Do you believe in telepathy? The mere possibility of communication without sending or receiving a message through any medium known to the human kind? I would have been much more sсeptical about this idea unless me and my mother-in-law communicated that way. We don’t see each other often: she is not leaving the kitchen of her countryside restaurant, and I am keeping duty at my kitchen in Istanbul. We rarely talk on the phone. But too often when I come to the countryside I discover she’s cooked exactly the same dish I made in Istanbul the day before.
White Bean Stew (Kuru Fasulye)
Pilaf with Green Lentils and Caramelized Onions
Pilaf is a part and parcel of our family meals in Sapanca, and we are no different from other Turkish families. When mothers fry a pile of home-made meatballs (köfte) they do not forget to make buttery rice pilaf as a garnish. Pilaf with orzo (dark-brown pasta looking like an oversize rice grain) is cooked everyday at the canteens serving sulu yemekler (stews): indeed, kuru fasulye and such are only right to eat with pilaf and let the grains coat in the tasty gravy. At a kebab restaurant your portion of Urfa kebab arrives with a neat pile of bulgur pilaf reddish with the tomato paste. Stuffing wine leaves, mussels an what not also means preparing pilaf called iç pilavı in Turkish (literally, pilaf for stuffing) that everyone loves for the sweetness of onions, crunch of pine nuts, tartness of the raisins and fragrance of the spices.
Spiced Roasted Eggplant with Millet
I am often assumed to cook Russian dishes for my Turkish family or at least sneak in some Russian influences in our daily fare. The disappointing truth is I can’t remember cooking much Russian food here in Turkey apart from the potato fritters I prepared during the romantic stage of the relationships with my husband-to-be.
The fritters that manifested the Russian culinary ascetics were accepted and eaten for two reasons: 1) fried foods are universally lovable and 2) I was too new to the family to discourage my efforts even though Özgür’s mom did immediately suggest how I could ‘improve’ the Slavic classic, and I had neither the confidence nor the language ability to say that giving dish a Turkish touch does not equal improvement.
Ennobled Baby Zucchini
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..
Içli Köfte with Green Peas and Tahini-Yogurt Tarator
Recent shopping for a camera cable got me into yet another enlightening conversation I always find myself having with the locals – on the matters of Turkish food. A few days ago I came back to Istanbul from Sapanca and realized that I had left the camera cable at our countryside place. Getting a new one would be a major undertaking in many cities I have lived in but not in Istanbul. A few minutes after the realization I was already in Kadıköy at one of those han (little business center) packed with electronic stores. I found one selling cables of any possible kinds and could even be customized as appeared from a man fussing with a rather complex adapter system including many cables, cutoff points and such. I was immediately handed out the exact cable I needed.
Bulgur Pilaf with Roasted Winter Vegetables
Today while reorganizing my kitchen pantry I have found four varieties of bulgur in my cupboards. How unfair I have not written about bulgur more frequently! But I am going to improve right now. Bulgur - yes, I insist it is bulgur and not ‘bulgur wheat’ just like there is no such a thing as ‘lemon lemonade’ - is a wheat berry that was briefly boiled first and then cracked and ground. The ground bulgur is sifted and separated based on the degree of coarseness, each for different use.
Oven Ratatouille (Firinda Sebze): How to Deal with Imperfections
The other day I re-took Myers Briggs test to find out my personality type has changed over the past ten years. From ENFJ I have gone to INFP. I wonder if this shift reflects the fundamental change in my character or just describes the current moment. From extravert I have gone introvert: who could tell?! But then I have never been spending so much time with other people - my extended family, my clients, my market vendors and Istanbul crowds. After time with them I happily crawl into my own shell and love staying there for a while undisturbed. From judgmental I went to more reliant on intuition: I guess being in the new culture I can’t always rely on the logical clues to explain the behavior of people around me. So I develop sensing rather than judging.
My new resulting personality type is INFP, “The Idealist” which describes the current me so well. I am looking for harmony in people, things and relationships of them all. When I don’t find it I get very upset. I start seeing only imperfection around me and feel more and more miserable.
