn of fines for littering
18) A variety of wines and beers
19) Listening to the radio in English
20) Living in a house with things that are mine and not university-issued (down to the silverware!)
21) And most of all, seeing my friends and family or at least being in a closer time zone!
There are some things I will miss here that I am currently enjoying in Turkey:
1) The smell of honey suckle
2) Feeling saturated in history
3) Cheap fresh bread
4) Cheap good olives
5) The pastries made with pistachio
Showing posts with label living in Turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label living in Turkey. Show all posts
08 June 2007
19 February 2007
Patterns
To celebrate the Chinese new year I made paper lanterns and painted fu characters which we hung upside down around the house to encourage the arrival of luck into our apartment. We could use some extra luck this year to see us through so many big transitions - but then everybody needs extra luck all of the time don't they? My Dad always says that luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. I like that. It reminds me to keep an open mind and always be open to opportunities that way I'll feel lucky!
This is the silk sumac we finally bought a while back after visiting numerous carpet shops over the past few months. As I said in the previous post buying a carpet is emotional and not for the feignt of heart. You wouldn't think it is such a big deal but it actually seems to involve a lot of ceremony. The carpet is from Iran and I think the motif of animals is related to fertility and/or abundance. I am not sure what the other motifs mean but I like the symmetry of it (which is off slightly if you look closely with little color variations and things) and the colors are growing on me. At first I felt it was too red - I really love lots and lots of color - but this is growing on me and eventually when we are finally "home" it will be nice to put it with other things we love and artwork and our own furniture.
15 February 2007
Posts I wrote in my head but forgot to share
Finally buying a carpet. Buying a carpet is inexplicably a very emotional experience - both for the buyer and the seller. The buyer sips apple tea second-guessing and wondering if they are bargaining hard enough, if they are getting a fair price and if that carpet really is silk…. The seller keeps the lights turned off to save on the electric bill and clearly wants this first sale of the day (it is two in the afternoon) but not at the expense of his pride or the value of the carpet (yes, it really is silk). Maybe all shopping should be so heart wrenching. People would buy less and appreciate the goods more in the end when they finally do take it home.
Plagiarism. Plagiarism is rampant here. I want to comment on it and share my experiences in full but something stops me from doing so. All I can say is that I am amazed at the skill and energy that seem to go into the plagiarizing. Why not just write it oneself then?
Choosing a graduate program. I settled on a program. It was wonderful to feel that several programs were interested in my research ideas – a real boost for the intellectual ego. I have committed to one program and I am chomping at the bit to start. I must admit though that I am terrified. The fear of not actually being smart enough, tenacious enough and dedicated enough to preserver sneaks in. I am going to wonderful program though that really feels like it will fit. And I am going with love by my side. In the summer, I will have to change the tagline of my blog to: “An American in Edmonton.” Less alliterative but at least it promises peanut butter and pork.
Going into more than 20 drugstores to find two boxes of The Pill that works for me. Why? Is it because each box costs less than 3 YTL each? Is that why prescription medications are insanely expensive in America? Is it to do with stocking fees? Because not once have I not been able to have my order filled at one pharmacy in the U.S. But is it worth the markup? Where is the balance? Why not sell medicines cheaply but not expect people to go into more than 20 drugstores just for a two month supply!? (This is an example of how two countries might open a dialogue with one another to improve the situation for both parties.)
Submitting an idea for a show to Oprah. The idea basically has to do with importing ideas from other places in the world to solve problems at home. But also to engage an awareness that some things really are done very, very, very well in the U.S./Canada. One excellent example: public libraries and libraries in schools. But we could learn some things from folks elsewhere and could ask ourselves questions like: Why can a developing nation offer drugs and fresh produce to its people at truly affordable prices but the U.S. cannot? And also, to consider things like drying racks that don’t bow under the weight of wet clothes and communal taxis that go places people actually want to go (compared with bus stops that seem so out of place at times) for very little money. It seems like all over the world there are good ideas to import – why stop with sexy, simple, Swedish design?
Reading Tom Wolfe. My dad recommended I read his new book: I am Charlotte Simmons. But of course, the library does not have it. So I settled on four other titles that were in the library. The language is so descriptive yet direct. How does he do that?
Plagiarism. Plagiarism is rampant here. I want to comment on it and share my experiences in full but something stops me from doing so. All I can say is that I am amazed at the skill and energy that seem to go into the plagiarizing. Why not just write it oneself then?
Choosing a graduate program. I settled on a program. It was wonderful to feel that several programs were interested in my research ideas – a real boost for the intellectual ego. I have committed to one program and I am chomping at the bit to start. I must admit though that I am terrified. The fear of not actually being smart enough, tenacious enough and dedicated enough to preserver sneaks in. I am going to wonderful program though that really feels like it will fit. And I am going with love by my side. In the summer, I will have to change the tagline of my blog to: “An American in Edmonton.” Less alliterative but at least it promises peanut butter and pork.
Going into more than 20 drugstores to find two boxes of The Pill that works for me. Why? Is it because each box costs less than 3 YTL each? Is that why prescription medications are insanely expensive in America? Is it to do with stocking fees? Because not once have I not been able to have my order filled at one pharmacy in the U.S. But is it worth the markup? Where is the balance? Why not sell medicines cheaply but not expect people to go into more than 20 drugstores just for a two month supply!? (This is an example of how two countries might open a dialogue with one another to improve the situation for both parties.)
Submitting an idea for a show to Oprah. The idea basically has to do with importing ideas from other places in the world to solve problems at home. But also to engage an awareness that some things really are done very, very, very well in the U.S./Canada. One excellent example: public libraries and libraries in schools. But we could learn some things from folks elsewhere and could ask ourselves questions like: Why can a developing nation offer drugs and fresh produce to its people at truly affordable prices but the U.S. cannot? And also, to consider things like drying racks that don’t bow under the weight of wet clothes and communal taxis that go places people actually want to go (compared with bus stops that seem so out of place at times) for very little money. It seems like all over the world there are good ideas to import – why stop with sexy, simple, Swedish design?
Reading Tom Wolfe. My dad recommended I read his new book: I am Charlotte Simmons. But of course, the library does not have it. So I settled on four other titles that were in the library. The language is so descriptive yet direct. How does he do that?
23 November 2006
Talk is Cheap
Sometimes things overdue become timely again and such is the case with this post.
Two Fridays ago, a local jazz band, Talk is Cheap, composed of three faculty members from the university gave a free concert in the library’s art gallery. It was a smashing combination and was the perfect break for a Friday afternoon. The concert was such a success that they are playing again tomorrow in the library (at 2 pm, I think, in case anyone local is reading this).
That is why I say the post is timely again.
Two Fridays ago, a local jazz band, Talk is Cheap, composed of three faculty members from the university gave a free concert in the library’s art gallery. It was a smashing combination and was the perfect break for a Friday afternoon. The concert was such a success that they are playing again tomorrow in the library (at 2 pm, I think, in case anyone local is reading this).
That is why I say the post is timely again.
The gallery is featuring the work of Abdurrahman Kaplan. I particularly like this picture because old men playing guitar-like instruments seems to be a universal art theme (see Picasso’s take, and Vermeer's take). I almost titled this post “Turkish Picasso” and thought about a whole diatribe on the collective unconscious of things but decided against it since all I know about the collective unconscious is the names Jung and Campbell and the universal myth of creation (I had an excellent course as an undergraduate in ancient astronomy and if I hadn’t already made up my mind to pursue psychology I think I would have rather liked archeoastronomy as a major).
Back to what is at hand: art and music. Having an intimate concert in an art gallery is a lovely thing. This was the first time I had attended any such gathering but if I ever own an art gallery, I would definitely work the art/music angle. It is amazing how spiritually lifting such an experience can be as a feast for the eyes and ears (especially given that often my ears are subjected to the monotony of a clacking keyboard and my eyes to a blinking cursor). What’s more, it is a great marketing ploy (not that this concert was about selling art). But I remember one spring break when S. and I went to San Francisco and in The Haight, there was a t-shirt/poster/bong shop playing Rubber Soul and I spent much more money in that shop that I would have spent had they been playing any other music.
Finally, Talk is Cheap plays every Sunday night at a local bar in Ankara which I do not know the name of but I am hoping that Erin (vocalist and pianist of Talk is Cheap) will post that information in the comments section… just in case anyone out there lives in Ankara or is planning to visit.
13 November 2006
Bahçelievler
Graduate school applications, playing darts, knitting, bathroom repairs and general day-to-day activities gobbled the last month up. The last week in particular has been a flurry of activity with dinners at friends’ (one dinner was t-bone steak brought over from Canada!), finishing a knitting project, going out a bit too much and enjoying the first snow of the season.
There is too much for one post so there will be a few installments as I try to catch up with blogging.
Last Friday night a few of us took the service bus to a neighborhood in Ankara, Bahçelievler (translates to houses [evler] with [li] gardens [bahçe]), to celebrate the successful defense of a Ph.D. It is a lovely area that I had never visited even though I pass it all of the time on the bus. The streets are lined with shops, tea salons, a few bakeries and pastry shops, restaurants and lovely apartments. Plus of course some markets like these pictured. And at this time of year men roasting chestnuts. The first time I had ever had roasted chestnuts was last year in Antalya – both Peter and I really enjoy them so we have been roasting them at home over the BBQ. I digress. Anyway, the pictures of the shops below were taken at about 8 p.m. on a Friday night. The area is lovely, colorful and lively.
But of course, since we were out to celebrate, we wanted to find a pub. And find one we did. The pub pictured here is unlike anything I have ever been in before.
There is too much for one post so there will be a few installments as I try to catch up with blogging.
Last Friday night a few of us took the service bus to a neighborhood in Ankara, Bahçelievler (translates to houses [evler] with [li] gardens [bahçe]), to celebrate the successful defense of a Ph.D. It is a lovely area that I had never visited even though I pass it all of the time on the bus. The streets are lined with shops, tea salons, a few bakeries and pastry shops, restaurants and lovely apartments. Plus of course some markets like these pictured. And at this time of year men roasting chestnuts. The first time I had ever had roasted chestnuts was last year in Antalya – both Peter and I really enjoy them so we have been roasting them at home over the BBQ. I digress. Anyway, the pictures of the shops below were taken at about 8 p.m. on a Friday night. The area is lovely, colorful and lively.
But of course, since we were out to celebrate, we wanted to find a pub. And find one we did. The pub pictured here is unlike anything I have ever been in before.The name of the pub translated is "Peanut." Inside the floors were covered with piles and piles of peanut shells (we are talking 2 feet deep) and tables in the shape of peanuts. I know, you might say, Big Bad John’s in Victoria has peanut shells all over the floor, too. Yes, I know, and Big Bad John’s is a watering hole beyond compare in its own right with women’s underclothes hanging from the ceiling and colorful local characters. But the Peanut was something else. At the Peanut, you can drink beer or vodka. Nothing else. No mixers for the vodka, no water, no juice, no wine, nothing. You may have beer or vodka. And there is only one kind of beer and one kind of vodka. Efes or Absolut. Pick you poison. Never in my life had I heard of such a thing. We opted not to stay there as some of us wanted to drink wine that evening but I had to take a picture in case anyone reading this is in Ankara and wants to sit in piles of peanuts flipping coins for drinks. Heads for Efes and tails for Absolut.
29 September 2006
Food for Thought
This gorgeous red pepper set me back, essentially, 16 cents. Now I want to know: Why? Why is it not possible to get a similar product for the same price in North America? I know I talk about the cost of food here nearly every post but things like red peppers for less than 20 cents each never cease to amaze me.
NOTE – the cost of all food is not so reasonable. For instance, there is a “new product” at Real, the grocery store…Haagen Dazs ice cream! But a pint of HD will set you back 15 YTL which basically translates into $15 a pint! And, I should say that the variety and selection of foods here is limited compared with N. America or the UK. And the quality of some things, e.g. olive oil (surprisingly), cereals, local ice cream etc., is not high, but it is adequate and affordable.
I find it paradoxical that a country that struggles with things like customer service, quality control, time management etc., is able to produce much better staple foods – fruit, veggies and grains, at a price which (I think and hope) most people can afford – than any of the seemingly economically advanced countries like the States, Canada and the UK.
I just keep coming back to: Why? Why are good, ripe, fruit and veggies that might not look perfect but taste delicious only available at farmer's markets and Whole Foods and similar stores or web services (e.g. SPUD, which I miss dearly) at boutique prices in N. America? (And I am guilty as charged because I will shop at said stores for produce.) It just doesn’t make sense to me. Why can’t we N. Americans manage to lower the price of staple foods AND raise the quality so that everyone is able to eat well?
And by “eat well” I do not mean having access to small batch produced ice creams and 100 varieties of sugary cereals and the same variety in potato chips. Those things are luxuries but now they seem to have become staples as the price on such products seems to drop while things like a nice, freshly made loaf of bread costs $4 and tomato-y tasting tomatoes (if they actually still exist outside of people’s own gardens), cost $11 for 6 (enough to make a good spaghetti sauce or soup). (Compared with Turkey where a fresh loaf of bread is 30 cents and enough fresh tomatoes for a sauce costs about a dollar.) No wonder they keep saying there is an obesity epidemic in the States! And it’s not just because there are soda machines in schools. It is cheaper to make KRAFT mac and cheese, serve some sort of fresh veggie (if it is on sale), otherwise, open a tin of peas, and then offer ice cream for dessert. Because to make a nice fresh tomato sauce or even a fresh salad and serve fresh fruit for dessert COSTS MORE! Substantially more! (By the way, I love KRAFT mac and cheese too, I am just trying to make a point. I love ice cream for dessert too, but fresh fruit is lovely too.)
Having had this rant, it is true that I am looking forward to coming back to N. America. I am very much looking forward to coming home. But, I just don’t understand how countries that are at the cutting edge of everything else can be going so wrong when it comes to basic necessities, like food.
25 September 2006
A Good Thing
If, like me, you were digging in your garden to plant your Van Gogh tulip bulbs and snowdrops for next spring and stumbled upon the bases of Doric and Corinthian columns, try transforming them into a meditation bench. It's a good thing.
24 September 2006
Eski Kandil
After shopping for gifts today in Ulus, I stopped for lunch in an “antik ve café” shop: Eski Kandil. Just around the corner from a crossroads filled with baskets, hookahs, evil eyes, kilims and more, I went up the steep wooden steps, passing lovely prints for sale, and stumbled into a tiny room with four (maybe five) tables each covered with different table cloths and a tiny veranda outside with one table and room for six people.
It was lovely. Being the only one there, I had my pick of tables – I chose the table outside.
I ate an Ayvalik tostu made of salami, cheese, pickle, tomato and mayo. I would call it Turkish grilled-cheese. That was washed down with a cup of tea for only 4YTL. Perfection.
A man sat on a stool across the street sewing something made from gray material and three men enjoyed the view from a roof. The call to prayer broadcast from a loud speaker sounded garbled and to me, grating and fascinating all at once. I wouldn’t want to hear it everyday because it reminded me of the drive-through speaker at Wendy’s, but given that it was sung, it sounded beautiful all the same. And how could I not be fascinated, when feeling slightly scared, but mostly at peace listening to a strange language sung over loud speakers in the part of a capital city that rambles with ruins, relics and religion?
It was lovely. Being the only one there, I had my pick of tables – I chose the table outside.
I ate an Ayvalik tostu made of salami, cheese, pickle, tomato and mayo. I would call it Turkish grilled-cheese. That was washed down with a cup of tea for only 4YTL. Perfection.
A man sat on a stool across the street sewing something made from gray material and three men enjoyed the view from a roof. The call to prayer broadcast from a loud speaker sounded garbled and to me, grating and fascinating all at once. I wouldn’t want to hear it everyday because it reminded me of the drive-through speaker at Wendy’s, but given that it was sung, it sounded beautiful all the same. And how could I not be fascinated, when feeling slightly scared, but mostly at peace listening to a strange language sung over loud speakers in the part of a capital city that rambles with ruins, relics and religion?
22 September 2006
Bowling For Turkey
It’s a cold and rainy day here. Even the surfeit of hot tea doesn’t take the edge off. ‘It’ being a Friday, the students are in high spirits and the faculty seems worn out and ready for the weekend. Me? I had to take an hour-long nap yesterday as we get back into the grind (and I NEVER take naps).
We had planned to go bowling at the mall tonight (it’s not like good ole’ Brunswick Bowling with the sticky concession stand and league trophies and announcements on display) – it is swanky – or as swanky as a bowling alley can be – with darts, pool tables and the rules and ‘how to’ of bowling complete with diagrams posted at every lane. It certainly doesn’t have the soul of some of the bowling alleys I’ve been in. Like the one outside of New Haven going west on 34 (I think…I can see the intersection and the Stop and Shop on my left hand side in my head…). That bowling alley oozed Big Lebowski-ness with more fervor and sincerity than the Big Lebowski. Or the place where I joined a parent-child league with my Dad, oh orange vinyl and Las Vegas psychedelic carpets! I like to bowl.Watching people, particularly men, here, bowl is a hoot. They might read the posted instructions and then ignore them completely, step OVER the line and literally launch the ball, overhand (or sideways I guess given the weight) down the lane and it often goes in the gutter 2/3 of the way down. But it’s usually a family-affair here and everyone seems to enjoy it. Suffice it to say, we aren’t going bowling tonight.
On rainy days like today, it seems better to stay in and watch movies. Maybe knit a bit. Peter is going to make a Shepard’s pie (cottage pie, actually, as I am not a huge lamb fan but I am trying really, really hard to learn to appreciate it since there is so damn much of it here) and I have plans to make Cowboy Cookies from the Moosewood website although I wasn’t able to find chocolate chips in the on-campus grocery. Hopefully, I will have better luck at Real. Otherwise, I’m going to try chopping up Toblerone and using that instead.
Ok, moment of surreal “ I know I am Turkey when…” There is scary scaffolding outside of the window upon which two 2 x 4 planks are propped which is holding up (god knows how) a bucket of plaster and a man singing away in the rain. Where the f*&k is OSHA in this country?
We had planned to go bowling at the mall tonight (it’s not like good ole’ Brunswick Bowling with the sticky concession stand and league trophies and announcements on display) – it is swanky – or as swanky as a bowling alley can be – with darts, pool tables and the rules and ‘how to’ of bowling complete with diagrams posted at every lane. It certainly doesn’t have the soul of some of the bowling alleys I’ve been in. Like the one outside of New Haven going west on 34 (I think…I can see the intersection and the Stop and Shop on my left hand side in my head…). That bowling alley oozed Big Lebowski-ness with more fervor and sincerity than the Big Lebowski. Or the place where I joined a parent-child league with my Dad, oh orange vinyl and Las Vegas psychedelic carpets! I like to bowl.Watching people, particularly men, here, bowl is a hoot. They might read the posted instructions and then ignore them completely, step OVER the line and literally launch the ball, overhand (or sideways I guess given the weight) down the lane and it often goes in the gutter 2/3 of the way down. But it’s usually a family-affair here and everyone seems to enjoy it. Suffice it to say, we aren’t going bowling tonight.
On rainy days like today, it seems better to stay in and watch movies. Maybe knit a bit. Peter is going to make a Shepard’s pie (cottage pie, actually, as I am not a huge lamb fan but I am trying really, really hard to learn to appreciate it since there is so damn much of it here) and I have plans to make Cowboy Cookies from the Moosewood website although I wasn’t able to find chocolate chips in the on-campus grocery. Hopefully, I will have better luck at Real. Otherwise, I’m going to try chopping up Toblerone and using that instead.
Ok, moment of surreal “ I know I am Turkey when…” There is scary scaffolding outside of the window upon which two 2 x 4 planks are propped which is holding up (god knows how) a bucket of plaster and a man singing away in the rain. Where the f*&k is OSHA in this country?
25 July 2006
Apricots and Thomas
There are many, many fruit trees here. And lately we've seen people under them with plastic bags picking up loads of fruit - mainly apricots are on offer from the trees right now. So last week we stopped under a apricot tree which had not yet been stripped bare and shook some branches and plucked a bit to get nearly 2 kilos of apricots! What fun! They are gorgeous! The bread is there for scale. The bread was yummy too and a loaf of nice fresh bread is only .45 YTL. I know that I put the prices of things up often but I think it is good to get an idea of the price of things here for perspective. I think bread everywhere should be less than 50 cents a loaf! On the other hand, an imported magazine here like British Vogue is 15YTL and the American Vogue is 22YTL. At least the Economist puts their own prices on the magazine relative to the markets and currencies where it’s sold so it is only about 5YTL.
I digress. Here are the apricots.
It was a boatload of fruit so we did two things. I used the seasonal crumble recipe from the rebar modern food cookbook to inspire me and made an apricot crumble. A few weeks ago I made one with peaches and a hazlenut/oatmeal topping but this crumble was just an oatmeal topping with the apricot filling. Because we don't have measuring cups/spoons, nor can I figure out what cornstarch is here (or if there is such a thing) I use the recipe more as a guide. Typically, I follow recipes to a T but it has been good for me to read them as guidelines and then do whatever makes the most sense given our kitchen (don't forget we have a gas oven with 3 settings so none of this preheating to 350 degrees business!) and resources. The crumble was excellent - not too sweet. Also, we cooked the rest of the apricots and reduced them to put in the freezer to make good things later like apricot glazed chicken.
In addition to visits from the apricot fairy, we also get visits from Thomas The Cat from time to time. We call him Thomas because he sort of has the colors and markings of Tom from Tom and Jerry (although I know Tom is really gray). Thomas is our Lojaman's cat. Every Lojman (apartment block) seems to have one and Thomas is ours. He likes to come in for some milk and then explore the apartment a bit before heading out again.
Turkish lesson:
(I really could use a Turkish keyboard for this because I am missing the "s" and "c" with the squiggle below and the "o" and "u" with the two dots and the "g" with the smile above it)
black = kara
white = bayez
cat = kide
ve = and
Thomas = kara ve bayez kide :)
I digress. Here are the apricots.
It was a boatload of fruit so we did two things. I used the seasonal crumble recipe from the rebar modern food cookbook to inspire me and made an apricot crumble. A few weeks ago I made one with peaches and a hazlenut/oatmeal topping but this crumble was just an oatmeal topping with the apricot filling. Because we don't have measuring cups/spoons, nor can I figure out what cornstarch is here (or if there is such a thing) I use the recipe more as a guide. Typically, I follow recipes to a T but it has been good for me to read them as guidelines and then do whatever makes the most sense given our kitchen (don't forget we have a gas oven with 3 settings so none of this preheating to 350 degrees business!) and resources. The crumble was excellent - not too sweet. Also, we cooked the rest of the apricots and reduced them to put in the freezer to make good things later like apricot glazed chicken.
In addition to visits from the apricot fairy, we also get visits from Thomas The Cat from time to time. We call him Thomas because he sort of has the colors and markings of Tom from Tom and Jerry (although I know Tom is really gray). Thomas is our Lojaman's cat. Every Lojman (apartment block) seems to have one and Thomas is ours. He likes to come in for some milk and then explore the apartment a bit before heading out again.
Turkish lesson:
(I really could use a Turkish keyboard for this because I am missing the "s" and "c" with the squiggle below and the "o" and "u" with the two dots and the "g" with the smile above it)
black = kara
white = bayez
cat = kide
ve = and
Thomas = kara ve bayez kide :)
24 July 2006
Muze
Two weekends ago we visited the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations here in Ankara. I was very impressed! Especially because when we visited a similar sort of museum in Antalya I found it to be poorly run. But the one here in Ankara is wonderful! The museum is located in the old part of Ankara, Ulus, and I thought it was interesting to see that in this area where older architecture reigns, even when things are remodeled, that one house appeared to have aluminum siding on it! I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition of old and new.
There were many beautiful artifacts on display but of course, pictures could only be taken outside, hence the urns in the trees and the lion/pig creature.
I was especially impressed by how the museum was ordered chronologically such the display cases went from the Paleolithic period through the Bronze Age and on in a counter clockwise fashion which made the exhibit easy to follow. I was especially taken with all of the Mother Goddess icons and the stone tablets documenting, lists, marriages, divorces, servitude and other contracts along with their stone envelopes. I would recommend this museum - it is not very large but then, I have a hard time seeing everything in large museums anyway. Plus, it is housed in a 10-domed market building that has been restored which is also lovely to look at.
And of course, we ate. Down a few steps off the "parking lot" at the bottom of castle there was this funky, fun looking place with gourds hanging off the rush mat hiding the ugly plastic awning, string beans climbing up strings with a few ice-plants mixed in, 7 tables in total covered in bright oilcloths with comfy looking chairs with bright flower print cushions and a woman beckoning us in. Across the way was a swanky place with a nice terrace, big canvas umbrellas, chic Europeans and very professional looking waitstaff. We opted for piknik place rather than the swanky terrace being in-the-know local types (we stick out like a sore thumb though – we are constantly being offered a taxi). The atmosphere was perfect and the prices were unbeatable - we both had lunch for less than 13 YTL! And it was a marvelous lunch! Peter had an Iskender kebab with all the fixin’s (kebab, rice, tomatoes and cucumbers, flat bread, peppers and a yogurt sauce) and I had a pide (like a pizza but on a flat, oblong, bubbly bread) with cheese and egg (called karsli, I think - there are many kinds of pide). It was delicious. Meals always end here with tea. As we had been eating we noticed a young boy going up and down the hill with a tray of tea glasses and mused on how the tea always seemed to be hot, fresh and plentiful and how no one ever seemed to actually pay for it (not that we have tried to get tea off of a tea vendor on the street, yet). We wondered if maybe tea was just a public service here? Or if there was some sort of Tea Mafioso run by a large woman called Momma Cay? (tea here is pronounced chai just like chai tea at your local coffee house) We thought maybe everyone settled his or her tea bills with Momma Cay down some back alley. Giggling at this when the welcoming hostess who had also been our server offered us tea, we said yes and where should the tea come from but off the tea boy as he passed by! Unless you are licensed as a teahouse, maybe you have to buy from Momma Cay!
There were many beautiful artifacts on display but of course, pictures could only be taken outside, hence the urns in the trees and the lion/pig creature.
I was especially impressed by how the museum was ordered chronologically such the display cases went from the Paleolithic period through the Bronze Age and on in a counter clockwise fashion which made the exhibit easy to follow. I was especially taken with all of the Mother Goddess icons and the stone tablets documenting, lists, marriages, divorces, servitude and other contracts along with their stone envelopes. I would recommend this museum - it is not very large but then, I have a hard time seeing everything in large museums anyway. Plus, it is housed in a 10-domed market building that has been restored which is also lovely to look at.
And of course, we ate. Down a few steps off the "parking lot" at the bottom of castle there was this funky, fun looking place with gourds hanging off the rush mat hiding the ugly plastic awning, string beans climbing up strings with a few ice-plants mixed in, 7 tables in total covered in bright oilcloths with comfy looking chairs with bright flower print cushions and a woman beckoning us in. Across the way was a swanky place with a nice terrace, big canvas umbrellas, chic Europeans and very professional looking waitstaff. We opted for piknik place rather than the swanky terrace being in-the-know local types (we stick out like a sore thumb though – we are constantly being offered a taxi). The atmosphere was perfect and the prices were unbeatable - we both had lunch for less than 13 YTL! And it was a marvelous lunch! Peter had an Iskender kebab with all the fixin’s (kebab, rice, tomatoes and cucumbers, flat bread, peppers and a yogurt sauce) and I had a pide (like a pizza but on a flat, oblong, bubbly bread) with cheese and egg (called karsli, I think - there are many kinds of pide). It was delicious. Meals always end here with tea. As we had been eating we noticed a young boy going up and down the hill with a tray of tea glasses and mused on how the tea always seemed to be hot, fresh and plentiful and how no one ever seemed to actually pay for it (not that we have tried to get tea off of a tea vendor on the street, yet). We wondered if maybe tea was just a public service here? Or if there was some sort of Tea Mafioso run by a large woman called Momma Cay? (tea here is pronounced chai just like chai tea at your local coffee house) We thought maybe everyone settled his or her tea bills with Momma Cay down some back alley. Giggling at this when the welcoming hostess who had also been our server offered us tea, we said yes and where should the tea come from but off the tea boy as he passed by! Unless you are licensed as a teahouse, maybe you have to buy from Momma Cay!
11 July 2006
In the Mediterranean Style
Our 4 lira houseplant from Pratiker has a new leaf! I was a little worried about why she might have been so inexpensive but in a new pot and sitting in the window sill she seems well...
I suspect that it might be she is celebrating the arrival of the bottled ginger beer! Peter has bottled the ginger beer and after it started fizzing (as shown in this picture), we squeezed out the excess air and screwed the lids on very tight. Now, all the ginger beer is wrapped in plastic bags and is in the rubbish bin in case it explodes...
Speaking of beer and food, since that is mainly what life consists of (except for working which right now is being done but at odd hours of the day as I remotely log on to computers half way around the world), I am trying to embrace eating In the Mediterranean Style. This is highly necessary because Peter's cooking is excellent and I could easily overeat every single day if we had homemade tomato soup, cottage pie, curries and homemade hamburgers everyday. And, it’s also a pleasure because everything is readily available for eating in this style, unsurprisingly, since we are just a few hours from the Mediterranean. I like to look at the MediterraneanAsian for inspiration. In many ways, eating the meals planned won't work for us but the pictures and info are very useful. After looking for inspiration and going to Real (grocery store) last night this was dinner:
Mmm. The grain salad was from the deli section at the local grocery store and is bulgur, cilantro, tomatoes and spices to give it warmth but not too hot. And the white yogurt dip was also from the deli and is a spinach and dill yogurt dip. Yum! We just cut up some veggies and put some olives with it and poured two glasses of Skol beer and dinner was served!
Then...I made dessert :)
fridge... kiwi isn't really in season here nor are bananas and these are expensive compared to other things (e.g. 3 lemons cost .33 YTL, 4 sweet plums cost .46 YTL and 3 tomatoes tallies in at under .50 YTL while 2 bananas is 1.5o YTL) but they are familiar to me and I like to have bananas on my cereal in the morning. I am trying to make use of all of the seasonal things here like the melon pictured above and below - which is apparently a honeydew melon but interestingly, it doesn't look like honeydew I am used to... it is very good and juicy but not as sweet as what I would call honeydew and is more pale: 
Plus, the rind doesn't look like Honeydew but it is very good all the same! The dessert then, was kiwi, banana and honeydew drizzled with honey (which is from one of Peter's students whose father is a police officer but he also keeps bees - we have five different types of honey in the pantry) and topped with crushed almonds and hazelnuts (findik). If the mint hadn't wilted, I would have put a sprig of fresh mint in the picture too! A lovely summery dessert In the Mediterranean Style :)
In other food/beverage news, Real has gotten in a shipment of filter coffee so I was able to buy something besides Starbucks! Real has all sorts of things including food, clothes, DVDs and air conditioners (like a Super Target) and most of the time, everything is in stock but things which are imported, like filter coffee (filtre khave) and frozen shrimp etc. are not always on the shelves. Anyway, the filter coffee we have now is Jacobs brand, which is very dark so I only need half of much of it compared with the measurement needed for Starbucks' brand. I am just a fussy American and can't handle those strong European coffees (let alone Turkish coffee! I have had it every now and then, but it's much too dark and ferocious to drink first thing in the morning!).
Last but not least, we are taking Turkish lessons for nearly three hours every weekday. Learning another language makes me sympathize with little kids who have a large repertoire of nouns and end up pointing a lot and saying words with pleading looks on their faces... or maybe that is just me as I try to learn a new language after my brain has lost all its language plasticity!
Gule Gule! (bye bye!)
06 July 2006
Minutiae
I had typed out a whole blog entry a few days ago and silly me, I was not saving as I went along and was not cognizant of the fact that the electricity had already gone out twice during the day. It does that here on campus though not, apparently as often when students are here. And we speculated that the air conditioner was to blame for sucking up all of the electricity. It has only gone out once at home. But it never stays out very long - only two or three minutes. So I lost the entry.
A side note, when I visited at Christmas time and we went to Antalya, the lights in the old harbor went out every night for up to an hour - no one really seemed to notice! They just lit some candles in the restaurant we started going to every night and went on their way drinking tea and talking!
So, I was trying to capture some of the day-to-day things here in this post. As seen below, ads from the glossy flyer for the grocery store paint a pretty typical picture. Although I am not sure I have ever seen a party pack in North America, all the products in here are familiar-ish: Efes beer (the local beer that can be good or can taste like fish), Pepsi, chips, nuts etc. Not a bad price for all of that.
These packs are usually on sale so it’s not just because of the World Cup.
And the produce. It is fantastic here! Whatever is in season is cheap, delicious and abundant. A whole watermelon is 2 YTL (however, there is no such thing as seedless here) and cherries are still in season! But the strawberries are gone. And they don’t sell overpriced ones by the pint that are fat and tasteless until the winter holiday when it’s a treat. Which is very different from N. America where you can get anything, nearly anytime but not be assured it’s that good. While lots of things like peppers and tomatoes taste like they come from your garden and are cheap as chips, things like avocados and bananas cost more than I am used to paying. But, the quality is still very high for these things.
Other, tidbits here... below is a picture of Yumy toilet paper, which we thought was quite cute. There is not peanut butter of the regular variety to be had. I think I mentioned that already. While there is a whole 1/3 aisle devoted to Nutella-like spreads, there is only a really sweet type of peanut butter. And I have it on authority that most people when going to the US or UK, bring back things like peanut butter, Stilton cheese and shoes (for ladies like myself with large feet). So we are thinking of trying to make peanut butter at home… We are in fact, making Ginger beer right now. I say we, Peter is making a Ginger Beer Plant right now so we can make Ginger Beer. 
Finally, laundry. We have a washing machine in the bathroom. It basically takes up the whole bathroom. Quite different then what I am used to, but at least we have one in the apartment. And we dry everything on a clothes dryer – see below. I think dryers uncommon here and only the rich have them. And I haven’t seen anything in any of the shops like the stacked washer and dryers suitable for apartments. I think there is also a fear of ruining things in dryers and having to pay to run them, it’s true that our clothes will last longer being air-dried. There is a HUGE market for irons, consequently. It seems the sales people encourage ironing everything including t-shits and underwear. But it makes sense, I guess, if you can’t put things in a dryer.
A side note, when I visited at Christmas time and we went to Antalya, the lights in the old harbor went out every night for up to an hour - no one really seemed to notice! They just lit some candles in the restaurant we started going to every night and went on their way drinking tea and talking!
So, I was trying to capture some of the day-to-day things here in this post. As seen below, ads from the glossy flyer for the grocery store paint a pretty typical picture. Although I am not sure I have ever seen a party pack in North America, all the products in here are familiar-ish: Efes beer (the local beer that can be good or can taste like fish), Pepsi, chips, nuts etc. Not a bad price for all of that.
These packs are usually on sale so it’s not just because of the World Cup.
Next, is a picture of the cheese on offer. White cheese. Lots and lots of white cheese can be had which is not unlike mozzarella but not exactly mozzarella, either. There are other cheeses, one kind of cheddar, Gouda, Camembert etc., but these are fairly expensive. Also dairy-wise, there is: yogurt, yogurt, yogurt watered down into a drink, cream cheese, more yogurt and mostly UHT milk. I found pasteurized milk but it went bad in only two days. I think because milk here is only whole milk, so no water to give it a longer shelf life. So I am adjusting to the UHT stuff. Also, there is no sour cream. At all. I love sour cream.
At the faculty club on campus, there is a section on the menu of Tex-Mex items. It’s true. And they say these items are served with sour cream. So Peter asked the barman, Murat, about the sour cream and he brought us a sample. Turns out, it is basically whipped cream but not sweetened. Oh well, you don’t really need sour cream anyway. I learned to love sour cream and chips from R. and A. upstairs in Vic but since there isn’t such a thing here I am settling for a dip made from mayo and bbq sauce served with bugles I had at the faculty club.
And the produce. It is fantastic here! Whatever is in season is cheap, delicious and abundant. A whole watermelon is 2 YTL (however, there is no such thing as seedless here) and cherries are still in season! But the strawberries are gone. And they don’t sell overpriced ones by the pint that are fat and tasteless until the winter holiday when it’s a treat. Which is very different from N. America where you can get anything, nearly anytime but not be assured it’s that good. While lots of things like peppers and tomatoes taste like they come from your garden and are cheap as chips, things like avocados and bananas cost more than I am used to paying. But, the quality is still very high for these things.
Other, tidbits here... below is a picture of Yumy toilet paper, which we thought was quite cute. There is not peanut butter of the regular variety to be had. I think I mentioned that already. While there is a whole 1/3 aisle devoted to Nutella-like spreads, there is only a really sweet type of peanut butter. And I have it on authority that most people when going to the US or UK, bring back things like peanut butter, Stilton cheese and shoes (for ladies like myself with large feet). So we are thinking of trying to make peanut butter at home… We are in fact, making Ginger beer right now. I say we, Peter is making a Ginger Beer Plant right now so we can make Ginger Beer. 
Finally, laundry. We have a washing machine in the bathroom. It basically takes up the whole bathroom. Quite different then what I am used to, but at least we have one in the apartment. And we dry everything on a clothes dryer – see below. I think dryers uncommon here and only the rich have them. And I haven’t seen anything in any of the shops like the stacked washer and dryers suitable for apartments. I think there is also a fear of ruining things in dryers and having to pay to run them, it’s true that our clothes will last longer being air-dried. There is a HUGE market for irons, consequently. It seems the sales people encourage ironing everything including t-shits and underwear. But it makes sense, I guess, if you can’t put things in a dryer.
There are all sorts of other little things that are different here: going to a bar and going to the washroom only to discover there is not a conventional toilet like I am used to (but you make due, trust me); statues and pictures of Ataturk everywhere; people sweeping whole parking lots with a household broom (it creates jobs) and so on. But many things are the same: Lay’s potato chips; Starbucks (if anyone knows of someplace else in Ankara to buy filter coffee, please let me know!); stores like Levi’s and Diesel in the mall; Mercedes and Hyundai and so on. The material things are fairly similar here, overall. But the pace is much more relaxed and people don’t seem to worry as much or being in any great hurry. It drives me nuts. And I consider myself pretty laid back and uncomfortable on the East Coast because I think the pace is too fast! But all in all, things are pretty similar and when they aren’t, you try to adapt and figure out if some company will ship peanut butter to Turkey!
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