Turkey

I had a box of turkish delight and some turkish tea from Istanbul, so that seemed like a good theme for a dinner party… while trying to shoehorn in whatever vegetables I got in the CSA. A range of vegetarian mezzes: ...

Gelik Atakoy (near the airport, outside the city, though there are two other locations) was another local recommendation in Istanbul, and was probably my favorite meal of the trip (followed by the informal adana kebab in the Grand Bazaar). To start, a sort of rice pilaf with lots of cracked black pepper (excellent – I don’t know if it was fresher or different black pepper, or if there were other spices as well), a salad, some pulped eggplant (in white), and more adventurously (the brownish-pink lump): çig köfte, a sort of meatball of raw ground beef, bulgur, and red pepper. I liked it quite a bit. [ side note: looking up its name later turned up an NIH paper about the antimicrobial effects of chopped garlic in raw meat ] ...

(wrapping up a few food photos from a recent trip to Turkey): On the recommendation of a local, we went to Yüksel Balık, a good fish restaurant right by the ocean, a bit outside the city center. They bring you into a side room where recently-caught fish are laid out on a cold marble slab. You pick one or more, tell them how you want it cooked (they typically fry it), and get charged based on the weight. ...

I suddenly had to go to Istanbul for a few days (long story). So, of course, I have to fit in some eating: People were drinking Turkish tea in small clear glasses with a lump of sugar everywhere I went. In the Grand Bazaar, I’d see delivery people running around with trays of 5 or 6 glasses of it. I finally happened on a tiny tea stand in the market where the runners were picking it up: ...

Once I heard it was anise-based (like Pernod, Pastis, Ouzo, and so on, but unsweetened, unlike Sambuca), I had to try the unofficial national drink of Turkey, Raki. Not bad, though better with food (cooked meat).