Okey

Today, we went again to the huge and beautiful outdoor food bazaar. Picture this:http://www.theworldeffect.com/.a/6a00e54fa8abf788330120a6562a5b970b-800wi but on a flat table, and over an area of about 100 x 50 yards. Also, imagine a covering of hundreds of huge, ratty umbrella giving the whole thing a shady, ancient-harem-type look. We got a ton of things, including these funny little clementine things. They are bright green on the outside and bright orange on the inside. They sort of look like the cover of Freakonomics (http://dreallday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/freakonomics.jpg). Sorry, strange reference.

In other news, dinner was great. We had mushrooms stuffed with cheese, homemade tomato soup, summer salad, fresh cooked yufka squares filled with cheese and a sort of potato mash. Also, baba brought home fresh squeezed o.j. again! He is so thoughtful.

Oh, I also made a strawberry roll up cake! We got some more çilekler (chee-LEHK-ler, strawberries) at the bazaar, and my anne provided all the ingredients. She even dug out her half-missing set of Western-style measuring cups! I had to measure out the 1/4 Cups using the Tablespoon. I wanted to use the recipe we usually do at home, but I couldn't reach anybody, so I got one off of epicurious.com. It came out looking pretty rough at first, so I was disappointed, but it firmed up and actually ended up being a delicious cake! We had the neighbor ladies over for tea and pasta (PAH-stah, cake) afterwards, and everyone loved it. The desserts here are usually filo-dough and honey/nut related, so the fruit and cake thing was a nice change, I think. The whipped cream I used was very strange. Instead of heavy cream, anne just had a box of individual packets of this funny powder stuff, and you just add milk or water and whip. It tastes fine, but was strange, I thought, in a country so filled with fresh foods. Also, instead of vanilla extract, it was the same packet deal: a box filled with a bunch of teaspoon-sized packets of white, vanilla-flavored powder. Somehow, I think the Turks sort of missed the boat on the cake and sweet-baking craze. Every single other food group is homegrown and homemade, from the meats, cheeses, and yogurt to the yufka, the tea, and the soups and veggies. But when it comes to sweet, Western-style baked goods, it's a lot of margerine and vanilla powder. Very peculiar. Not to say that it isn't delicious; it's just a touch less authentic than the very high standard that I've come to expect in a country so rich in culinary character.

I mentioned before that anne just used a tea glass for measuring. I thought this was maybe her own deal. But, from what I understood of the Turkish on the side of the very modern whipped-cream packets (seen here: http://www.ozpak.com.tr/images/urunler/kremSantiSade.jpg), the instructions indicated that either one "chai bardak" (tea glass) of "su" (water) or one-and-a-half "kahve fincanılar" (coffee cups) of "süt" (milk) could be used. But, my most Westernly-exacting culinary side protested, there are so many different sizes and styles of Turkish drinking implements! what if the proportions were wrong! But, of course, the whipped-cream came out fine. If I find out more about this peculiarity, dear reader, I will let you know.

Like I said, the ladies (Gulia and Nesren, the woman who lives across from her) came over for some snacks this evening, and I learned how to play my very first games of the ever-popular "Okey." It's pronounced just like "okay," and was described on an English website (which I sought out after trying to learn the fairly nuanced rules from a bunch of women who spoke only Turkish) as being very similar to Rummy. It is very well-liked in Turkey, and, I imagine, is just as widely known and revered as backgammon, which is so popular with the cafe crowd. It reminded me of the ubiquitous American game of Bridge, but maybe it was just my playing company. It seems that chatty neighborhood women love a good social game no matter what country they call "yuva."

While we were playing, we had the little kitchen T.V. on, as we seem to do during almost all social gatherings (including dinner). We watched a sort of variety equivalent to the classic MTV, called TRT T.V. (Turkish Radio Something? I know it's based in Ankara, though!). It played a lot of classic (I assume, as anne and the other were often singing along) Turkish ballads, sung by a few very blond women filled with lots of collagen and surrounded by lots of cheesy production elements. This is what I was dealing with: http://www.trt.net.tr/televizyon/sayfa/detay.aspx?pid=19696

It also played a few angsty Turkish rock music videos.

Speaking of angst, my deepest apologies, readers, for the brevity of my last post! I was fatigued and saddened by our fine country's losses. It was a bad time in both courts, so to speak!

Tomorrow night is the Rotary Club's weekly banquet again, but this time, anne is coming, as it's family night! This is going to involve menus, I've been informed, so there will be no beautiful banquet spread. It will, however, be a nice time to test out my ordering skills.

Looking forward,

Natalya