All posts tagged: Turkish culture

New Year’s Eve / 2015 Manifesto / Süryani(Syriac) wine

Published by

Third day into 2015, I’m still writing my new year’s resolutions, feeling slightly bad that I hadn’t made them before New Year’s Eve. In a way, I’m glad that I didn’t because I’d have felt worse for having broken them in the first days of the new year. Koreans have a great excuse for this, “The real New Year is on Feb 19th!” The year 2015 is Sheep so I’ll be celebrating the lunar New Year then again. I would like to give big thanks to our hosts, Filiz and Onur, for the fantastic NYE feast, which far exceeded my expectations. I was so surprised by how much food Filiz managed to prepare in just a couple of hours after work with some help from her sister-in-law, Ozge, who made the most artistic presentation of potato mash. The roast turkey was great and also the meze Omer, one of rare Turkish men who cook. I brought Cheesy Polenta Sticks and Christmas Fruit mince Pies, and as I’m writing this, I got a recipe request for …

Autumn Spirits in Safranbolu

Published by

I couldn’t think of the best way to break the two-month long silence on my blog… I am sure that all of you had assumed that something might have happened or I’d been busy. Yes, both. I concentrated on finishing the book and there was an overseas trip to Korea for 3 weeks, regarding work as well as my love life; a Turkish man goes to meet a Korean family for the first time. I’ll try to share some of the most interesting stories in the next posts to come. Now the book’s been handed in but the anxiety is still there; I thought I was not going to make it to the deadline. So after all the past stress, I will try to relax till the end of the year, instead of cooking and taking photos crazily, to stay focused on what is the most important. Nature, natural, neutral…. Had I known earlier that Turkey has this kind of landscape to offer… Last week, right after Mr.O and I came back from Korea, we …

Zucchini series #3 – Candy Festival and Buckwheat Zucchini Fritters

Published by

How lucky am I to have all the lovely people around who make a little mouse “me” – feel cared for and happy. On the day of Candy Feast or Şeker Bayram in Turkish, this holy gracious amaretto liqueur was served to us by Mr.O’s parents, along with the best almonds and almond paste. Surprised by this unexpected treat, I bugged Mr.O again with questions related to this Turkish amaretto. Perhaps, the reason Mr.O is losing weight despite all the food he eats with me is to be interrogated about food and food history. Anyway, what a treat it was! This is  one of the reason I love Mr.O’s dad so much; he reads my culinary mind perfectly. And we left with more zucchini….and you know what will happen, right? This series will never have an ending. Kids, whether they are 10 year olds or 30 year olds, are equally treated with sweet things during this festival. After a lovely meal, we made a visit to the oldest in the family, Mr.O’s aunt. We tend …

Best Way to Enjoy Ramadan in Istanbul

Published by

Ramadan bayram (holiday after finishing the fast) has started and this year will be longer, which is good news. This post was written on Tuesday but I get to post it just now. I’m so busy right now and will be even more so for a few months. Ramadan means something different for people who have different beliefs and values. Nevertheless, the one thing that is shared by many is that it is an once-a-year event, which reflects a big part of the culture. Whether you fast or not, you try to get the most of this holy and festive period. Now the end of this madness of late night eating is less than a week away. People must be fed up with pide – I can’t wait to get my regular sourdough bread – and the genetic set menu, so called iftar menu by now. Iftar means ‘break fast’ and consists of simple food, most commonly dates, pide, or soup. But these days many restaurants seem to make an event out of it. I …

Best Strawberry Jam – No Pectin, Brown Sugar

Published by

Now these fruit are giving way to… … this. Melons and watermelons are in sight. I love the fact that the fruit and vegetable trucks are going around in suburban, even urban streets. Not only fruit and vegetables, but also fresh milk and eggs are delivered to your door every morning. The sight always makes me smile, and thanks to my smartphone, I get to take instant street shots like these, for which I appreciate the perks of the technology nowadays. Now many people might be making or have already made strawberry jam so I’m rushing to share with you this amazing recipe that doesn’t require pectin. These days many people don’t eat as much fruit conserves as in the past because fresh fruit are dispensable and above all, they are more aware of the white sugar. With everything else we can eat more often, we have to compromise somewhere and for me, it’s white sugar. I do eat it but try to substitute for brown sugar or honey whenever possible. But never for my …