I have spent a good part of Sunday helping with the breakfast at our countryside restaurant in Sapanca. You would get surprised how much attention it takes to do an open buffet for 40 people over 4 hours. I was only helping with refilling the buffet, bread basket and stock of tea glasses (imagine a Turkish breakfast without the properly brewed strong tea!). Couple of times I went down to the kitchen to speed up dish washing. In between I edited a post, sorted some photos and replied to a couple of emails. Then I spent the afternoon running between the computer, supervising hotel room cleaning, doing our own laundry and ironing restaurant table clothes. The day has passed like that - in the errands of the family business and little chats with the family members in between.
October 2011
Winter has arrived to Istanbul unannounced. It has been in an agony of suspense the whole summer so it decided to deprive us of any autumn. From late summer we have transited into early winter. Fashionable wellingtons, practical Timberland boots, cozy berets and warm winter jackets - kept at the storage or thoughtfully bought a week ago - have flooded Istanbul streets. As if the streets were not already flooded by the tons of rainfall which poured on Istanbul all at once.
I have been an exemplary of perfectionism: I take ages to share photos and publish posts because I believe they are not good enough. Yet. I am a baker who kneads her dough for a bit and then sets it aside to rest and grow. But I get to the actual baking much more seldom than I wish to. Because the dough has not risen well, I reckon. That’s been my social media strategy in a nutshell too and social media doesn’t have much in the store for the long-taking bakers.
My customers are a constant source of inspiration and thoughts for me. Especially the couples: it is amazing how much of relationships dynamics you can grasp by spending 5-6 hours with people. Especially if you cook together.
The other day I had a cooking class with a lovely couple, T&A. As we toured the Kadıköy market to get ingredients A was talking about their passion for cooking and division of labor at the kitchen, “T cooks and I bake“. “What a great arrangement!” I replied. It was T who did the booking and whom A allowed to do most of the cooking too. Every time A would emphasize, “I am T’s sous chef: I am happy to do chopping and cutting”. Things turned interesting few hours later.
Istanbul fish restaurant scene is still little understood by the tourists traveling to the city. Located between the Black and Marmara seas Istanbul has historically been big on fish and a whole culture has developed around fish dining. Whenever I go to any Istanbul fish restaurant I always spot unease of foreigners unaware of that culture and I feel tempted to jump to their table with my unsolicited advice. Mostly people are terrified with my enthusiasm so I thought I would sneak some advice on Istanbul fish restaurant etiquette by writing this post.
Here is a an easy guide on how to enjoy your night out at an Istanbul fish restaurant, know what to do, what to order, how to deal with the waiters and handle the bill. In 9 easy steps.
