Thursday, February 26, 2009

Sensitive Meatballs

The reason I may have a second ass.

Or maybe a third!

İçli Köfte translates two ways --stuffed meatballs or sensitive meatballs. It is kind of a joke that the meatball is sensitive when you ask for translation. I guess it gets lost in translation. It must be really funny though because his whole family busts into laughter when we call it sensitive meatballs.
Well let me give you the real deal...MMMMMMMMMMM. That about covers it. SO GOOD. Seasoned meat in a buttery wheat covering. SOO SOO GOOD! The food here is amazing. The other day we went out for kebab, so I am thinking, OK here comes some meat on a stick. I was wrong.
First we sit down, then come the meze...the appetizers.
onion and parsley salad
grilled onion salad
a salsa like, salad fresca
another tomoto based salad (cooked)
plate of arugula
fresh lavash bread
small lahmacuen (think pizza, more spices and meat, less sauce...and way better)
Then comes the Adana Kebab ---a mix of chopped up lamb and spices cooked on a shish (metal skewer) over coals.
While we are eating that with the various condiments chopisis comes over, small tender pieces of lamb also cooked on a shish
Last But not least, barbecued back ribs (lamb as well)
Amazing, followed by home made semolina halva and tea.
Tea needs its own explanation
--Tea is served everywhere and all the time. In fact, if you stay in the same spot long enough anywhere in Turkey you may end up with a cup of çay (tea) in your hand. Or if you walk slow enough. No one asks you, it is automatically there--in your hand. Almost like oxygen in your lungs.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Example of Niceness

Bulent's family is so NICE! I mean, really really nice. Lets take yesterday as an example. In the middle of the night I woke up throwing up. Then it went from bad to worse and not to make it too specific, but the other end. So I was thoroughly sick yesterday. In the morning Bulent called him mom to ask for advice, what should he do, feed me, give me etc. She immediately offered to come over and nurse me. I decided against it because I prefer to be miserable without an audience, also I did not want to knock her down in my mad dashes to the bathroom. That would be hard to live down. So two minutes after we talk to her we received a call from Bulent's dad. He wanted to check on me and also mention that if I was really sick he would send and ambulance. It was just a 24 hour bug, but incredibly sweet. Two minutes after that we received a call from Bulent's Uncle H who is a doctor. I was required to describe my symptoms in embarrassing detail to a man I had just met the other night. He then prescribed a course of action and told us to call him immediately if anything changed. Then THROUGHOUT the day we received phone calls from his mom, his dad, his Aunt F and Uncle O, and Uncle H, to check on how I was doing, offer advice and support. For a stomach bug. Very sweet. I am also not worried about any healthcare related issues now. If there was every something seriously wrong, I would be whisked away, given care and then nursed back to health.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Oh the internet!!!!

Hello! It has been a while since I posted. When we were in NH there was a ton of visiting. We saw all the family, both sides. Which means Bulent met all of them. And survived. And now it is my turn. We arrived in Turkey last Wednesday, and settled into our apartment. The apartment is great, in a nice neighborhood, beautifully furnished, and a fully stocked fridge. Bulent's parents have been wonderful. I met his whole family at a dinner at his mother's on Saturday. Everyone was extremely kind; his family was so excited to meet me and very kind. So on to the next chapter...THE FOOD! The food is really good, really, really good. We have been eating "home cooking" mostly. There is a huge difference between food you eat in the home and food available in restaurants. So far we have been eating a lot of soups and stews, very tasty. We have gone out to fulfill one of Bulent's cravings. It is called Kokoreç, it is skewered seasoned lamb intestines. It is cooked kind of like gyros, on a rotisserie. It is then chopped up cooked on a griddle and served with thyme and cumin on fresh bread in a sandwich. It is usually accompanied by Aryan, a drink made of yogurt and water, served cold. As long as you don't think about what it is while you eat it, it is very tasty. A little chewy, but tasty.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I Take It Back


Exhaustion has hit, I tried to fight back, but it made me its bitch. We basically did not sleep all night between the planes and the layover. We made it to New Hampshire without ANY sleep at 12:30 EST, which was really 6:30 am Pacific Time. Neither of us are used to pulling all nighters since we escaped from college. We managed to make it to my parents house and slept for about three hours. So we got up at 4 pm and functioned normally until the CRASH came at about 9. We looked like a couple of octogenarians, drunk ones. We were staggering around, barely able to keep our eyes open. We fell into bed and slept for about 12 hours. And I am still tired. This makes me nervous. Very nervous.

When we fly to Turkey we are leaving at the ass-crack of dawn on the 17th... and I think we are arriving to Ankara Turkey on the 19th. Whoa!
I am going to focus on something positive. Like our going away party. It was a blast. We had such a good time, there was great food, great people, great music...What more could you need?

The answer would be a Belly Dancer

(Ironically, but not surprisingly, she was Mexican, not Turkish)

Monday, February 2, 2009

Oddly Not Tired

I am currently at the Charlotte airport. The flight here was uneventful, with the exception that Butterfinger (the dog) was panting so hard I thought her lungs were going to fall out and her heart was going to burst. It is 4:24 Pacific Time, but on the East Coast the sun has risen. Everyone around seems at least mildly awake. Except for Bulent, who is currently sleeping. At least I hope he is getting to sleep. The position looks so uncomfortable that the only way he could stand it would to be unconscious.

I would also like to take a moment to be outraged. Outraged! I flew on Southwest a few weeks ago and it was $4 for a beer or glass of wine. On US Airways it was $2 for a effing soda and $7 for an alcoholic beverage. SEVEN DOLLARS! I could get a glass of wine in a nice restaurant for that, or decent bottle. Seven dollars! ?! I couldn't bring myself to spend that amount of money for such sub par glass of wine. And now I am in Charlotte, and it is too early/late to drink. While it is still nighttime for me, the sun is now up and even I am not that big a lush.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tonight Bulent and I will be on a plane, together, on our way to the East Coast. I am so excited. And freaked. So I am having Vodka. I am much more calm. Still excited, and the throwing up and stomach pains have dissipated.

NH here we come!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Count down...

24 hours until we leave Cali for the first leg of our journey!

I am packed. And when I say packed I mean EVERYTHING is taken care of! All of my belongings are in two bags or a couple of boxes to be shipped. I am surprisingly calm. None of the incredible stress or physical reactions that would normally accompany such and exiting trip. I am either in denial or well-adjusted. To facilitate this I am drinking some nice calming Chardonnay. I may switch to martinis though. Why you might ask? Well, I have not been buying groceries and there is only a glass of wine left in the bottle. If I bought another bottle I would have to drink the entire thing tonight. I decided it would be better not to, as fun as that sounds. So I am off to have some wine and breathe deep.