Allan told me that the south coast of Turkey is one of the most beautiful places in the world. When he was thirteen, his family drove up from Lebanon, through Syria, and throughout Turkey. He remembers a castle on a reef and forested mountains coming down into the ocean making beautiful bays and coves. Last Thursday night we spent some time on Google Earth retracing their trip, particularly from Maiden’s Castle in Kizkalesi to the harbor, beaches, and Roman ruins of Antalya. There is so much to experience in Turkey that this blog will offer just a taste, and we will start with one of the most famous tastes.
In August of 2020, one of Allan’s patients gave him Turkish Delight with pistachios. It was so good and I had so much time on my hands, it inspired me to try and make some. My version came out more like pudding – really good pudding, but it didn’t have the right consistency for Turkish Delight. My candy thermometer might have been off. I don’t think it reached soft ball stage. After the recommended twelve hours of cooling time, cutting and powdering it just produced a pan full of cut and powdered pudding, so I put half in the freezer and half in the fridge to see what happens next. Nope, still pudding. If I make it again, I'll try one of the recipes with gelatin, but here is the one I tried: https://www.nordzuckerireland.ie/ie/recipes/pomegranate-pistachio-turkish-delight-ie.aspx
My most common option for Turkish Delight is to pick up one of the varieties at Saca’s Mediterranean Cuisine in Claremont. I like them all, but I love the one with the rose petals, pomegranate, and pistachios. To experience many kinds of Turkish Delight in piles like those found in an Istanbul market, Kaitlin and I stopped by Lokum in San Luis Obispo yesterday and enjoyed the Royal Almond Blackberry, the Mango Almond Cream, the Rose Petal Raspberry Hazelnut, and several others.
I don’t just eat Turkish candy. I have found Turkish restaurants to cover breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Koftegi Turkish Grill and Bakery in Anaheim is the place for breakfast. There is a beautiful breakfast tray, but I went with more simple food and had the menemen, made with eggs, tomato, green peppers, and spices. I took some manakish, a Turkish flatbread with zaatar, a spice blend with plenty of thyme and sesame, home to Allan.
Ikram Grill in Fountain Valley is a great place for lunch. They serve huge sandwiches on thick delicious Turkish bread. On a recent visit, Kaitlin, Christine and I had the falafel sandwiches, Andrea had chicken schwarma, and Gladys and Sam had mixed grill. The line at this counter serve place is super long, so we were happy that we ordered on the way and it was ready when we arrived.
Another Fountain Valley restaurant that I want to try is Istanbul Grill California Mediterranean Restaurant. Besides the sit down dinner experience, I especially want to try the Turkish ice cream.
To see more Turkish food, watch the Istanbul episode of Parts Unknown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgYTMxn2Hyk
To make more Turkish food, pick up ingredients at Hamle Super Market, a Turkish grocery store in Fountain Valley, and try some of these recipes: https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/recipes/
Moving from food to literature, the city of Troy was on the northwest coast of Turkey, and Homer likely was from western Turkey, making The Iliad one of the earliest works: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6130
For a more recent work from Turkey, I read Snow by Nobel Prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. Here is a video of a conversation with Pamuk: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2006/pamuk/other-resources/
I also enjoyed the interview with Deniz Dağdelen Düzgün about the city of Izmir in the series “The City and the Writer” on Words Without Borders: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2022-11/the-city-and-the-writer-in-izmir-with-deniz-dagdelen-duzgun-nathalie-handal/
Additional contemporary Turkish works can be found here: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/country/turkey/
I haven’t managed to watch the Turkish movies and TV shows on Netflix yet, but they include the rom-coms Oh Belinda, Love Tactics, and Private Lesson, and the drama series The Tailor. Rise of Empires Ottoman can be found on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/series/300010201/rise-of-empires-ottoman
Rick Steves gives a talk on Turkey here: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/travel-talks/turkey-with-rick-steves
A series on Hagia Sofia starts here: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/medieval-europe-islamic-world/v/hagia-sophia-istanbul
The Raven Spa in Santa Monica advertises the Turkish bath or Hamman experience, so that might be my next way to experience Turkey while staying at home. If I actually went to Turkey, I would like to see these places: https://traveltriangle.com/blog/things-to-do-in-turkey/
I would love to go! I hope for a time when broad travel gives us new perspectives. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Turkey and throughout the world.
Photo credit: Jenn https://www.flickr.com/photos/benandjenn/38288071456/
コメント