Lollygagging in the Lale

The shore road traffic crawled along at a snail’s pace once we got to Rumelihisarı.

We made a conscious decision, hopped off the 25E bus and walked the remaining 2.5 kilometers to Emirgan Korusu. We left the bus in the dust. We knew the traffic would be bad, but we didn’t think it would be çok berbat.

On Sunday, the rain stayed away so we headed outdoors to enjoy the 6th Istanbul Tulip Festival, which is ongoing around the city through April 30.

Over the past two months, I have been encouraged by locals and longtime expats to see the lale (tulips) as soon as they start blooming. Although several of the city’s parks are heavily planted with lale, Emirgan Korusu wins with the most - topping out at 1.72 million tulips with 112 different species. It really is an amazing sight to see!

Not only are there tulips in every pastel shade imaginable, but this one reminded me of a summer sunset.

The park is situated on a steep hill and overlooks the Bosphorus and the second bridge off in the distance. One of the hillsides was planted in what looked like a meandering stream of red and yellow tulips and dainty grape hyacinth bulbs.

If you plan ahead, bring a picnic lunch with you because the park’s cafe looked expensive. (2013 update: I've since tried the food and it's not that good.) There are plenty of picnic tables here. Or treat yourself to a Turkish gözleme or a bag of nuts before you enter the park. We ended up walking back to Bebek and just grabbed a meal at a lokanta along the road.

Although the weather was a bit chilly, I’m happy we experienced the Turkish lale in its full splendor. I'd highly recommend making the time to see the lale in Istanbul this month!

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Suddenly Feeling Settled in Istanbul

Today, I felt a blanket of comfort envelop me.

I truly felt at ease and content in my Turkish neighborhood – like it was home. After eight months of living in  Istanbul, I recognize the familiarity of it all and appreciate it.

I’ve started to develop a routine, particularly on Fridays. I stopped at my favorite pastane, Bahar Pastanesi, and picked up some spicy crackers and these sinfully delicious chocolate pastries that are similar to an American whoopie pie filled with Nutella ganache. I must learn how to make these!

The satıcı at Bahar recognize me by now. Today, I had a brief Turkish conversation with him, telling him his pastane was my favorite and how I liked everything. He says thank you and tells me the pastane is çok eski (very old), since 1976. I think he also told me he's also worked there for several years, but I'm not sure.

I also stopped in nearby Şütte to show a new friend where to find some specialty goods such as imported cheeses and charcuterie as well as tasty Turkish meze and olives. I didn’t buy anything today, but I did say hello to my guys there.

On my way back home, I pass the same guy that always sits on the park steps with a cat in his lap while he begs for money. It looks like some of the stray female cats in the park have had kittens recently. Today, another man was selling bouquets of daisies that were displayed in a blue plastic wash bin next to him.

Across the street, I see the same man who peels artichokes and sells them to passerby every day. A few meters down from the artichoke guy is a man who’s always on crutches and sells “evil eye” pins. Another few meters away is an older man that sells random items such as hand mirrors, hats and wallets on a blanket laid out on the sidewalk.

These characters make up my neighborhood, and I’m happy to see them here.

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Bahar Sarımsak Çorbası: Spring Garlic Soup

What does one do when being offered a large, raw, fresh clove of spring garlic?

“Taze, taze,” the satıcı repeatedly told me.

“Yes, I understand it’s fresh,” I wanted to tell him. But my husband and I both took a bite, nodded and smiled. “Evet, taze.”

Then, we bought a bunch of the yeni sarımsak (new garlic).

After we bought the garlic at the pazar, I decided to buy a kilo of pırasa (leeks) and 1.5 kilos of sarı patates (yellow potatoes). I was already thinking how I could use these ingredients in my kitchen. I decided I would make a version of the classic French leek and potato soup known as potage parmentier ala Julia Child

So the other day, I spent a few hours in the kitchen cleaning and chopping up a bunch of vegetables. I really didn’t need all those leeks. Most of them I placed in plastic bags and threw in the freezer.

Normally, you would use an equal amount of leeks to potatoes in this soup. However, I used half garlic and half leeks in proportion to the yellow potatoes. The soup gains a bit of richness by finishing it with whole milk or cream.

The soup simply smells and taste good. It tastes like spring to me! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Afiyet olsun!

Bahar Sarımsak Çorbası: Spring Garlic Soup
(Inspired by Julia Child’s recipe of potage parmentier in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”)

Ingredients:
16 oz. yellow potatoes, peeled and diced into large chunks
8 oz. leeks, thinly sliced
8 oz. fresh spring garlic, thinly sliced
1.5 qts. water or chicken stock
TT salt and freshly ground black pepper
4-6 T. whole milk or heavy cream

1. In a large pot, melt a little vegetable oil or butter. Add the vegetables. Sweat for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables start to soften. 

2. Then, partially cover the vegetables with about 2 cups of the water or chicken stock. Simmer 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add the remaining water and bring the soup to a simmer. Season the soup with salt and pepper.
4. Using a immersion blender, roughly puree the soup. The soup does not need to be completely soup.
5. Off the heat and just before serving, stir in the milk or cream. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

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Exploring Kadıköy

On Sunday, we explored a small nook in Asia.

Living in Istanbul, that’s not difficult to do since the city is located on two continents - Asia and Europe. But it’s fun saying it.

On the 15-minute IDO ferry ride from Beşiktaş to Kadıköy, we sat on the top deck so we could enjoy the view, albeit a bit chilly. You notice the juxtaposition of Istanbul’s skyline with its mix of century-old mosques, palaces of former sultans and deteriorating buildings amid the new high-rise apartment and office buildings.

The Kiz Kulesi was a medieval maritime toll-booth where ships passing through the Bosphorus would pay
a toll on the goods they were transporting.

Large freighters like this one often travel through the Bosphorus.

The Haydarpaşa train station in Kadiköy, originally opened in 1872, but this building dates to 1909.

Kadıköy is a large district on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. This bustling, middle-class district is located along the shore of the Sea of Marmara and faces the historic city centre on the European side of the Bosporus.

Once we landed, we headed to the right to meet up with one of our expat groups, which had organized that day’s walk. The idea was to follow the path along the sea-front from Kadıköy, but we hadn’t planned on the rainy weather.

We warmed up with a Turkish çay, bought a 5-lira şemsiye (umbrella) and decided to brave the elements.

At one point, you could look back toward historic Sultanahmet and see the stormy clouds following us.

But if you looked ahead, you could see the sun shining in the distance over the Princess Islands.

Eventually, the storm did catch up with us and the whole group of us were fairly wet. So, we stopped for ice cream! I enjoyed a cone of pistachio and chocolate chip.

The rain let up a bit, so we continued through the Fenerbahçe Marina where one section looked like a ship graveyard with various ship parts and deteriorating boats like the one below.

However, around the bend, I saw a plethora of new sailboats waiting to cast off into the open waters.

By now, the sun was shining, so we stopped to have a beer and chat. (You can see the continuing theme here, drink/walk, food/walk, drink/walk.) The stray cats nearby also took advantage of the sun, and I’m sure they were waiting for some tasty fish scraps.

Our 3-hour 5k walk was coming to a close. I was a bit chilled to the bone and ready to be home snuggled up on the couch. We caught a dolmuş back to Kadıköy and took the next ferry home.

We ended our day back in Beşiktaş with a dinner of Adana kebap, tomato-bulgur, yogurt and hot flatbreads. Not a bad way to end a Sunday.

Afiyet olsun!

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Turkish Joys: Dut

Nearby, I saw a young Turkish girl eating a deep burgundy-colored fruit.

Immediately, I thought I want to find whatever she was eating.

We looked through the various stalls at the Beşiktaş pazar and finally found them near the entrance. When I asked the satıcı what the berries were called in Turkish, he said dut or mulberries. We bought a medium-sized basket full of the mulberries and headed home.

In Istanbul, spring has brought mountains of bright red strawberries and now mulberries to the pazar. From what I understand, cherries soon will be on their way as well.

These mulberries, technically known as karadut or the red mulberry, are both sweet and nutritious, and a little bigger than what I'm used to seeing in the U.S. From my research, I discovered they also are high in vitamin C, iron, calcium, and protein.

I’ve spent the morning popping a small bowl full of the mulberries into my mouth. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of them. A long-time resident here suggested making a jam or a sauce.

Since the mulberries are getting a little soft, I bet I’ll be cooking them down soon to make a fruit coulis. I bet it would make a great topping for my homemade strawberry ice cream in the freezer.

Afiyet olsun!

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Foreign Ice Cream Follies

I poured my homemade strawberry-mint base into my new ice cream maker. I hit start and nothing happened.

I immediately turned it off, thinking that I blew a fuse or something. This wouldn’t be the first time for me. Adjusting to the different electrical voltage/appliances in a foreign country has been what you could call….challenging.

My husband told me I just had to attach one adapter to the plug and it should work. Well, it didn’t.

Then, I thought I had killed my brand new machine that I recently had brought back from London because I couldn’t find one anywhere in Istanbul.

So two phone calls later to my husband and searching for adapters, I figured how to jerry-rig the ice cream machine.  He had asked me on the phone, “Did you read the instruction booklet?”

“Why would I do that? I know how to operate an ice cream machine. And you’re supposed to know this electrical stuff,” I told him.

Well, I plugged the machine into a UK/Turkish adapter, which I plugged into a Turkish/U.S. adapter that I plugged into our 110 to 240v electrical transformer brought from the states.

Then, I had a new obstacle to overcome. During these 10 minutes, my ice cream base had started freezing to the sides of the bowl in the machine. The paddle was stuck and wouldn’t spin.

Now, I had to scrape out most of the ice cream and carefully melt it in the microwave. I poured the reheated base back into the machine, turned it on and it finally started spinning.

This is what a woman will do to make homemade ice cream!

In our marriage vows, I promised to make my hubby homemade ice cream at least once a year since it’s his favorite dessert in the whole world. However, at the time I didn’t realize I’d be dealing with these issues. Just kidding, honey!

Anyway, the bright red çilek from the pazar were simply delicious. When I asked the satıcı if I could take a photo, he proudly showed me a photo of the pile of çilek he had take with his own camera. These çilek were from the Antalya region of Turkey.

After my machine had been chugging away noisily for about 30 minutes, I’m happy to report that my ice cream turned out beautifully. The consistency is bit more like soft serve when it first comes out of the machine but will harden after 2 hours or so once placed back in the freezer.

Since I had some leftover mint leaves from making the pea soup, I added it in with my cream and milk while I was making the ice cream base.

Homemade ice cream really is worth the effort. I just hope you don’t have all the trials and tribulations that I dealt with in my kitchen! Hopefully, my next batch will be easier.

Afiyet olsun!

Strawberry-Mint Ice Cream
(yields: about 1.5 quarts)

465 g. (1 lb.) fresh strawberries, cleaned and sliced
130 g. (2/3 c.) granulated sugar
1 T. fresh squeezed lemon juice

10 oz. (300 ml.) heavy cream or krema
10 oz. (300 ml.) whole milk
5 sprigs   fresh mint leaves
½ cup (100 g.)   granulated sugar
9 ea.   whole egg yolks

Optional: 1 T. vodka

1. Place strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl together and mix well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let macerate at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Then, place the strawberries in blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Set aside.

3. In a medium-sized pot, bring the milk and cream to a boil. Add the mint leaves. 

4. Remove the pot off the heat and cover with a lid. Let steep for at least 15 minutes.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the second amount of sugar with the egg yolks. Then slowly pour some of the warm cream mixture into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan. This is the tempering stage of making a custard...i.e. ice cream in this case.

6. Cook the custard, stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. This stage is known as nappe in French cooking.  If using an instant read thermometer, it should read around 170ºF (77ºC). I always do this stage by eyeballing it. If I can run my finger through the custard on the back of the spoon and the lines don’t run together, then the custard is done.
7. At this point, add the strawberry puree into the hot mixture. I used my hand immersion blender for a few minutes to puree the mint and the strawberries a little more thoroughly.
8. Then, strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. Place the mixture over an ice bath until cool.
9. Refrigerate the mixture thoroughly, preferably overnight, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
10. When your ice cream base is almost done spinning, add the vodka while the machine is churning. 

Note: by adding alcohol, you can prevent the ice cream from freezing rock solid later in your home freezer.

This is what your ice cream should look like when it's almost done.

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