Greenest Spring Soup Ever
It is almost summer here: the spring started in February. For one and a half months our countryside property has been turning greener and greener: nettle and starflower plant boomed, and so did the collard greens and parsley in anne’s garden. After every trip to a market in Istanbul, I return with a gigantic bag of green bunches - dill, parsley, cilantro, rocket salad, beet greens, collard greens, baby spinach, scallions and green fresh garlic.
Just like Scroodge McDuck taking a dip in his gold daily, I could be diving into my greens. Which I practically do because I eat more of them than ever: my every meal has a green in it - raw in a salad or as a dressing, cooked in a soup, sauteed or steamed. And being keen on variety I often can’t eat up all the greens I buy. So I found a solution to utilize them - my greenest spring soup ever.
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Kefir Cacık with Turmeric Peas
There is a thin strip on the timeline between the slowness of winter and the rapidly changing images of spring. It’s called February, the month when a lot of things are shaping up, whether you are suspecting or not.
February was a month of many changes for me, but I preferred to keep quiet about them on this blog. When things are taking shape, I do lots of thinking, reading as well as talking to my husband and (increasingly) parents. Writing does not come easy then: I do my best writing when I am 100% sure. But here I am .. writing. Not that I know where the changes are taking me, but I feel good being on the road.
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Moroccan Spinach Salad (and Fez Cooking Class)
When I travel I love taking cooking classes: besides broadening my culinary picture of the world I enjoy connecting with my colleagues in other geographies. I attended a cooking class in Marrakesh four years ago to learn the basics of Moroccan cooking, key ingredients and techniques. The biggest revelation of the class was the amount of labor that goes into cooking couscous. Yes, cooking couscous, an ingredient considered instant in the West. I don’t know what shocked me more - the fact that couscous takes one and a half hours to prepare or the innocent ignorance of people who choose to believe that it does not require cooking at all. In our globalized kitchens we easily forget to credit the people who originated a certain food, and so we miss an opportunity to learn from them.
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Antakya Herb Fritters
Now and then I wonder what if I run out of recipes, tips and most importantly - stories to share with you. Turkish recipes, Russian recipes, recipes of other delicious foods, bread baking, Istanbul food shopping, eating in Istanbul and everything else I blog about: could these topics be indefinite? What if one day I exhaust my creativity by telling you everything I know?
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Open-Faced Rye Bread Sandwich with Roasted Purple Carrot and Arugula Pesto
What did you cook last time you had no time or little energy left to put together a proper meal? Did you dry an egg? Did you inspect the fridge in the hope for the tasty and (and still edible) leftovers? Did you make hot-dogs like my husband? Did you brew some tea and pull out the breakfast set with cheese and olives, like my Turkish family? Did you just order in?
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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.
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Çökelek Salatası (Mediterranean Whey Cheese Salad)
When traveling I am always looking forward to my breakfasts. I could never quite buy into the idea of Asian morning meal with a spicy stew kicking off the day. Nor I am a huge fan of the European “coffee and pastry” concept. That’s why Turkey is a safe heaven for me: Turkish breakfast is a full-fledged meal with its own “breakfast only” items. In fact the Turkish breakfast idea is so powerful that you can substitute any meal of a day with breakfast (but not the other way around).
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