Hoşçakal, Turkey: Thoughts on my time split between Europe and Asia

Another country complete, and now I head firmly for Central Europe. But first, a couple of thoughts on my three-ish weeks in Turkey.

A food culture focused on local, fresh, and simple: The food, at its best, was very fresh and often composed of only a handful of ingredients. One of my favorite meals was the plate of kofte meatballs paired with grilled tomatoes and peppers on top of the hill on Buyukada. Indeed, the fancier that Turkish cuisine tried to get, the more it struggled to retain great flavor. The virtue of this approach is that great meals could be had nearly everywhere and there was no need to pay a premium for preparation, only for freshness.

A unique place seriously straddling two very different parts of the world: I come away fascinated by the one of a kind history and current situation Turkey plays in the world. In the past, it was the meeting place of people from all over, the center of a very tolerant Ottoman Empire that didn't know much nationalism. Now, it finds itself between Europe and the Middle East, and the tensions are apparent. It seemed to me to be at its best when it took the best parts of each of these traditions and made it into something specifically Turkish.

A great chance to travel with family: It was excellent that, in the middle of my trip, I had the opportunity to meet up with all of my immediate family. There were great group experiences and lots of fun one on one moments. And, of course, more time with my giggly niece!

And, with that, the Turkey chapter of this trip is complete. To Berlin!

Bevy of beards, part two

More Turkish beards!

Beard, Ottoman-style, at the Topkapi Palace balcony in Istanbul, June 20, 2010.

Beard enjoying a lovely waterfall, June 25, 2010.

Beard taking in the ocean from a castle on an island, June 26, 2010.

Beard soaring 4,000 feet above ground, July 1, 2010.

Saying goodbye to Mersin with pide and kebap

After a down day on Monday of mild sicknesses and of resting, we geared up for a final meal in Mersin before heading to Cappodocia. Wandering down our street a bit we came to Gonlubol Kebap and Lahmacun Salonu.

We ordered a bit of everything and did it right, family-style.

Two salads came first, one the traditional shepherd's salad and the other an interesting parsley and onion marinated in pomegranate. Both were excellent, alone and when eaten with the main courses.

Next came the pide, of which there were three: peynirli pide, sucukli pide, and kiymali pide. The kiymali, or minced meat, was my favorite, though all three were nicely done, especially for a neighborhood shop.

We couldn't not get more lahmacun and this version was tasty. The minced meat again proved superior and the flavors were rich.

To pair with our pide and lahmacun, we got three kebaps: adana kebap, beyti kebap, and kusbashi kebap. The last one was a lamb chunk dish, which had large chunks of lamb alternating with large chunks of fat. Though overwhelming by itself, if the fat was paired with meat and with veggies, it was a great bite. The adana and beyti were respectable if not great versions of the dishes.

And so ended our time in Mersin, with a bevy of meats and breads.

Skewers for 25, please

The final night with the big group from the wedding and we needed to eat. We wandered across the (very busy!) street outside of our hotel to the only open place. Luckily, we had heard some good words in advance.

It was called Cigerci Dogan and it was a skewer house. As such, the only real choice was what you wanted on your skewer: lamb, chicken, liver, or mushroom. I went for lamb in the style of adana kebap. As before at the skewer shop in Istanbul, the table soon filled up with condiments.

There was fresh lemon, fresh parsley, and lots of spicy peppers.

There was also tomato salsa with pomegranate sauce and marinated onions.

The grilled veggie plate included tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

And then came the meat: adana kebap with a big pack of quarter tortillas. All in all, these skewers were great. The meat was juicy and spicy, and the bevy of condiments kept the filled tortillas interesting. The peppers as it turned out, were very spicy, but in a subtle way. I took a bite of one and thought it wasn't too bad. Then it crept up on me and soon a third of my mouth was numb. Oops. Guess I'll have to have more adana kebap with onions and tomatoes!

But that wasn't all. In addition to being a skewer shop, this place was also a kunefe shop. Kunefe is a strange dessert made with cheese, pistachios, and honey. We got to see it being made.

Then it was time to try it.

Peynirli kunefe is pretty good! I don't think it's likely to win dessert of the year anytime soon, however. My favorite part of the dessert was how chewy the cheese was. And that is certainly not a sentence I've thought of writing about desserts. In this version, the simple syrup and honey sauce was actually a bit thin so it came across as watery. The pistachios were a great addition, as they always are.

A spread to end all spreads

The denouement of the wedding events the next day was a fantastic beach and park day put on my Murat's parents. Oh, and it included one of the biggest and tastiest buffet spreads I've seen put on, especially privately.

The selection was indeed so vast that I was forced to go vertical on my plate, with eating then revealing further layers of dishes for me to eat.

Starting at 12 o'clock and moving clockwise, there was aged string cheese, marinated mushrooms, olive and zaatar in edible dipping containers, cheese borek, bulgur salad, grilled eggplant, marinated tomatoes, mini lahmacun, bread with sesame and garlic, and a fresh wedge of cheese. Whew! The olive and zaatar were great. Take a chunk of bread, dip it in oil then dab it in zaatar, and you have a great tasting bite. The eggplant was also a standout, cooked to the point of melting.

One layer down, in the same manner, there was grilled green peppers, bean salad, marinated olives, cooked spinach salad, a cheese and a meat pide, and eggplant salad. The eggplant continued to standout, and this one was balanced by other flavors as well. The green peppers were also lovely, near roasted but not that charred. Finally, how can you go wrong with pide?

What a brunch! After that, I needed a little siesta before it was time to hit the waves.

Congratulations, Jen and Murat!

At last it was time for the main event: the wedding of Jen and Murat. The ceremony took place right on the beach and included a spectacular, fireworks filled entrance.

The ceremony itself was spot on, unique to the two of them. It melded the various cultures they've come from and the various communities they've created and joined superbly well. Plus, it had the added touch of a bilingual reading of vows!

From the ceremony to the reception, just off the beach. There we wined, we dined, and we danced. The dancing included a performance of belly dancing, but a type I had never seen before.

Oh, and there was plenty of raki. What with the lovely beach and Mediterranean right next by, the celebrations didn't wrap up until almost near dawn.

Jen and Murat, thanks for putting on such a fabulous celebration. You are two lovely and wonderful people. I know you are destined both for happiness and great things and I look forward to watching the years unfold with you. I also look forward to some awesome adventures. Felicidades!

A theme song for the What's That blog empire?

So, there's a fish head lying on the table, and the meal is coming to a close. Sounds like time to record a jingle, right?

With my dad in the lead, we filmed a couple of takes and come up with this potential theme song for the blog.

The fish could have jumped from the sea to our plates

In between heaven and hell, on the one side, and a castle in the sea, on the other, was a lovely lunch as close to the waterfront as you could get.

That's right, this little fish restaurant in Narlikuyu literally abuts a cove of the Mediterranean. On a day like today, I could not imagine a better setting for a meal. This was a set menu kind of place, so we just let them bring us the usual.

To get our appetites revved up, we started with grilled pearl onions, marinated olives, and spicy peppers. The onions were amazing, and I began to pop them into my mouth whole. the olives were also great, nice and fresh.

Then a duo of pickled salads arrived: pickled sea beans and pickled cabbage with pickles. That was a lot of pickling for two salads. The sea beans were a little overdone, both from the pickling and from the brinyness of this particular batch. Nobody could eat more than a couple. The cabbage was slightly more edible, though not delicious.

Then some regular salad, this one an arugula and tomato salad. The dressing was a bit thick on this one, but after the pickling duo this came across as nice and mild.

Yet more salad! A shepherd's salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions rounded out the salad courses. This was a perfectly acceptable version of the standard.

From there we transition to seafood, first with fried calamari. I haven't yet been able to figure out what the dipping sauce they use in Turkey is - it seems to be some combination of mild yogurt and cottage cheese. The calamari itself was very nicely done. Meaty rings that retained some crunch surrounded by a nicely fried batter.

And the star of the meal, grilled whole sea bass. This fish was awesome. It tasted like it had just been caught. Once it had been dressed with fresh lemon, we dug in. Each bite was light yet really, really flavorful. This restaurant had put its practice to good use in grilling fish.

As an added bonus, the whole fish was there, which inspired some creativity by my dad. That's to come in a later post.

Tantuni to go

So we'd had the adana kebap, famous to this region. However, there was still one dish also very well known in these parts that I'd not yet had.

I refer, of course, to tantuni. It is a thin burrito, filled with lamb meat, tomatoes, and onions. Accompanied by a lemon and pepper, it is best eaten fully doused in lemon and with the peppers inserted into either end of the burrito (though they can pack a punch). It was delicious, the perfect mini-meal. It was fresh from the lemon with good meatiness from the lamb, no gamey-ness in sight. This region knows how to do their specialties! Then, we learned what made it so special: sheep's tail fat. That's right, the fat from the tail of the sheep is used to flavor all the insides of the little tantuni. It looks like a little sheep's tail too.

After heaven and hell, we go to a little castle in the sea

For our second (and last!) day of sightseeing around Mersin, we headed west along the coast. First, we came to heaven and hell. Literally.

On the theory that it is better to end up in heaven, we went to the pit of hell first.

It was actually a little hell-ish. A hole 30 meters across descends, straightaway, 120 meters into the ground. No warning, just a big, big drop. The little platform of (reinforced?) iron that let me peer down into it provided little consolation, and I was quickly back on solid ground. To heaven!

Now, you might think to get to heaven you go up. Wrong, still down. But this chasm you can descend into, a full 455 steps. It was a cave that just got darker and darker, slicker and slicker all the way down. Anshul and I made a pact to get to the bottom, come hell or high water.

Once we got through the mouth of the cave, some of its coolness became apparent, like these formations on one of the walls.

We did make it to the bottom, essentially. We stopped when we got to the part where the cave, that had had 60 foot ceilings, narrowed to a foot and a half gap that looked like a river bed. Would've been cool to adventure further, but I'd like to take a proper flashlight (not just my camera flash) and a guide for that.

On the ascent, we were treated to fantastic views of the mouth of the cave, including some cool shots with and without flash that look very different (first two shots below). Also, we could get better perspective on the 5th century church about halfway down.

Finally, we left the afterlife and went to the sealife, to the town of Kizkalesi. The town was famous for, and actually named after, two of its castles. One was right on the coastline, while the second was, amazingly, on a tiny island about 200m into the sea. The castle filled virtually the entire island.

We had to see it. We jumped in a little skiff run by 15 year olds and headed over. It was the perfect place just to roam and explore, as there were still stairwells to climb in and vistas to be seen.

A great day of exploration and climbing around!