Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Today the brisk wind was gusting more than 15 mph.

I definitely was cold, and I had forgotten my wool hat at home. It’s supposed to be mid-April, but it almost feels like winter has returned.

As soon as I reached home, I decided I was going to enjoy a glass of Turkish çay to warm up my chilled bones. Turks seem to drink tea morning, afternoon and night. The guy trying to sell you a Turkish rug or silver jewelry will you offer you tea while you browse. Drinking çay is tightly woven into the fabric of life here.

I like çay and happily will drink it, but I haven’t taken to the tradition like Turks do.

Another tradition I’ve noticed is when I pass a cafe or a pastane people often are leisurely enjoying the afternoon with a glass of çay and something sweet. Today, I also decided to do that at home.

I stopped at one of my favorite baklavacı, Güllüoğlu, to grab a snack. Güllüoğlu, with several locations in Istanbul, is probably the city’s most well-known baklavacı selling several varieties of the phyllo dough-layered delicacy. The original Güllüoğlu shop is located in Karaköy, a commercial neighborhood in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. The original is separately owned from the other Güllüoğlu in the city, and you can if tell the difference in the packaging as the Karaköy Güllüoğlu has the Galata Tower in its logo.

Once home, I brewed my Turkish çay, opened my box of pistachio baklava and sat down to read a book. (I’m completely engrossed in “Under the Dome” by Stephen King right now.)
I indulged in 2 glasses of çay and 1 and a half pieces of the heavenly baklava, feeling that slight crunch of the countless layers of impossibly thin phyllo pastry and the gooey syrup while I ate.

Buttery pastry, pistachios and a sugary syrup - what else could a girl need on a cold afternoon?

Afiyet olsun!

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4 comments:

Unknown said...

Not much!!

Julia said...

I drink two pots of çay before I even function in the mornings! :) The weather is supposed to be better from now on and more relevant to the season. It's just hailstoned here!

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a perfect afternoon to me! (I have been on blogger all day with no problems!) See you tomorrow!

Joy said...

I stopped at the outpost in Karaköy yesterday and enjoyed another round of çay and baklava. So tasty!
The UK is having much better weather than us here in Turkey. It's not fair! =(