on July 24, 2013
Uncategorized
I am often asked what Russian food I miss most. Well, Turks confident in abundance and superiority of their food may not be so curious, but everyone else always asks me this question hoping to learn more about the exotic Russian fare. Also, folks back home seem to measure my patriotic feelings by the culinary longings: during my latest visit I left someone speechless when I claimed I did not to miss a very special taste of Russian potato that must be (according to that person) impossible to find in Turkey.
More often than not I am puzzled when asked about the Russian food I miss. I used all my cross-border moves to learn more about the cuisines different from my native, and I took it to the extreme when I moved to Turkey solely for its food. I also tend to think that if you cook you can replicate most of the foods you might miss.
However the recent trip to Russia proved me wrong: I could not get enough of the foods I thought I was fine without. I guess appreciating your roots comes with age, and I am happy to have gotten there. So here is my far-from-exhaustive list of the Russian foods I miss in Istanbul.
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on July 10, 2013
Turkish Recipes
Watching gözleme, a flat dough parcel, being made from the scratch is not unlike witnessing a miracle. A woman sits on the floor, legs crossed, in front of the low round table that serves her as a minimalistic kitchen counter. She deftly rolls paper-thin dough yufka with oklava, a long thin stick that a novice of Turkish cooking would hardly believe to be a rolling pin. The woman rolls a small ball of dough into a 10-15cm round, then she rolls the dough on the pin and unrolls it leaving the perfectly round sheet of dough slightly larger and thinner as it was just a moment ago. And so she rolls and unrolls, rolls and unrolls until she makes an impossibly thin, round and large sheet of dough.
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on July 6, 2013
Where to eat in Istanbul
I used to think of Bebek as the place where one goes for just two reasons - to see and be seen. A sleepy village by the Bosphorus less than a century ago, Bebek has turned into one of the most upscale Istanbul neighborhoods. The rich and beautiful people living here could have helped the country to pay off its external debt if they were to team up and sell their cars and yachts parked right here to the delight of a passerby. If you can’t afford living in Bebek it is still ok to come here to splash on a meal, not necessarily so excellent yet certainly self-esteem boosting. Thankfully, things change, and now you can travel to Bebek for something more substantial than the Bosphorus view and feeling good about your purchasing power - one of the best cups of coffee in Istanbul.
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on June 30, 2013
Where to eat in Istanbul
The opening of Yeni Lokanta (literally - New Canteen) is undoubtedly a signature event for Istanbul. Not only because the city has got one more restaurant serving very good food, but also because this eatery may be the first robin of the culinary revolution in the city. We do have a few restaurants that had pioneered New Istanbul, if now New Anatolian, cuisine such as Mikla, Lokanta Maya, Kantin and others. And it is important that those places broaden culinary horizons of their eaters, but it is also critical that they teach their chefs to experiment so that some of those young chefs could continue their bold experimentation in their own restaurants and further popularize the idea of the New Istanbul cuisine.
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on June 26, 2013
Turkish Recipes
What happens when I go to the countryside these days? Not much. I switch on the autopilot mode and get plenty of sleep, eat, play with the dogs, read, hang out, occasionally set up a table for a meal, wash up afterwards and generally act a visiting relative rather a tiresome member of my family undertaking various garden and kitchen projects under the fearless leadership of my mother-in-law. I migrate into the autopilot mode naturally as I find myself at a safe place where unconditional love and good food are awaiting for me.
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on June 23, 2013
Turkish Recipes
Zucchini, poor zucchini, your popularity fades as soon as the other fruits of summer appear at the markets. Who wants to eat zucchini when the eggplants are nice and plump, and can’t wait to be roasted and savored in style? Even my husband was unprecedentedly supportive when I started writing this post. “Hm, why are you repeating yourself? Have you not already written about zucchini?” pointing to the 2 year old post about infamous zucchini fritters of my mother-in-law that I shamelessly deconstructed. Telling you: zucchini, poor zucchini..
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on June 19, 2013
Where to eat in Istanbul
After the recent vivid discussion on my Facebook page I feel relieved and not guilty any more to continue writing about Istanbul food. Because it will not be fare to say that while spending a lot of time at the barricades - physical and literal - Istanbulites have stopped eating and enjoying food. And it is not fair to miss the new places opening their doors to the hungry customers in the city itself and around.
Before my friend Marina, resident of Büyükada, the largest of the Prices’ Islands, left for Tokyo she took me around the island to show the culinary gems that start their full-fledged operation as the season kicks off on the island. And despite the common belief Büyükada boasts quite a few worthwhile eateries that justify a boat trip. A very early morning boat trip if you don’t want to miss one of the best breakfasts around.
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