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.
Bulgur Pilaf with Roasted Winter Vegetables
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.
Turkish Style Homemade Ravioli: Why Turkey Could Have Been Italy But It’s Not
Italy has been on top of my mind recently. I have finished reading Bill Buford’s “Heat” on his pursuit of real food at the Italian kitchens in NY and Italy. My sister has reported on her yet another trip to Italy and shared a plan to return this summer for more. Russian TV-chef celebrity Julia Vysotskaya has launched a new culinary show she films in Tuscany. Piled up these facts translated into an urge to get on a plane and savor Italy. Until it occurred to me that I live in Italy .. simply of another kind.
Prawns with Loquat En Papilotte. And Living in Two Homes
Living in two homes is something I have been doing for the past 5 years. I would find one place I am really happy at.. and then would almost immediately find the other. So I would be shuttling between the two.
Homemade Nettle Pasta and Financial Security
May has already been financially satisfying. I have made it to the breakeven - given my visa runs to Russia last year and ridiculously high rent I am paying right now in Istanbul. Which means I can give legitimate answers to the persistent questions my friends and parents still ask about the financial viability of my food career.
As Özge has started helping me with the food tours I can focus more on the cooking classes which I have been giving a lot recently. I have also had two big groups and piloted my idea of taking people to our countryside for cooking and food. Good busy times.
What’s next? What comes after the financial security is achieved again, 2 years after I quit my job? 5* vacation? A plan to conquer the rest of the world? Well, in my case it’s going to the countryside house, washing some dishes as our helper is away and then spending half a day to harvest nettle and making dry pasta. How is that for a reward?
Bulgur Pilaf with Vegetables
I thought I solved the problem of dressing properly in Istanbul a while ago. I have figured how not to get unwanted attention yet stay true to my own style in the city where with equal odds you will see a woman in long trench coat and head scarf and a lady with go-go girl make-up in a shape-flattering dress, lace stockings and long heels.
Vegetarian Spinach Stew: Roots and Higher Purpose
I spent Saturday rolling paper-thin phyllo dough, or baklava yufka how we call it here in Turkey. Some twenty baby versions of the giant sheets my mother-in-law rolls out. With that long-long thin-thin rolling pin which could as well be an instrument of torture but serves as a kitchen utensil instead.
This is what I call a higher purpose. I am always looking forward to that rare free day in Istanbul when the break between my food tours and cooking classes is to short to go back to the farmhouse. I picture myself experiencing the delicious sheerness of Istanbul, savoring and exploring. Only that I stay in my flat most of the time: experimenting with new recipes and going out only to get a bottle of sun-flower oil from bakal downstairs and latte from Starbucks. Me, a first-rate foodie who is supposed to shop only from Kadikoy market and drink nothing but the Fazil Bey’s roast.
