Dinner Delivered!

Forgive me for not writing much during the past week or so. I’ve been involved in many local activities lately. I helped decorate and then worked at the Christmas bazaar. I attended a Turkish cooking class and a bookclub meeting. I helped organize a wine tasting last week. Also, I am trying to finish my Christmas shopping before I return to the states next week.

I have a ton of photos of my Thanksgiving feast to post, and I still owe you a continuation recap of our Dubai trip.

In the meantime, let me share my recent discovery with you.

Since we’ve been living abroad, I’ve realized how many little things we take for granted in the U.S.

·         Easily being able to get from point A to point B.

·         How inexpensive dry cleaning is.

·         Eating pork. I miss pork in all its forms. Thank goodness I can at least find Italian cured meats like prosciutto and pork salami.

·         Buying a slice of pizza, prepared foods, fresh milk, imported cheeses, a wide selection of breakfast cereals, tamales and the list goes on.

There are many serious things we take for granted too, but I’ll save those for another time.

Everything is complicated by the fact I don’t speak the language that well yet. I’m slowly learning. The Turkish language is difficult. I know enough words to get by on a daily basis so I’m proud of that fact.

Trying to explain our address isn’t easy either. Once I’m in a taxi, I usually can tell the driver the directions in Turkish. But I’ve avoided trying to get food delivered because I can’t tell someone on the phone how to get here.

Until now.

Two of my American friends here told me about this great website called istanbul.yemeksepeti.com. The website offers an English version so I can just type in my address, select a restaurant in my neighborhood and order dinner.

Pizza with arugula, tomatoes and prosciutto.

With one click, I finally can have dinner delivered to our apartment. Sweet!

I love cooking, but sometimes I deserve a break too.

Over the weekend, we ordered pizza and a Greek salad through the website. Last night, we ordered Wonton soup and other Chinese specialties and then watched a movie at home.

Tonight, I’m back in the kitchen. I’m going to jazz up some leftovers and turn them into my version of a Shepherd’s pie topped with fresh mashed potatoes. It will be a simple, hearty meal that we can enjoy together on this chilly night.

Afiyet Olsun!