Tales from Amasra No:2

The Food

Amasra is a small village on the edge of the Black Sea, and to get there you must drive up the mountains, and once you reach the crest you can see the Black Sea below you and the town of Amasra nestled at the base of the mountains. The story is that when Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Mehmet the Conqueror) conquered Amasra, when he arrived on the top of that hill he asked his second in command“Lala, could this be the Çeşm-i Cihan (eye of the world)?”

And that is where the first meal was, a a restaurant called Çeşm-i Cihan. In Amasra it is redundant to call a restaurant a "Fish Restaurant." Because that is what they served. Seafood, and drinks. No menus. You are given a choice between two different fish as a entree. Salad comes with the meal. What I love about Turkish salads is that they often come with herbs in them, which make they a little zingy. This salad was particularly good and included, pickled beets, green onions, green garlic, lettuce, carrots, radishes, onions (soaked to get the bite out) dill, mint, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage.

An appetizer, shrimp casserole. Super delicious, word to the wise, if you mispronounce shrimp in Turkish it easily sounds like drunk. Just an FYI, not that I did that repeatedly.

This was our fish, very tasty, though I forget the name of it, so I have posted it in its natural state below.

After we went to a Farmers Market (Pazar) where the locals were selling all sorts of great stuff. I carry a small Turkish/English dictionary with me which clears up all sorts of things. Like why the blackberry jam tastes like plums (Mulberries) or Why that cheese is decidedly tangy (water buffalo). And let me tell you, these women work hard.

Tons of different types of preserves from jams to different types of pickles, dried fruit, fruit leather, home made cheese and fresh vegetables. One look at their hands took all the fun out of haggling. They were clearly hard working hands.

The Second Day

Tasty Salad

Whiting

Red Mullet: Super Delicate. While you are able to eat the WHOLE thing I just could not bring myself to eat the heads(still had eyes) or the tails.

Dessert was particularly tasty. We did not have sesame halva, but yogurt with honey. Specifically water buffalo yogurt, which is so rich and creamy it is cut into squares to be served, and the honey on top was local, with a very pungent flavor. Well suited to the creamy yogurt, normally it has crushed walnuts on top, but due to my allergy we asked them to hold the nuts. Just in case you think I am a complete and total pig, all these meals were served family style, so orders were shared among several people.

Tales from Amasra No:1

Turkish Bunnies

Amasra was amazing! Beautiful scenery, wonderful food, great atmosphere. I will blog on the natural beauty and food later. This is the first of three posts, and I spologize for its length. It concerns midnight visitors (not the fun type) and woodland creatures, unfortunately in combination. The trip started out well, the five hour bus ride was scenic. We stopped at a fish restaurant where we drank and ate until the bus rode a little lower.

After lunch there was some left over dessert, sesame halva, super delicious. We had it wrapped to go and took it with us. After we got to our hotel, took in the view, stashed our stuff in the room, halva included, we took a walk. I mean, how could we not?

When we got back ,I noticed the halva, which had been on the dresser seemed as if it had been nibbled on. Like a good country girl I took notice, absently, and put the rest of the halva in the covered trashcan. But by then it was too late.

After dinner and live music we came back to the room at about 12 am. My fiance's mother was staying in my room because they were concerned about security (I've seen bathroom stall doors with better locks). She is a notoriously light sleeper, and also has trouble falling asleep, I gave her the full bed and I was sleeping on the twin. Well, about 4:30 in the morning I wake up because something is scratching my head, groggily I reach up to scratch it, and I realize something is there, I sit straight up and fling whatever it is towards the bathroom.

It was a mouse, I saw the Mofo scamper to a corner. So it is the ass crack of dawn, and I am totally skeeved, and freaked out. IWhen I got up to use the bathroom, I can hear it scuttling around. But I don't want to wake Susan because I know she will never get back to sleep and we had a full day of sightseeing ahead of us. So I get on my bed and my eyes are practically bugging out of my head. Then I hear a sound, I see another mouse climb up the heating pipe from under the floor boards. Shit. Then I see another do the same thing. God Damn, how many can there be?

By this point I am thinking, well, I don't want to wake Susan, how weird would it be to ask my fiance's dad, Ali, if I could sleep on the second bed in his room. Too weird I decided. So there I am, watching these grey blurs steak across the floor of my room, listening to their claws on the floor, and then...a vibration. That fucker was trying to climb my bed again. So I spent a good time of the next hour slapping my shoe on the floor next to my bed. Finally I conked out again, but not without fear, when I awoke the next morning I was stiff from being curled in the fetal position.

The next morning I told Susan, and she was appalled, though at first she thought it was good, until I pantomimed a mouse (I don't know the Turkish word for mouse, and she didn't know the English). They were both infuriated, and complained to the manager, asked me why I didn't wake them up (I didn't think it would have been constructive.) We were traveling with a large group of people, and at breakfast Ali told them about the incident. One woman asked, did you already tell her it was a mouse? He said, "Of course" (as if I didn't know). That is too bad, she says, you could have told her they were Turkish bunnies, different than American bunnies.

So as we were leaving the owners gave me a gift. It is a wooden bowl, hand crafted, the Amasra area is know for this type of decorative item.

Susan said I could use it for a sugar bowl, but I thought maybe it would fit a Turkish bunny.

San Diego = Weather Utopia

And I am no longer there. The weather was amazing over the weekend. Drop Dead Amazing. But Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were not. It was raining on and off the whole time. And the clouds were dark, and ominous, so much so that they made the storm that carried Dorothy away look like a sunny day. So when it finally stopped raining, I decided to take my poor, bored, (I.haven't.peed.yet.today.it's.2.in.the.afternoon.for.God.sakes), dog our for a walk. We had been outside for about 2 minutes when we were attacked.

Yeah that's right! Assaulted! Those bad ass black clouds started pelting us. With Hail. My dog is not fond of snow, or rain, and apparently really hates getting hit by hail. It stung.

And we were still bored.

Butterfinger more so because she doesn't read. She finds that it strains her eyes.

Seriously Gorgeous!

The weather is so beautiful that I had to take four walks yesterday. Today I will be walking to the market to buy sunscreen. I look a little bit like Rudolph the Reindeer without the antlers.

There are cherry and apple trees in bloom all over the place. The park is really lovely. There are also these cafes all over the place that overnight have expanded their outdoor seating areas by 10 times.

The Road to Burdur

Why were we going to Burdur you may ask? Is it a scenic town? No. Is there a niche market? No. Is it by the sea? No. Then why Burdur? It is the base of the miliatry installation for the Turkish men, who are currently living abroad, to fulfill their military requiremnets.

The road out of Ankara was arid and devoid of much flora.

However, the father we drove out of the interior the more interesting the landscape became.

There were rock formations, deep valleys, snow covered mountains and fields and fields of agriculture.

There were also old school herds of sheep complete with shepards.

Lots of them.

We drove to Burdur, however, by the time we got there and figured everything out it was too late to drive back and every hotel (except the one that rented out rooms on an hourly rate) was full with men awaiting to turn themselves in for military duty. So we drove to the closest town with a hotel, Isparta, 30 km away.

While both towns have similar climates and are not that far from each other, there are signigficant differences. There is no real industry in Burdur, just independent agriculture and the military basically. On the other hand Isparta is known as the "City of Roses." They cultivate and process roses. There is also a histoical tourism trade and a universirty.

Burdur is a small town, more like a village, complete with Ottoman Empire style houses and women. I was very surprised. In Ankara, especially now with the conservative government, it is not unusual to see women wearing headscarves. However, while it conveys modesty, the scarves are usually the only part of women's outfit that set them apart. The rest of their clothes are like any other woman on the street, just as stylish or modern. In Isparta, there were more women wearing headscarves than in Ankara, but in the same style. Just the headscarf, and modern clothes. What I am referring to by modern clothes is that a teenager wearing a headscarf is just as likely as her uncovered friend to be wearing Converse sneakers, etc.

However, in Burdur, which is only a half and hour drive from Isparta, women were dressed very differently. The women who wore headscarves were in two groups. Ones that wore old fashioned pants (Salvar- very baggy, loose pants with a low inseam) and women who wore long coats to the ankle. I even saw women wearing burkas, which is illegal in Turkey. There were very few women not wearing headscarves.

The difference between Burdur and Ankara was stark, but is probably on par in general with the differences between and rural towns and metropolitan cities in any country.

Military Send Off

There was a family dinner party the night before Bulent went off to Burdur to the military. When his family does food, they DO food. As shown below.

Celery Root shredded with garlic and yogurt

Rice (one of two)

Salad, red pepper preserves, baked beans

Kofte: meatballs with garlic and peppers

Hmmph

I have been fairly busy this week. I spent Tuesday driving to Burdur, about 5 hours from Ankara, and Wednesday driving back. By driving, I mean I was in the car. Bulent is now in the military, for three weeks. It is the mandatory Turkish conscription, all men have to serve their military duty before the age of 39. It can be anywhere between 3 weeks and 18 months. The created the three week stint for Turkish men who are living out of the country and have careers so they would not lose their job and could still complete their military duty. I spent the next couple of days with Bulent's parents and am now back at the apartment. I miss my boy. And the dog does too. She won't eat. I on the other hand just enjoyed some lovely leek borek.