Alan the Performer

Let me start with this...Turkish people are very accepting and encouraging of people who try to speak their language and learn about their culture. They are also very accepting of people who get on stage and sing. This is how I ended up doing this:

Although my playing is very basic and my singing is off key the audience still applauded and I received many compliments later. 

The bağlama, a traditional Turkish instrument has 7 strings grouped into 3 groups. There are 2 strings tuned to A, 2 tuned to G, and 3 tuned to D. When I play I actually have it tuned up a few steps to C, A#, F. Mostly Turkish players use the bağlama to play the melody, not so many chords. 

Turkish Meal Mondays: Sutan's Delight

Sultan's Delight (Hünkar Beğendi) is one of my absolute favourite dishes to order at restaurants that serve it. We've made it a few times at home, but it's never lived up to the name. We are still playing around with the ingredients, hoping to get it right some day. Read all the way to the end to find out about possible alterations.   For all of you who are eggplant avoiders, the eggplant doesn't have much flavor, it just adds a nice creamy texture to the dish.  If you still don't want to try it consider substituting zucchini for the eggplant. My friend Sam says it's just as good that way.

This recipe has two parts: A meat stew, and an eggplant cream. 

Start by cleaning and fork-piercing the eggplant. Broil on an oven rack for 30 minutes, or until they lose their lovely colour and get super wrinkly.

 

 Patlican

While the eggplant is roasting, start the meat stew:  Bring a few cups of water to a boil. Add cubes of meat (we used lamb, but we have also used chicken, and I imagine beef would work as well).  Reduce heat to a simmer. After about 10 minutes add an onion, a tomato, some sweet peppers, and garlic, all chopped.  Add a spoonful each of tomato and pepper paste, and salt and pepper. Simmer until the sauce has reduced to a gravy-ish consistency.   

 

Kuzu, soğan, domates, tatlı biber, saramsak, domates ve aci biber soslu, tuz, kara biber.

Eggplant Cream
Step 1: Let eggplant cool lest you burn the crap out of your tender fingers. 

Step 2: Once they are cool enough to handle, cut the tops, peel the skin off, and chop into small cubes. Submerge in water with a little salt and lemon juice, to keep them from browning.

In a pan, melt butter (we used 3 TBSP, but I don't think that was enough). Add 1 TBSP of flour. Mix until it thickens. Squeeze water out of eggplant, and add to the butter mixture. Add 1 cup of milk and puree with an egg beater, until smooth. Add the juice of one lemon. Mix in a 1/2 cup of shredded white cheese (like mozzarella) and stir until melted.

Tereyağı, un, patlican, süt, limon, peynir

 Plate the meal by making a donut shape out of the egg plant cream, and adding the stew to the center.

Result:  The stew was SUPER! I was worried that the meat would be tough, but it was perfect. Eggplant cream: Meh... The overwhelming flavor was flour. Boo. But the stew saved it. And the amount was perfect for the two of us.

Alterations we will try next time:  We'll up the amount of butter, and cheese, as well as adding a bullion cube to the butter and flour mix. Hopefully it will be more flavorful and less floury.

What the Heck Wednesdays: How to sit like a lady

"What the Heck?! Wednesdays" focus on the heart-warming, ridiculous, and sometimes frustrating stories from our school days.  Teaching in Turkey is trying and difficult.  We come home exhausted,  and our days off are nothing short of precious. That being said, we love our students.  Most of the time. They are creative, silly, smart, obnoxious, loud, affectionate and adorable.  And they make for some delightful stories. Enjoy... 

 I teach a lot of kids here at Bahçeşehir.  I teach 4 grade levels, 8 classes, and approximately 200 students.  Sometimes it makes me crazy to plan for so many different age groups, and keep track of so many different children, but I love all of them.  And I love love LOVE my four-year-olds.  I get to spend a few hours a week singing and dancing and playing English games with them, and they are just so sweet I want to squeeze their little faces (which, incidentally is culturally acceptable in Turkey). 


After watching them for a year, I have come to the conclusion that they aren't four at all.  I think they're three.  I think they count years differently here.  Either that, or American children are gigantic, and SUPER self sufficient compared to Turkish children.  So if these children sound a bit young to you, join the club. 

If you have children, or you spend any amount of time with young children, you may know that being polite, graceful, and proper are not high on their list of priorities.  Oh no. Priorities include having what they want the instant they want it (most likely the thing the kid next to them has, or anything that flashes and makes an obnoxious noise), and doing what they want whenever they want to (running, jumping, shouting, climbing anything taller than them, and throwing anything they can pick up). They aren't too interested in impressing anyone with their refined behavior.


So it never surprises me to see a little boy running around with no pants on, or a little girl in a tiny skirt sitting with her legs spread wide open. It doesn't bother them, so it doesn't bother me.  


But it bothers Talya. Talya is a four-year-old in my class.  One who has apparently been taught all about being proper and sitting "like a lady."  While we were all sitting on the carpet one day, I noticed Talya giving the stink eye to Eslem, while looking back at me as if to say "Will you look at her?"  So I did, and thought she was aiming her disgust at the fact that Eslem was laying down rather than sitting.  


"Eslem's laying down.  She must be tired."


This clearly didn't satisfy Talya who rolled her eyes and continued the stink face. I didn't realize that she was horrified by Eslem's un-lady-like stance of legs splayed, skirt up around her stomach, and underwear in full view, until Talya reached down to try and straighten Eslem's skirt.  


There wasn't much she could do with that little jean mini while Eslem's legs were spread so wide so her next attempt was to push Eslem's legs together at the knees.  Eslem didn't seem to mind, but the second Talya let go, those knees snapped wide open again.  


At this Talya leaned in real close and whispered "Çok ayıp!" in her ear.  (Want to know about Çok ayıp? Click here. )

Eslem brushed away Talya's whisper as if it was a fly, and kept right on sitting like that. 


After multiple more attempts at re-arranging Eslem's legs, Talya found a solution to the "slutty stance" that was bothering her so much. She leaned over Eslem, with one elbow on one side of her knees and her body on the other side, clamping Eslem's knees together, while managing to keep her own legs crossed "like a lady" the whole time.  


Kids.

Turkish Meal Mondays: Mercimek Çorbası (Lentil Soup)

Turkish Meal Mondays are a glimpse into the food we enjoy here in Turkey, accompanied by a recipe.  Mondays are one of our favourite days, because they're Market Days. Ever since our first market day a year and a half ago we have only missed two, due to torrential down pour a few weeks ago.  Our trips to the market will continue to focus on selecting fresh and delish produce to use in our weekly Turkish recipes.  Get ready... This blog just became appealing to foodies.

This week the recipe is for one of my favorite soups here in Turkey. There are 2 colors of lentils, green and red. I used green lentils, but after I found out that I was supposed to use the red ones. When I asked how to make this I got the typical "a little of this, a little of that..." type recipe, but when you can't read the minds of the people telling you mistakes happen. The recipe didn't call for celery root, but I used it anyway...

One Potato, Carrots, one onion and celery root (I don't actually use the celery).

I grated the carrots and chopped everything else .

First I sautéed the chopped veggies until they are soft. Then I added about 3 cups of chicken broth and the lentils. I simmered this for about 30 min until the lentils were soft.

The reason it didn't taste authentic...

After everything is soft and ready I add some salt and pepper to taste and then I used our hand blender to mix it all up.

One hand on the camera, one hand on the mixer.

I served it with some buttered toast. Turkish people like to add lemon to their soups. We also added a pomegranate sauce that they use on many things (basically it's a reduction sauce).

Afiyet Olsun!

Phaselis: Only in Turkey could this be a "Pit Stop"

On our way home from Ardasan, we took a brief pit stop in Phaselis, you know, to stretch our legs, and have a bathroom break.

Most beautiful bathroom break EVER.

Oh and on top of it's beauty... the ruins in this magnificent location date back 700 BC, and it's home to the world's first harbour as well as the world's first Hamam.

No big deal.

Chimera: Fire Mountain

Back when we were first moving to Turkey, we put Fire Mountain on our list of must-sees. Check that way-back blog post for the legend.

Well, with 5 weeks to go, we finally made it.  I'm so glad we did, and I'm sure my mom is too.

We headed up after dark, for the best viewing.  The hike was only somewhat treacherous, but it was totally worth it.  

The bigger fire "pits" really look like someone set up a camp fire, but when you look closer, there are no burning materials in sight.  No logs, no tinder, nothing.

The smaller fire holes were more obviously magical. (Or scientifically explainable, if you want to be like that.) 

I can totally see how someone could discover this and assume that a fire breathing monster lived in this mountain. 

The only thing missing was s'mores. Darn-it.

Turkish Meal Mondays: Börek

Turkish Meal Mondays are a glimpse into the food we enjoy here in Turkey, accompanied by a recipe.  Mondays are one of our favourite days, because they're Market Days. Ever since our first market day a year and a half ago we have only missed two, due to torrential down pour a few weeks ago.  Our trips to the market will continue to focus on selecting fresh and delish produce to use in our weekly Turkish recipes.  Get ready... This blog just became appealing to foodies.

Man, we have been struggling with getting these out on Mondays!  Sorry.  But this week we have a great reason.  We're hosting a dinner party for all of kindergarten on Wednesday, and a meal made on Monday just wouldn't taste as fresh as a meal made on Tuesday.  So Turkish Meal Tuesday it is this week.

This week is great for another reason: we have a special guest chef! WooHoo!

Meet Hasan.

He owns our favourite bakery in town, and is who we go to for cakes, cookies, and all sorts of other treats. Also, he is just the nicest guy.  He's one of those people we consider family by now.

Hasan will be tutoring us in how to make Börek, because Turkish people are very precise about their foods, and we never seem to get it just right. 

Börek comes with many different fillings (meat, cheese, spinach, herbs, potatoes, I've even seen peas) but the outside is always layers of paper thin, phyllo-like, dough. Yum.

Today we'll be making a cheese and spinach (peynir ve ıspanak) Gül Börek.

(Gül means Rose, and refers to the shape).

Ingredients: (Serves 20)

 5 eggs

500 ml oil

400 ml milk

7 HUGE sheets of dough (each sheet will make 3)

Yasin with the filling.

Filling:

Fresh Spinach 1 kilo

1 small onion

400 grams Beyaz Peynir or Feta cheese

A little bit of salt and black pepper

(Sautee chopped onions, add spinach, and salt and pepper, and cook until the spinach wilts. Cool, and mix in cheese.)

*So sorry about all the funny measurements.  You probably all have conversion apps though right?

First crack the eggs like a professional, by whacking two together.  I am now a master.

Whisk the eggs, oil and milk together. Don't slack off, Hasan made me whisk for a good 3 minutes. 

Now, using a VERY clean surface (Alan), scoop handfuls (5?) of this egg mixture out, using a professional looking swirling arm motion. You're aiming to make a circle the size of your dough sheets. Don't puddle it, just lightly drizzle. 

    Lay one layer of the dough out on the egg drizzle, smoothing flat.

Again, drizzle handfuls on the top, making sure to reach all the way to the edge. 

Cut the circle of dough into three even-ish strips.  (Top, middle, and bottom.  NOT pie slices.)

Sprinkle the filling along the edge of each third.

Here comes the fun part... FOLD, don't roll, the dough over the spinach.  Fold two or three times, not just once, but fold LOOSELY! Don't get it to tight.  

Now, swirl into a rose shape, tucking the end under the edge. 

Again, don't roll too tightly.  Serbest.

Alan has his smug face on, because he thinks he is the best at this...

But notice Hasan pointing to the "perfect" one.  That's mine.  Granted Alan hadn't made any yet.
But when we were finished Alan asked Hasan who was better, and he said "Elin," but he pointed to me.   (Elin is the way everybody in Turkey says both of our names.)

 Things got awkward when Alan started crying, so he recanted his statement.  But I'll always know the truth.

When you finish, put them in the oven.  If you're super fancy like Yetgin, heat the upper coil of your oven to a higher temperature that your lower coil.  But if you're normal like us, just bake them at 350, like everything else in the world.  10 minutes should do the trick!

Afiyet Olsun