What We Ate on Holidays: Turkiye

Last week I shared a post about a foodie walking tour that we did in Istanbul. Today, I am going to talk about some of the food highlights from the rest of our trip. 

It seem a bit strange but I am going to talk about Chinese food first. It does make sense I promise. When we first booked our flights we were going to be flying via Dubai, including a stopover on the way back. However, with everything going on in the world, we had to decide if we were going to cancel our trip or if we were still going to proceed. In the end, we decided to rebook our flights via China. That meant an 11 hour layover in Guangzhou. What to do in a very boring airport for that length of time!

It turns out that the good people at Guangzhou have a solution. If the times work, and your layover is more than 6 hours there is a free city tour that you can do. This includes stops at Huacheng Park where there is a really great view of Canton Tower, Archaeological Site Museum of Nanyue Palace (ruins of a 2000 year old palace), and the shopping streets of Beijing Road. And, most importantly, it included a free yum cha lunch in a local restaurant. The dishes included noodles, dumplings and spring rolls. 

The most surprising thing we tried was a cheese and pumpkin pancake which is not something I have had before and it was so good! It almost tasted a bit cheesecakey which was a surprise. I would totally order this if I saw it on the menu somewhere.

One thing that was interesting is that the guide shared with us a particularly Cantonese tradition of using the first pour of your tea to in effect wash your chopsticks. Again, haven't seen that before.

I do have to mention we found a really lovely Chinese cake. It was light and fluffy with what was like a custard flavoured layer. We had one cake before we went on our day tour, and then we bought two more before we got on our flight. We then bought another one on our way home. You could say it was a hit.

Now, onto Turkiye! We had some really, really great food during our time in the country, and I learned some things about myself.

As an aside, if this is how much I have written about the first day, this is going to be a very long post, so I am going to sort of skip over a few things even though they were highlights. On our first full day in Istanbul, we did a lot of walking, but we also had our first of many baklava and we went on a dinner cruise on the Bosphorus which featured a 3 course dinner and cultural dancing. It was a really fun night and the food was fine. The next night we had a lovely dinner with our daughter and her partner who had come to spend the weekend with us. They live in London and we hadn't met her partner before. We were at a rooftop restaurant with an amazing view!

After doing the walking tour we knew that we wanted more Turkish breakfasts, and we had a couple of really delicious ones over the first few days. The first one in this photo was up near Taksim Square, after which we walked down İstiklal Avenue. And yes, we had kunefe for as our second course for breakfast!

However, if you want to talk about the total experience, probably my favourite Turkish breakfast was the one that we had at Dolmabahce Palace, which was literally a 5 minute walk from where we were staying. We sat right on the waterfront and watched the ships go buy. It was a beautiful morning and the typical Turkish breakfast was really good! Even our travel companion Ellie enjoyed it!

Of course we had to get ice cream from one of these guys. Have you ever tried Turkish ice cream, which is called Dondurma. The dondurma is delicious, so creamy, but it has a very different texture to our ice cream, to the point that it is possible to eat it with a knife and fork. Because of the ingredients it doesn't melt in the same way and it has a kind of chewy texture.

One of the more unusual things that we tried was jug kebab. The idea is that all the ingredients are put inside a clay jug, and it is then cooked. It is bought to the table and then they break it open while you watch! So fun!

One thing that surprised me was the Turkish Delight. In Australia if you buy proper Turkish Delight it is in the traditional cube shapes but in Istanbul in particular there were many, many shops where your could buy different flavours and the big piles just look so gorgeous in the displays. Among the flavours we tried were banana and walnut, rose, kanefe inspired flavour and more. 

Once we on the tour, obviously there was a lot of time on a bus. When we visit new countries we like to try some of the snacks and along the way we tried a number of different types of biscuits. We particularly like the cheesecake flavoured biscuit

One of the reasons why we went to Turkiye was to attend the Dawn Service at Gallipoli on Anzac Day. The town that we stayed in was called Cannakale. One of the regional specialities is a baked polenta dessert which was delicious. Another specialty that we tried on a different day was a yoghurt dish that is apparently only made at one specific roadside stop. It features yoghurt which is then topped with honey and sesame seeds. It is not dissimilar to the clotted cream and honey that featured at most breakfasts. It was so good. 

I mentioned that I learnt a couple of things about myself. One of the things is that generally I don't enjoy nuts or honey. It turns out that when it comes in baklava or kunefe format I am more than happy to eat it. Maybe it's only shop bought Australian honey that I don't love. Or maybe I just need to try it again here to see how I feel about it now. And as for nuts, I think it is mainly only peanuts that I don't lvoe.

I haven't even touched on all the kebabs we ate, or the great pide I had in a city called Konya, home to Sufi sect and the whirling dervishes, the various flavours of tea that we had in copious amounts or the lunch that we had at a restaurant in Cappadocia. 

Speaking of Cappadocia I have to mention our balloon trip there. Whilst this cake and drink would not necessarily be that special in any other circumstance, it was served up after we had done our dawn balloon flight which was an experience of a lifetime!

As you can hopefully tell, we had an amazing time in Turkiye. We loved Istanbul including visitng the mosque, the Basilica Cistern, Topkapi Palace, experienced a Turkish bath, cruising the Bosphorus and more. The experience of visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula and attending the Dawn Service was inspiring. Visiting places like Ephesus, Pammukale and Cappadocia was awe inspiring. We would love to be able to go back!

Weekly meals

Saturday - 
Sunday -  Chips, cheese and gravy
Monday - Pressure Cooker Spag Bol
Tuesday - Spanish Tuna Pasta Bake
Wednesday - Pie and chips
Thursday -  Korean Chicken Burger
Friday - Egg Curry

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Top Ten Tuesdays: 20 Books of Winter list (Part 1)

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is May Flowers (This is a companion to the April Showers topic from last month. Interpret however you’d like: books with flowers on the cover, colorful covers, books set in springtime, books where flowers/plants are a common theme, titles with flower names in them, characters named after flowers, covers that are as pretty as flowers, books featuring gardens, etc.)

However, I have done a flowers on the cover theme for the last couple of years now, so I am turning my thoughts to the 20 Books of Winter which is hosted by AnnaBookBel this year. So here are 10 of the 20 books I am planning on reading for at some point between 1 June and 31 August. I'll be back next week with the next 10 (assuming that I have completed building my list!)

This list is subject to change but at this stage, this is the plan

Charlie's Last Angel by Maggie Christensen - I read a lot of Maggie Christensen's books that are part of series, but this one is a blog tour for a standalone novel.

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft - I do enjoy Sue Moorcroft's books. It's been a while since I read one of her books set in Italy. This is also for a blog tour

Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker - My final blog tour book is this one which is the fourth book in the Holiday Romance series. I am due to review this in July but it looks like publication has been pushed back to October so that date might change. 

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal- This is the next Cook the Books selection

Three Juliets by Minnie Darke - The next three books are all books that I meant to read last year but I ended up swapping out so they are back on the list for this year. I actually read at least a third of this book but I will have to start again now.

The Kings Jewel by Elizabeth Chadwick - It's been so long since I read an Elizabeth Chadwick so I need to prioritise this one. 

The Story Collector by Evie Woods - I have had mixed results with Evie Woods books so far, so I am interested to read this one to see where it lands for me!

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Last year I was trying to read War and Peace and I was doing pretty well until I started work again in August at which point I stopped. I think I have about 300 paged to go so my plan is to finish it. This will also count for a Goodreads challenge. 

The Maid by Nita Prose - Both this and the next book are for Goodreads challenges

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon - This book has been on my TBR pile for a long time now. I plan to read it before the end of June.

Are you planning to participate in the 20 Books of Summer/Winter?

This week....

I'm reading

This week I read A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang by Lee Onhwa. The main reason I read it is because it fits the AAPI month category for the Goodreads challenge, but as a bonus it also counts for the Speccy Fiction Challenge. Hopefully I will will review it soon!

I also started The Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfearn. This is the next Cook the Books read so I need to finish it and cook something inspired by it too before the end of the month.

I did go to one event for Melbourne Writers Festival this week. As part of the in the suburbs series author Benjamin Stevenson came to visit my local library. Unfortunately I could not fit in any other events for the rest of the festival so I am glad that I at least got to attend this one! Benjamin Stevenson is the author of the Ernest Cunningham mystery series. It was very interesting to hear about his inspirations, about a potential TV adaptation, about how he nearly killed off Ernest at the end of the second book and so much more!

It was our read on a theme book club meeting this weekend. There were only 4 of us there but we still managed to have some lively discussion feature books about Mothers and Daughters. I read Amy Tan's book The Bonesetter's Daughter. Our next theme is Immigration, so I will have to see what books I have that suit this theme. 

I'm watching

Now that we are back from holiday we have started watching Masterchef Australia. I wasn't sure whether we should go back and watch all the episodes from the beginning but in the end we just jumped in at episode 8 or so and went from there!

We also finished watching Alan and Amanda's Greek Job which features them renovating a house in Corfu! The series is always a lot of fun!


Life

It was back to work this week. I might have only done four days but I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the week!

Posts from the last week

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today
Weekend Cooking: Taste of Two Continents Food Walking Tour - Istanbul
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April Statistics






I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - April statistics

 Every month I share some of the statistics related to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. I try very hard to visit every post which has been linked (time permitting) and I find it interesting to see what are the books that people are reading and reviewing! I often end up adding a couple of books to my never ending TBR list.

In terms of the books read in March, there were 46 reviews linked up for the challenge, shared by 18 participants. There were 46 individual titles reviewed, written by 44 different authors. There were 5 reviewers who reviewed 4 or more books each. Thank you to everyone who shared their links whether it be 7 or just 1.

Interestingly, there were no individual titles that were reviewed more than once this month! This only happens occasionally. As I was visiting all the links I was beginning to wonder if I would have anything interesting to share this month! Thank goodness some of you enjoy reading series!

We did have two authors who were read more than once this month! Barbara from Stray Thoughts read both The Prince of Spies and A Gilded Lady by Elizabeth Camden. These are the second and third books in the Hope and Glory trilogy.

Bev from My Reader's Block read both Murder on Eaton Square and Murder by Plum Pudding by Lee Strauss. These are books 10 and 11 in the Ginger Gold Mystery Series

As always I added several titles to my TBR list after visiting all the posts this month. Goodness only knows if and when I will be able to read them though! There was quite a mix of settings this month including Australia, Bulgaria, Ireland, China and more!

If you enjoy reading Historical Fiction why not join us? You can find all the details here.

I am sharing this with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Hopewell's Library.

Weekend Cooking: Taste of Two Continents food walking tour - Istanbul

 

Whenever we travel we like to do something foodie, whether it be a fancy meal or some kind of tour. Our recent visit to Turkiye was no exception. The food that we had over the whole trip was amazing, but one of the first things we did was a walking tour. 

Istanbul is a pretty special city and it is proud of the fact that it has one foot in both Europe and Asia, and this walking tour had elements on both sides. 

After meeting at a location near to the Spice Markets, the group of 9 made our way through the markets collecting various different ingredients for the first tasting, which ended up being a full Turkish breakfast. This is a tour that you need to come hungry for. I really didn't even need the hot chocolate that we started with!

This Turkish breakfast really set the scene for all of the breakfasts that we had throughout the tour. It introduced us to a number of different elements that I might not otherwise have tried and we continued to eat them throughout the period we were there.

The breakfast that we had included grilled olives, several different cheeses including tulum cheese, simit (looks like a bagel but has molasses added to it and is covered in sesame seeds), red pepper paste , pasturma (pastrami), menemen (scrambled eggs with onion and tomato), hazelnut paste and honey and kaymak (which is a type of clotted cream) all washed down with turkish tea.

Everything was really delicious. Actually, I didn't try the olives because I don't like them, but everything else was really delicious. The real revelations were the hazelnut paste and the honey and kaymak. We are all familiar with Nutella which is the mix of chocolate and hazelnut but this was just hazelnut flavoured and it was so good! Interestingly, this was only served with the breakfast in Istanbul. Once we got out of the city we didn't see it again.. However, the honey and kaymak (clotted cream) is something we saw pretty regularly.

The thing with the honey and kaymak that was such a surprise to me is that I generally don't like honey that much. I will have it in small amounts but certainly it's not a topping that I reach for as a general rule, but as a combination with the simit.....and it turns out other types of bread....so good!

After our breakfast we make our way down to the waterfront and caught a ferry over the Bosphorus to the Asian side of the city in the area of Kadıköy where we wandered through a market area making various stops.

The first stop was at a restaurant where we tried Beyran soup which is a regional breakfast soup. It includes pieces of lamb in the tomato based soup. This is where we also tried ayran which is a sour milk based drink that we saw all over Turkiye. That one might be a bit of an acquired taste. More palatable was the lahmacun which is a Turkish pizza style dish but you roll it up to eat.

As we were walking our guide pointed out a number of kokoreç stores. When he explained what it was I wasn't sure if I would want to try it, but when in Istanbul.... kokoreç is basically lamb intestines which is wrapped around different types of offal and then grilled. The way we had it was very finely chopped and served on bread. It was quite tasty, although it's not something that I would go out of my way to have again.

You may have noticed that there is a lot of bread in this food, and we weren't done yet. Our next stop was to have an Iskender Kebab. I guess I really only though that there were kebabs, but there are multiple different versions. What sets this one apart is that the pita bread is at the bottom of the plate so by the time you are get to it, it has been soaking in all the juices. When it is served, there is also a flourish of butter sauce added. It was so good!  

The next stop was something I have never seen before. It was a pickle shop, but it isn't just your normal pickles. The window display included things like pickled avocado, corn and all sort of other things. I don't like pickle so this wasn't a stop for me. It also might be another acquired taste, but it did look very pretty! We saw pickle stores all over the city where people just buy a cup of pickles and juice and they just eat it like that!

We couldn't complete a tour without having proper Turkish coffee and Turkish Delight, and then our final stop was a dessert shop where we got to try Turkish ice cream (which is dondurma) and baklava. We ended up going to this chain of dessert shops multiple times throughout our time in Istanbul. The dondurma is delicious, so creamy, but it has a very different texture to our ice cream, to the point that it is possible to eat it with a knife and fork.  Because of the ingredients it doesn't melt in the same way and it has a kind of chewy texture. 

I mentioned above that I don't generally love honey. The same is true of nuts, and yet I ate baklava at every opportunity, and honey and nut are a big part of baklava! The guide did tell us that you should eat baklava upside down which was interesting!

That was the end of the a very interesting day. The tour itself lasted around 5 hours, and the guide was very approachable and knowledgable. He also shared plenty of tips about good places to eat. Once the tour as done we had the opportunity to hang around a bit longer in Kadıköy which is what we chose to do. We then caught the ferry back to Kabataş which was very close to where we were staying.

it was a really fun, informative and filling day! We did out tour through a company called Yummy Food Tours and we would totally do another tour with them!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Away
Monday - Presure Cooker Spag Bol
Tuesday -Pork chops with mash and gravy
Wednesday - Beef and Broccoli
Thursday -  Chicken Katsu Curry 
Friday - Bacon, mushrooms and eggs on toast

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is  Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today (These could be authors who have passed away or retired/are taking a long hiatus from writing. You could also spin this and share authors who have switched to a genre you’re not interested in.) (submitted by Rebecca @ Top100Books)

When I  checked I realise that we did this topic a couple of years ago. Most of the names are the same (although I chose different book covers to share) but I did change a couple of them! For the most part I have chosen authors who have passed away, except for the last two!

I did have another author in my list and it was only when I went to Fantastic Fiction to check that I realised that she has actually had about 5 books out in the last few years. Whoops!

Anyway, here's my list.

Diana Norman/Ariana Franklin - I loved the Mistress of the Art of Death series which this author published under the name of Ariana Franklin, but I first started reading her books under her name Diana Norman, and I particularly enjoyed her Makepeace Hedley trilogy which started with A Catch of Consequence

Sharon Kay Penman - I love SKP's books and often mention books like The Sunne in Splendour or Here Be Dragons in relation to her. This time though, I am going to use the first of her Justin de Quincy mysteries as my choice. 

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I think it is maybe time for me to reread The Shadow of the Wind. I loved that book so much. 

Susan Vreeland - It appears I have only read three of this author's books, but they definitely left an impact!

Lucinda Riley - When Lucinda Riley passed away before the last book in the Seven Sisters series was released, her son took over the writing. Recently, it's been announced that he has written a new book set in the same world. I am invested enough to want to read the book, but also not sure how I feel about it all!

Terry Pratchett - I do occasionally find myself wondering what Sir Terry would make of the world right now. 

Stieg Larsson - Remember how popular this author's books were back in the early 2000's. Crazy to think that he passed away before the books were published and so successful.

Kerry Greenwood - When this Australian author passed last year I was sad to think that we had no more Phryne Fisher novels to come, even though I still have a lot of the series to read.

Laura Florand - Laura Florand will always appear on these lists for me. No, she hasn't passed away, but she no longer writes. When I went through a reading slump that lasted for years a while ago, she was one of the few authors who I still read! 

Lisa Kleypas - Don't panic. Lisa Kleypas is alive and well. In fact, she probably shouldn't be on this list at all given that she has recently announced that there will be a new book coming out from her soon. It's just that it has been a long 5 years since the last one! This is one of her standalone books which is probably lesser known, but it is also one of my favourites.

This week....or more precisely the last couple of weeks.

 

First of all.....Happy Star Wars Day

It's a bit strange to me that I am all over this Star Wars thing now. Up until about 10 years ago I had never seen a Star Wars movie but my husband is a big fan so we now watch all the spin offs and I already know we will be going to the movies to see the new Mandalorian movie when it comes out soon. I still have never seen all of the movies though.

I'm reading

As a general rule, I don't read as much while I am holidays as I do when I am home. Occasionally we have holidays where that doesn't apply, but over the last two and a bit weeks where we have been in Turkiye it has definitely been the case.

Since my last This Week post I finished reading both New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet and The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin (which I reviewed here and here respectively).

I then decided to read The Astral Library by Kate Quinn, as it fit two categories in the Goodreads Spring challenge, and because I really enjoy her historical fiction writing. This one is most definitely not historical fiction. I enjoyed it, but it did take me a while to get through, and it isn't my favourite book of hers.

After that I read The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. My read on a theme book club theme for May is Mothers and Daughters and this book definitely met that theme. I have only ever read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and that was in the 1990s so it was interesting reading this book now.

My final read while I was away was An Italian Island Love Story by Leonie Mack. This is part of her Wedding Adventures series which I really love! it was perfect plane reading! 

My reading numbers were down for April (mostly because I was too busy being on holiday). I read 7 books in total. I gave most of them a grade of 4 out of 5 but nothing really jumps out as being a best of the month. Hopefully next month. 

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Bookish Travel

While I didn't read many books, I did visit quite a few places in April (both in real life and through books!)

Europe

UK - Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe

Greece - The Islander's Daughter

France - New Chapters on the French Riviera

Portugal - The Hotel by the Sea

Australia

Queensland - Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing

America

Maine - The Seven Rings

Massachusetts - The Astral Library

I'm watching

We flew a Chinese airline this time as we had to rebook our flights to avoid the conflict in the Middle East. We would absolutely fly them again, but I know to expect that the entertainment selection is limited. I therefore only watched a couple of documentaries. One was about various destinations in China and another was an Italian documentary about The Hermitage museum in St Petersburg. When I say watched, I am being literal here as I couldn't understand what was being said in either of them!

Life

We had the most amazing time in Turkiye! Apart from one day we had amazing weather, we saw some amazing sights and food. If you have ever thought about visiting Turkiye, then do it. We would both love to go back!

The first few days we were there daughter came to stay with us with her partner we had never met before so we enjoyed time with them visiting some of the major sights including The Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and we did a foodie walking tour. After they left we did a Turkish bath, visited the Basilica Cistern and more. We then joined our tour which included a visit to Topkapi Palace.

After that we left Istanbul and headed to Cannakale which was our base for spending time on the Gallipoli peninsula. The whole reason we booked this tour was so we could attend the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove on Anzac Day and it was a truly memorable experience.

After that we headed to see the ancient cities of Troy and Ephesus, visited places like Pamukkale and finally Cappadocia where we were able to take a hot air balloon ride!

It was a such a fantastic trip!

Now I have to get ready to go back to work tomorrow! 

Posts from the last week


Blog Tour: The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links
Six Degrees of Separation: Wild Dark Shore to The Enlightenment of Bees





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings