Tulip time at Emirgan Park

It is tulip festival time here in Istanbul. Although tulips are mostly associated with the Netherlands, they are actually indigenous to Turkey and central Asia. And so tulip season here is celebrated, especially at Emirgan Park.

It is so gorgeous there! If you ever have the chance to visit Istanbul at this time of year don't miss it. We always take our guests there and when we took my mother in law there she cried!



The park and the three restaurants within it (I have posted about one of them -Sarı Köşk- and some of its history before) are all run by the council and they have spent a lot of money recently improving the park, building new playgrounds and preparing for the tulip festival.



The amount of tulips alone is amazing. What a gorgeous way to spend a morning!

Got a spare 3.3 million?

Last night we went out for a quick walk just as the light was fading. We headed to a little parcel of vacant land that we spied about a month ago. It's in a quiet little area close to where we live at the moment.

The light at this time is so beautiful.

We talked to a couple of locals and found out that the land belongs to the government but the land adjoining with four rundown (and badly built in the first place) houses on it is for sale...a cool 3.3 million Turkish Lira (very roughly 3 Million Australian dollars or 2 million US dollars).

Sure the places look pretty ramshackle (and apparently there is a condition on the land that you are only allowed to 'restore' them)

But the views!
At the moment we're just going to keep on dreaming!

Election time is here again...

The most popular campaigning method appears to be flags...everywhere! So fortunately the flag makers of Turkey need not worry about the current global financial crisis just yet. And what looks and sounds like a party bus - with loud Turkish music that makes you want to dance like you're in a Shakira film clip - definitely an essential campaigning tool.

And then there was the report on the news about the candidate that gave people new washing machines to 'win' their vote. Except the people he gave them to didn't have running water in their houses so they had to traipse through the snow and carry buckets of water back to their house to fill the machine (still beats washing by hand I guess).

I would like to say 'only in Turkey' but I have a feeling that's not quite true!

A little fishy...

The area we live in is packed with fish restaurants and has some little stalls by the side of the water where you can get some really fresh fish!

Fish are pretty popular as is fishing - the banks of the Bosphorus are usually packed with people from early in the morning until late at night -rain, hail or shine. These people are committed to their hobby!

We took Yashar to one of the little stalls on the weekend to get some fish for his dinner. He had a good look at the live fish in the tank and got pretty excited about it.





While we waited we watched the fishmonger scale and fillet our fish. I love their light fitting!




This guy pulled up on his motorbike while we were there - and ordered drive through style.





And we looked at all the birds flying around the boats behind the stall.







Not a bad way to wait for your fish!

Come and spend a morning with Yashar!

Now that Yashar is walking our daily outings are so much fun! I thought I would share what we did on Friday morning with you, which is pretty much a typical weekday morning for us.

This morning, knowing our usual routine, Yashar got his shoes and sat down by the door trying to put them on - so cute! Then he carried my scarf over to me and then tried to put his shoes on me. He loves to go out for a walk!

We got rugged up and quickly headed out the door and walked down the steep hills with me holding his hand very tightly and making lots of stops along the way to say hello to neighbours. The area we are in mostly low rise apartments (3 or 4 floors) - many have a different generation of the same family living on each level. Others are rented by professionals and students. Most of the gardens are full of fruit trees, especially mulberry, pomegranate and cherry trees. One of our neighbours even has beehives in their front yard:
I love the faded pink paint on this place.

And Yashar found the beehives mesmerising!

Then it was on to the park.
With a stop to look at all the birds and dogs around.

Then over to the local cafe to warm up and to have my essential coffee for the day. Lots of the customers stop to chat to Yashar and one lady helps him to pat her gorgeous and friendly dog. The staff there all know Yashar well and play with him while I relax. Love it!

Then the walk home, today through our Friday market. I stopped to do a little fruit and veggie shopping while one of the stall holders, a beautiful older lady that brings in produce from her village, gave Yashar a cuddle (like she does every week!) and then she showed him some sheep in a yard next to the market. Yashar was so excited!

By then Yashar was pretty worn out so I carried him up the last few steep hills and he fell asleep in my arms not long before we got to the front door. A perfect morning!

Turkish home cooking - my favourite dish

Of all my mother-in-law Sevim's Turkish home cooking this is my absolute favourite. It is called Karnıyarık which means 'split belly'. Sounds a little scary when translated into English but it is so yummy and the split belly being referred to is the belly of the eggplant (and maybe mine after I eat so many of them!).

I actually never have to cook Karnıyarık because Sevim is always sending some home with us - she knows we love it. But I asked her to share the recipe with you all and she proudly obliged. All the measurements are approximate - of course Sevim never uses a recipe, she cooks it by heart.

Karnıyarık

4 or 5 eggplants - the thinner type are best
2 onions
Oil
Mince -about 250g
Salt, Pepper
Lezzet - literally translated this means 'taste' - it is a spice mix usually made from paprika, pepper, salt, dried tomato powder, grissini flour, semolina, dried parsley and dried thyme -If you can't get lezzet I think some paprika and parsley would be fine.
Large spoon of tomato paste
Water

1. Chop tops and tails off eggplants and put in a large pot. Add enough oil to come about half way up the eggplants. Cook on the stove until the eggplants are soft (making sure you turn to allow all sides to cook).

2. While eggplants are cooking, dice up onions finely, then fry in pan until golden, add mince, salt, pepper and lezzet and cook mince well.

3. Take eggplants out from pot. If they are large chop them in half length ways. Take off a small slice along one side to make a flat base for the stuffed eggplant. Lay the eggplants down in a casserole dish.

4. Slit eggplants down the middle (don't chop through the ends) and fill with mince mixture.

5. In a small bowl mix tomato paste and 1 cup of hot water and then pour this over the eggplants.

Bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

We love to have it with thick slices of bread. This recipe is definitely worth trying (if you don't have a Turkish mother in law to cook it for you that is!).

Another favourite...

One of the highlights of our trip back to Australia was being able to see an exhibition of my great grandfathers work on at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Before moving to Turkey, Senol and I spent many weekends with my Dad framing prints of my great grandfather's work. It was a wonderful time for us - up in the mud brick studio, which is surrounded by gum trees and garden, far away from the noise of the city where we spent our weekdays. The only sounds would be the birds calling out, the occasional possum on the roof or the classical music that would usually be on quietly in the background. Senol would cut the glass and prepare the backing boards, Dad would make the frames and I would cut the mounts. We would spend time together deciding which frame would suit a particular painting and which mount would bring out the colours of the artwork. And of course there were plenty of coffee breaks.

Now every Sunday we go down to our favourite coffee place and I love that they usually have Mozart playing and I think of Dad and miss our weekends framing together.













After spending so much time framing prints it was wonderful to see so much of great grandfather's work 'in the flesh'. The vibrancy of the work is what struck me most. And I was able to see many paintings that I had never seen before. I also loved seeing the development and change in his work when he started painting the Flinders Ranges.

This is the little summary from the Gallery's website:

One of Australia's greatest artists, Hans Heysen (1877-1968), is celebrated with the first major retrospective of his work in three decades at the Art Gallery of South Australia. The Hans Heysen exhibition features more than one hundred works created over the artist's seventy year career.

Born in Germany in 1877, Hans Heysen emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia with his family at the age of seven. After four years studying in Europe, Heysen embarked on one of the most successful careers in Australian art, becoming synonymous with the Adelaide Hills town of Hahndorf, where he worked and lived.

The Art Gallery of South Australia holds the largest and most representative collection of works by Hans Heysen, including more than two thousand drawings, oils and watercolours bequeathed by the artist himself. Included in the exhibition are many of Heysen's greatest oil and watercolour paintings, alongside rarely-seen
preliminary sketches and studies.

Testament to Heysen's national standing, the Gallery has borrowed masterpieces from every major collection in the country as well as from many regional and private collections, to tell the story of Heysen's art. In addition to his iconic ‘gum tree' paintings, the exhibition takes a fresh look at Heysen's lesser-known themes. Hans Heysen traces the artist's development from early student days painting in Europe from 1899-1903, including images of Paris and Venice, to the revelation of barren
landscapes and ancient mountain forms in the Flinders Ranges from 1926.

The exhibition will be touring Australia for about 2 years, including going to the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia.

PS. Recently Sharon, creator of the website Expats Moving and Relocation Guide, contacted me about putting one of my stories about living in Istanbul on her site. The end result - 'Manyak Misin?' - a post I wrote after one of my early driving experiences here is now on her website. Sharon sounds like she has many interesting stories to tell as well - she has been an expat in the US, Venezuela and Canada.

Chestnuts and persimmons

Thanks for all the pumpkin soup ideas! I am definitely going to try adding some curry powder this week (getting more pumpkin at the market tomorrow) and I like the sound of adding some chilli and ginger. Yum!

Well I haven't been around here in a little while for a couple of reasons. This week is a national holiday here in Turkey for Kurban Bayrami - The Sacrifice Feast - where rams and cows are sacrificed. The traditions is that 1 third of the meat is cooked immediately, another third is given to the poor and another third distributed among relatives and neighbours. Of course I think that sharing the meat with the poor is a wonderful practice, and I like to think that I am pretty open to different cultures and practices, but...ah... I'm not so into the slaughter part. Don't worry - no photos here. In the morning we saw lots of cows in the back of trucks, but when Senol's family were calling me to see the slaughter in the backyard (a butcher came to the house to do it) I was like 'no way!' and hid in the living room with Yashar.

The other reason I have been MIA is that Yashar got a pretty nasty infection, and has been though a lot the last couple of days, including very high fevers, night time rushes to hospital, a blood test, cold baths (the paracetamol and ibuprofen wasn't working in getting his fever down) and generally getting poked and prodded too much :( He was such a good little trooper. Although he cried during the tests and cold baths, and even though his fever got as high as 39.6C, he soon gave us sleepy little smiles when we showed him the fish in the aquarium at the hospital. Poor little man. The doctor and nurses were fantastic and I am happy to say that he is recovering well.

So instead of taking photos of cows being sacrificed and an anxious visit to the hospital, I thought you would prefer some more photos of our neighbourhood that I took on a little walk and drive we went on just before all this. Warm chestnuts, winding narrow streets, the Bosphorus and persimmons hanging like lanterns from the tree.

Seasonal recipe

Remember when I mentioned my brilliant idea a while back - a seasonal recipe each month. Well believe it or not - I actually got around to doing it! The recipe this month, while not exotic or mind blowingly original, is yummy! It is also so easy and spot on season wise here.

It's my Mum's Pumpkin Soup! My sister reminded me about it when she put together a whole lot of recipes for me because I was running out of ideas for food for Yashar (what a good sister I have - and Yashar loves it!).

The thing that used to put me off making pumpkin soup was chopping the damn thing up! But here at the Pazar (our weekly fruit and vegie market where I took the photo above) and even at the supermarket they have a guy whose sole job is to chop up the pumpkin for you on the spot - yay!

1 diced onion
1 peeled and cubed pumpkin
Chicken stock
Bay leaf
Nutmeg (I didn't have any, but added some paprika instead)
1 tablespoon of butter

Fry onion in butter. When soft add pumpkin and enough water with stock to cover and add bay leaf. Simmer until pumpkin is soft, take out bay leaf and vitamise with a pinch of nutmeg. Return to saucepan until ready to serve. Serve with a dollop of cream, a sprinkle of nutmeg and bread.

There are few variations with this recipe - I know my Mum sometimes adds curry powder and I think coconut cream (?). Sweet potatoes are also nice to use instead of pumpkin but at $20 a kilo here...

Do you know of any other yummy variations for me to try out? I am going pumpkin soup crazy!

Yashar Update: All Rugged Up

I get Yashar all rugged up before going out now. The weather is starting to get cold! He has got used to wearing his little beanie now. He used to try to get it off the minute I put it on.

We are so lucky with our apartment because we have discovered that in Autumn and Winter the sun streams in our front windows in the morning, heating up our living room like a little glass house. Yashar likes to rest his head in the warm sun. I wanted to say that the sun, streaming in in the mornings, sparkling off the Bosphorus is glorious, just glorious - but really 'glorious' just sounds sooo uncool. So, you know, the sun is like, way cool... and stuff.

Photos from the hood

I realised that I hadn't posted many photos of our neighbourhood, so here are a few before the Autumn leaves totally disappear.

The leaves on this very old wooden house are amazing - such a vibrant pink.

The house is very dilapidated and boarded up, with a Doberman and a Rottweiler guarding it - which keeps us from taking a closer look at some of the beautiful details we have spied :( I heard on the grapevine that someone on a neighbouring property has bought it and the next old house along and will probably pull them down at some stage. Until then we get to enjoy a peek as we pass by (and a fright when the dogs appear with a snarl!)

Water for Constantinople

Belgrade Forest (Belgrad Ormani) is amazing because it is so close to the crowded streets and busy traffic of Istanbul but is so green and fresh and, well, it's a forest. It was fairly crowded around the main picnic area where there are also a couple of restaurants, but once we started walking it was so quiet and peaceful. We saw many people carrying huge bags of mushrooms they had picked - but we weren't game. I remember reading somewhere - maybe in the book A Year in Provenceabout places where you could take the mushrooms you had picked to be checked to make sure they weren't poisonous. I wish they had that here. Am I being too cautious??

Because the paths were rough and Yashar was still sleeping when we arrived we stopped off at the picnic area for some rice pudding - best in warm weather, but always a favourite of mine!

The forest was part of the setting for the water supply system for the Byzantines and Ottomans who used aqueduct bridges to supply water to Constantinople. Parts of the bridges are still standing like this one we drove under on the way to the forest. History really does permeate everyday life here - it's so easy to forget how rich and interesting the history is when you drive under it and walk past parts of it every day.

Yashar loved looking at all the Autumn leaves and the lake and touching the bark of the trees. We loved it too - a little bit of stillness to take back to Istanbul.

Rubbish Stuck

I often wondered how the rubbish trucks made it around the narrow streets here three times a week - I have enough trouble squeezing my tiny little car between the walls and the precariously parked cars...





and now I know...






they don't always make it!

Access denied

I feel like Mark (Christian Slater) in Pump up the Volume running a pirate radio station - Blogger, (the site I use to publish this blog) has been banned in Turkey. When you try to access the site here or any of the blogs hosted by Blogger a notice comes up saying that access has been blocked. I'm thinking about swapping to a different blog host, but until then I have connections, ways and means - so here I am bringing you a controversial post about handknits Pump up the Volume style:

I bought this yarn and linen a few weeks ago to knit a scarf for Senol. I was aiming for a cosy scarf that said "I am a man, and I am man enought to wear a cool handknit scarf."


But now that I am knitting it up I think that I might be borrowing it too. I'm not sure what I will be doing with the linen yet - I'm thinking Christmas ornaments - but we will see if that eventuates.


Knitting is very popular here and I was hoping to find some gorgeous natural yarns. So far though I have been pretty disappointed - acrylics make up about 90% of the stock at the places I've been to. And the quality of the natural yarns I've seen so far hasn't been great. So if anyone has any ideas of where I can get some beautiful yarn please leave a comment!

I'm thinking I might need to head to a nearby koy (village) to source some...haha, lets see if I can talk Senol into that one!

Muşmula

These are Muşmula (pronounced Mush-mul-la) and they are in season now so Senol rushed to get some at the market before it was too late. I love the sound of the name. Muşmula. But the taste of these isn't what I'd call delicious. Sort of like eating raw quince if you've ever tried that. They make your mouth all dry and the texture is fibrey (is that even a word?) fibrous perhaps. Either way not particularly tempting!

I have been surprised by how many varieties of fruit and vegetables there are here that I have never even heard of. I thought we pretty much had everything available in Australia now - although maybe they are there at the market, and I just never recognised them.

I love that the availability of fruit and vegetables is so seasonal here. It just makes sense - they taste better and are generally locally grown. Shame on me for not knowing which fruit and vegies are in season apart from the basics! But I'm learning - seeing what's available at the local market, what's weighing the trees down in the neighbourhood.

Ooh I just had an idea - I might start a monthly post where I look at what is in season here and maybe even cook something and include the recipe. It might get me a little more inspired with my cooking too. Brilliant!


(and it makes me want to buy this book even more!)