Things slow down in winter: people travel less and to much warmer places than Istanbul. I do fewer food walks and cooking classes. Short days tempt you to do less and think more, or even better stare at the enchanting fireplace to the howling sound of the wind outside.
In between doing what you used to do and thinking what you can be doing there is the third state of being - experimenting. Usually rather risky affair calling for time to run the trial-and-error and yet not promising a certain outcome experimenting sounds very right to do off season.
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Every time I go to Set Balık (and after many trial-and-errors this is THE place where I go for a fish meal) I keep wondering how other Istanbul fish restaurants could have possibly survive this competition. Off the tourist trails location, unusual fish dishes, loyal regulars, professional service and reasonable bill - Set Balık so well illustrates 5 rules of a good Istanbul fish restaurant.
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Istanbul coffee shops and Turkish coffee culture are both such a paradox. How could the city where the coffee shops have existed for over the half of the millennium start favoring Starbucks and its local copy-cats? How could the tradition of the Turkish coffee served in the tiny gracious cups could be traded for the mugs of Nescafe? Luckily, there is still a handful of Istanbul coffee shops to indulge the nostalgia, authentic ambiance and a good cup of coffee.
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Making dolma (Turkish for any stuffed dish) calls for so many steps and so much patience that I like to keep it for the days when you cook for the whole week ahead. Waiting for your rice to soak, simmer, steam, cool down and then get cooked in dolma becomes less painstaking if meanwhile you are preparing meat stock to make a soup or pressure cooking chickpeas to turn them into hummus.
This Sunday could have been such a cooking-ahead-day but turned different: the snowfall closed the way up to our farmhouse at the Istanbul countryside. Which meant that early morning we put together a huge breakfast for the guests who arrived the night before and relaxed for the rest of the day as no one else dared the steep hill taking you 500 m above the sea level. Once the breakfast was over we were so happy with the sun and snow that immediately put the rice to soak and went out to made a snowman.
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Two hours and one tart crust down I concluded, “Who really needs this effort in Turkey where you can make almost any baked wonder with yufka dough, or Turkish phyllo!“ French have butter so they make tarts. Turks have wheat and water so they make yufka dough. Which is more egalitarian by nature. Butter-loving individuals can still brush their yufka dough with butter and savor that delicate flaky pastry. Less aristocratic folk will simply season their yufka with the mix of sunflower oil, yoghurt and egg to get a substantial meal.
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Maybe you are settling in Istanbul, maybe you live abroad with a Turkish spouse and feel curious to learn Turkish cooking, or maybe you got captivated by the local cuisine while traveling in Turkey and would like to recreate its taste back home. Besides looking up Turkish cooking recipes you may be interested in learning to use Turkish cooking utensils. Here are seven great tools to make your Turkish cooking experience fun and its outcome - perfect.
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New Year preparations and celebrations brought me back to Sapanca, to our large family which grows even larger on the festive times. While all the normal families were setting up the festive decorations, doing present shopping and planning their vacation we were busy cleaning, cooking and receiving guests here at the farmhouse. And I have experienced the new depths of being a family bride (or gelin, in Turkish).
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When I say I had a chance to help a few chefs at their small kitchens people say “wow” and something to that effect. Little they know (and so did I before) that when assisting a chef the first thing you get to know is dishes. I mean, dishes! Save your aspirations to learn the recipes and cool chef tricks for later as the first skill you will hone to perfection during your apprenticeship at a restaurant kitchen will be dishwashing.
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I have got unexpected feedback to my speech at the recent tourism conference in Ukraine: I was talking about how to develop and launch a niche tourism product (aka my Istanbul food walks and cooking classes). After my presentation another speaker approached me, “Olga, you look like a very happy person! Indeed what one needs to be happy - job that you love and family that supports you”. Indeed while we may picture happiness as a definitive climax with the bad guys killed and the good ones kissing with sparkles in the sky as a backdrop happiness often times comes in simpler and not-so-glorious aspects.
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My solo dining in Istanbul started a few years ago when drained out of energy by the exorbitant workload of a consultant I was coming for long weekends to re-charge and savor Istanbul and its food. Those were my rendezvous with the city itself when I could have it all for myself. Istanbul reciprocated my intentions and proved a very friendly place for a solo female traveler.
Sun, good food, brief walks in Sultanahmet that supply your annual portion of male attention, numerous shopkeepers ready to please, hamam pampering, cooking classes and concerts you can attend without being intimidated by your couple-lessness. And on top of this - plentiful opportunities to meet other solo travelers when you feel like joining forces to attack a good eatery.
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