Istanbul - the food

I couldn't have told you a thing about döner kebaps last week (yes with a 'p'). But today, after a weekend of dizzyingly watching the juicy meat spin and wrapping my piggy little fingers around a warm dürüm döner kebap, I can tell you that they are delicious. We ate two kebaps in four days, which might not sound like a lot, but wait until you scroll through the rest of this post and realize how many other delicious goodies we ate: big ringed sesame bagels, flat breads, ooey gooey potato cheesy bread, mussels with rice, meat and rice wrapped in grape leaves covered in yogurt, and the list goes on. There was a lot of food and most of it was street food. We loved the street food, but you know what? I think we loved the people selling the street food almost as much, if not more, than the food itself. They might seem serious at first, but I can promise you that in most cases there will be a big smile lurking somewhere under that enormous, amazing, bristly, dark mustache.
We had our first kebap the second day after walking over the Galata Bridge on our way to the tower. There is something we refer to as the 'hungry monster' in our family. Our glucose begins to sink and there is no getting in the way of a Burns who needs to eat. If my brother, Pete, doesn't eat before a round of golf you can be sure that by the 11th hole he will be grumpy, bitter, throwing clubs and dying for a bite of a hamburger (love you Pete!) Well that is where I found myself at around 1pm on Friday, absolutely-starving-had-to-eat-couldn't-walk-another-step-give-me-a-kebap-NOW! Thankfully we didn't have to walk far until we saw this little spot, bordered by bridge bound traffic on one side and depressing stores on the other, but heck, they had meat and beer, a shady place to sit and a very friendly staff.
Tea time takes on an entirely new meaning in Istanbul. There is no time because people drink it all day long - mid morning, after lunch, with an afternoon sweet, before dinner, after dinner, just for the heck of it - really they drink it constantly, just adding a little square of sugar before drinking. It's a bit like chain tea drinking, now that I think about it. What was really great was the way that post people received their tea - from a man walking around with a pewter tea tray, complete with saucers and stirring spoons.
The cheesey-potato flat bread that we found just outside the Blue Mosque might have been the best thing we ate the entire trip. Layers and layers of hot bread, sandwiching hot cheese and buttery potato...mmm. It was heavenly, and so was the $2 price tag! We tried to go back for another one before we had to leave for the airport, but the man wasn't there or had relocated his cart. Quite an upsetting way to end the trip.
We had dinner our first night near the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque at a little fish restaurant just down the hill. It's in all of the guidebooks and was recommended to use by a few different friends, but none the less we found it to be filled with mostly locals and perhaps that is because everything we ate was amazingly fresh and flavorful. They brought over a tray of meze (cold appetizers) for us to chose from and then they took us over to the fish tray so that we could select which one we wanted to eat for dinner. We started with eggplant spread, hummus, roasted red peppers, mussels in rice, hot pepper spread and sea bass. If you know me you are thinking 'Talley doesn't eat mussels, nope not a chance,' but I gave the dish a shot and actually really liked it. Hmm perhaps I'll have to try moules frites soon, a dish that always looks so good, except for the eating mussels part of it. Anyway, enough about mussels, for dinner Zach had mackrel, head and all, and I had a nice flakey piece of sea bass.
Zach and must have walked back and forth through the market on the Asian side of the city at least four times. We were completely enamored with every vendor and every single little bit of everything they were selling. The colors were out of this world as were some of the smells!
Zach is an avid New Yorker reader. He gets stressed if a new one arrives before he has finished the last one. Nothing goes unread. Not the New York restaurant reviews or the letters to the editor, he reads every single word on every single page, except it seems for the fiction section, which often goes untouched. So as an thorough reader he was shocked to hear that he had missed the article in the April 19, 2010 issue about the restaurant Çiya Sofrasi in Istanbul. My wonderful friend Mary sent us a list of recommendations and pointed us in the direction of this restaurant, which her parents had visited after reading the article. It is a very simple restaurant, which pairs nicely with the out-of-this-FREAKING-world food. Every bite was full of unexpected flavors. We ordered, on the suggestion of the waiter, a sample of mezes and entrees and thought everything we ate was better than the last. It's interesting actually, they only have one rule, which is that you can't mix the dishes on your plate. You can only eat one at a time. This is perfect for Zach who doesn't know the meaning of meat and potatoes because he eats the meat then potatoes. We highly recommend it if you are in Istanbul, and heck it's a quick little jaunt to Asia for lunch!
Like I said, they can seem stern at first, but there is a smile hiding under there somewhere (especially if you just bought a sesame bagel from him in the hopes of getting a picture!)
Mmm. and then you eat the bagel and are just as happy as the man who sold it to you. We preferred them plain, finding the cheese to taste a bit like gorgonzola, which neither of us like.
Have you heard of the Sultan's revenge? That is the term for what happens to your digestion when you have eaten street food laden with bacteria. The major culprit of sultan's revenge are the mussels with rice. We didn't know this when we had one (upper left picture). Thankfully we each only had one. I was super hesitant on eating it after actually seeing the mussel, but before I really had a chance to second guess my consumption the man had shoved it in my mouth!
My stomach did feel a bit queasy after the sultan's mussel so we went to find some bread, which did the trick perfectly. Besides it was a great excuse to eat some beautiful, fluffy flat bread.
One thing we didn't do enough was sample the sweets. There were tons of desserts full of unfamiliar ingredients and curious flavors. We did try Turkish delights, which we both agreed were both savory and sweet and we tried a Baklava, which unfortunately we didn't really like - too nutty. This trip was meat and bread based so I guess the next trip will have to be sweet based. Anyone want to go on a sweet tour of Istanbul?

This next series of photos is of one of my favorite vendors in the city. We saw him two days and he just made me want to smile.
Isn't he great? He sold sesame bagels, similar to many of the vendors, but there is just something about his smile that makes you want to buy a gazillion bagels.

I hope you've enjoyed our little food tour of Istanbul and that you are inspired to book a trip and eat your way through the city. Next time we go I really think we'll skip the sites and just focus on the food and all the fun cafes.

Remember how I said it was 92 degrees yesterday - well today it's 70 and rainy. The weather really fluctuates in this city. It's too bad because I was on a two day swimming streak, Monday in the river and yesterday in the Lake, both of which were great, but the lake was a bit warmer. Okay off to get the cushions off the terrace and hunker down with my to-do list.

Istanbul - sites and city

Let's just get it all out there so as to not confuse and befuddle any readers - I love Istanbul. L-o-v-e, as in the four letter word you hold close to your heart for those special things, like corn salad on a hot August evening, a long walk with a dear friend down a familiar path, the way your husband smiles when he gets home from work, that oh so necessary beer and bratwurst mid-mountain ski break...you get what I mean...and that is how I feel about Istanbul. It feels like eating corn salad while walking with a friend towards home where your husband smiles and offers you a bratwurst. Everything happens at once in Istanbul. It's hectic, and busy, and loud and constantly moving in front of you, but it is absolutely spectacular. It's not spectacular in its beauty, but rather in its hints at past beauty. The city and its buildings are a bit tired and worn and every street seems to be composed of buildings from different eras, eras long forgotten in most other cities, but which are still playing out their years in Istanbul. There is so much to see and do and eat and four days was not nearly enough time to explore the city. We did our best though and tried to visit the major sites while also trying to spend time in the less touristy, more real, areas of the city.

This was my first time in a predominately Muslim country. I was unfamiliar with the thoughtful tones of the call to prayer, the social cues and codes, and the geometric decoration. It would have been helpful to have done some research before going, but as per usual, we will have to read up on things now that we are back. Our trips seems to come upon us so quickly, leaving us little time to prepare. It was also our first time in Asia - hah! A quick lunch on the Asian side and now we are already contemplating a larger Asian adventure. There was a departures board in the terminal and Zach and I both agreed that of all the destinations listed, we have to go to Tokyo, perhaps by way of New Delhi - Hong Kong - Vietnam - Cambodia and South Korea!

I couldn't decide how I wanted to organize the photos for Istanbul - did I want to do it by day or everything jumbled - but I eventually decided to focus on the sites and the city today and follow up with some food photos tomorrow. The food is such a wonderful part of the city that I thought it deserved it's own post. And after all, somehow this has become a food blog, so I guess it's only appropriate that food gets it's own post and it's own day.

These are a couple of my favorite photos - a man washing at the Blue Mosque and Zach in the Hagia Sophia. Zach was constantly looking out windows, wherever he could find them, curious about what he would be able see from these different vantage points. The Hagia Sophia did not disappoint, but Zach and I agreed that we preferred wandering into many mosques - big, small, hidden, prominent - that were scattered throughout the city. The Hagia Sophia, meaning Holy Wisdom, was built under Roman Emperor Justinian in 537 as a church. It was later converted to a mosque and is now a museum. As a museum it has lost the rhythms of purposeful daily use, which I think has taken away some of its character and interest.
We were overwhelmed by the Blue Mosque. That's not to say that it was my favorite, although I do think it was Zach's, but none-the-less it was an interesting site to see.
A trip to the Grand Bazaar is a must. I think I was too busy eyeing all the shops inside that I forgot to take pictures, not to mention that the lighting was terrible. The picture of the rugs is the only one I took inside, the rest are photos of the street we walked to get up to the Bazaar, which was a bazaar and crazy site in itself. When shopping you cannot appear interested, otherwise you will be hounded by lira seeking salesmen. We did buy a couple teeny tiny kilim rugs, which are colorful and were cheap enough so that if we were ripped off, which we probably were, that we won't have any regrets about it. Next time I go I'm coming home with a living-room sized rug. I'll do my carpet research before I go - know what to look for, where to buy and be sure I'm getting the real thing at an okay price. While we were in the bazaar I actually heard a salesmen say "How can I get your lira into my cash register?" Ha!

The blue tiles are wonderful and did a good job of making any mosque that was completely covered in tiles my new favorite. I had lots of favorites as the trip went on.
We went to the Harem at Topkapi palace on the recommendation of Katie, who posted a comment last week. It was the best 30lira we spent the entire trip. We wandered through the rooms slowly and deliberately making sure that we didn't miss a patterned tile or a stained glass window.
Oh to be on a boat with a cool breeze blowing in my face. It's desperately hot in Zürich today - almost 33 degrees Celsius, a temperature scale I'm still not getting the hang of. I just googled the conversion and 33 is roughly 91 degrees Fahrenheit - toasty! I went for my first swim in the river yesterday and I think today will be my first dip in the lake. Air conditioning is an unfamiliar concept here. You'd never expect it in your apartment, a restaurant or your office or even on some train cars. Thankfully this type of heat is unusual and our apartment is pretty well shaded and is staying fairly cool, but a nice blast of good cold air from an AC would be reaaaaaally nice right now. Perhaps a trip into the mountains is coming up. Mountains mean bratwurst! Take me to the summit for a beer and bratwurst.

Phew that was a long post with lots of pictures. Time to sign off, eat some lunch and then jump in the lake! Hope you've enjoyed Istanbul part 1 and that you are already looking forward to Istanbul Part 2 - The Food!

Istanbul - gathering thoughts and photos

We went on a whim. And now we want to go back. We love Istanbul. We love the tired and decrepit buildings, the rhythms and unfamiliar sounds of the call to prayer, the kebaps and turkish delights, and most of all the people who sell those kebaps and delights. Enamored with every little crevice we are already beginning to imagine yearly trips to Istanbul.

I'm working on gathering photos since they are really the only way to convey the sensations of the city - even then, it seems to be a city that defies explanation. I'm aiming for a long, lovely post tomorrow so stay tuned. The photo above is from inside the Harem at Topkapi Palace, the home of the Sultan and his concubines.

And thank you to everyone who sent us recommendations via comments and email. Your recommendations really helped us plan our days and I'm not sure we would have had such a fulfilling trip without them.