Talking Turkish

Gobble, Gobble?

That's what my daughter said when I asked her if she knew any Turkish words- she cracks me up sometimes.  Anyway the real answer to my question would have been a big N-O !!  I'm not even sure if I've heard it spoken before, but here are a few words for your foreign language lesson this week.....

Hello- Merhaba    Good Morning- Gunaydin    Goodbye- Gule gule

Thank You- Tesekkur ederim    No - Hayir   Yes- Evet

Happy Birthday! - Dogum gunun kutlu olsun!

I Love You - Seni sevi yorum

 

1- bir   2- iki     3- uc    4- dort     5- bes

6 - altl   7- yedi    8- sekiz    9- dokuz    10- on

 

black- kara     white- beyaz     red- kirmizi     blue- mavi   

yellow- sari    orange- turuncu    green - yemyesil    purple- mor

pink- pembe

 

The Turkish word for delicious is "Leziz" and I apologize that I didn't make a recipe for you all this week but it's been so busy around here.  If you are interested in making some of the delicious Turkish food like we ate at Aspendos please check out these web pages- http://www.turkishcookbook.com/ ,   http://www.food.com/recipes/turkish, http://www.deliciousistanbul.com/blog/turkish-recipes/
 they all look pretty good!!

We are going to be out of town for a few days and so next week we will be taking a break from our "travels" and just enjoying ourselves. 

 Have a great week and we'll catch up where we left off!!

Mid-week Field Trip!

Aspendos Restaurant

We had a rough day yesterday, my daughter found out she's going to need glasses and was really bummed about it.  I told her glasses are pretty cool but she wasn't buying it (really, I had glasses at her age and I hated them too, but I had to try, right?) So, we had to cheer her up by going out to a new restaurant!  I know my kids will always enjoy Mediterranean food- whether it's Middle Eastern, Greek, or, as we found out, Turkish.  I'll be honest and tell you that I find many of the dishes from these countries are pretty similar, especially Greek and Turkish food.  There were, however, a few delicious differences. 

The restaurant we dined at was named Aspendos.  It's on Peninsula Ave. in San Mateo if you are from the area and up for some deliciousness.  It is named after an ancient amphitheater and town in Turkey of the same name.  The amphitheater , which was built in 155 A.D. with seating for 7,000, is still standing and has been deemed the best preserved theater in the world.  In fact, until recent times it was still being used. 

The restaurant features a painted mural of it's namesake along with other beautiful Turkish items.  The TV was even playing the newscast from Turkey (just FYI, it's going to rain tomorrow in Demre).  It's definitely a casual restaurant- paper menus and you order at the register, but when you've got 2 kids, casual is best.

Here is what we dined on-

Hummus and flat bread-  hummus is hummus the world over it seems.  It was good but the bread was better.  A fluffy flat bread with some spices sprinkled on top.  Yes, I ate it.  It was research :)

Zucchini Patties-  these were delicious even though I thought a little underdone.  They were served with a yogurt and dill sauce and all the grown ups REALLY liked them- the kids? well they were too busy with their bread to eat vegetables!

Lamb and Beef Gyros- I'd have to say that this is one of my children's favorite things to eat.  The meat is really flavorful and was served with fluffy rice, some marinated onions, a grilled tomato and salad with lemon and olive oil dressing.  I noticed no flatbread- maybe that is the difference between a Greek gyro and a Turkish gyro?  Who cares?  They were in heaven!

Adena Kabob-  this was ground meat (lamb and beef) seasoned with garlic and spices and then cooked on a skewer.  So tasty and moist!  Served with small pieces of flatbread under the meat to soak up all the yummy juices- delicious!!  They had a "Turkish burger" on the menu also and I wonder if this is the same meat they use, it would be soooooo good on a bun with some cacik (tzatziki) sauce and tomatoes and the marinated onions!  My mouth is actually watering as I am writing this!

Pida with meat and cheese-  this was a flat bread with a delicious mixture of meat and cheese on it and baked in the oven.  It looked simple but it was super tasty!!

Turkish Pizza (Lahmacun)- this was very different than American pizza.  It was super thin and had a mixture of red peppers and ground meat spread all over the top.  It was served with lettuce, tomatoes, marinated onions and lemon.  The owner (who was super busy and so we didn't bug him too much) said you put the produce on top of the pizza, squeeze some lemon and eat it rolled like a wrap.  I only tasted a piece before the "wrap", it was very red pepper-y, which I liked but got mixed reviews from the kids and my husband.

Surely you'd think we were full by now, and we were, but we trudged on in the name of research and ordered dessert.

Baklava-  again, very similar to every baklava you've ever had.  We had walnut and pistachio and they were both very sweet and flaky.




Rice pudding- the menu said it was oven baked so I thought it would be warm, but it was regular ol' rice pudding.  Delicious, but we too full to really enjoy it.


Turkish tea-  the tea came in an awesome little glass tea cup and was made with real tea leaves but other than that I couldn't really see the difference between Turkish and American tea.  The cup was cool though.






We left, too full to move, with the thoughts of new glasses far from our mind.  It's hard to be told you are going to need glasses for the rest of your life, but, we shall overcome this small inconvenience- hopefully.  Wish me luck :)

Hopefully these aren't the frames she picks out!! 

A Man of Morals

Aesop- a man of morals

Ok, so before I begin the story of Aesop and his fables, let me say that there are many conflicting stories about Aesop, some even that he wasn't even a real person.  The consensus is that he was born in the region now known as Turkey around 620 BC.  Then it gets a little iffy- he was either a slave on a Greek Isle who was freed from slavery because of his quick mind, an Ethiopian traveler, or a dwarf with deformed features.  Really, I supposed all of them could be true- maybe he was a deformed Ethiopian dwarf traveler who was taken as a slave to a Greek Isle but then freed because of his intellect?  Sounds plausible.  Anyway, I don't know what's true or not, all I know is that there is a huge collection of stories that are credited to Aesop.  No written records of the stories survive but they have been passed down through the millennia and still stand strong.  The stories all have 2 things in common- they all feature animals (or insects) as the main characters and they all have a moral.  At the end of the story a lesson has been taught.  A lesson on how to be a GOOD HUMAN BEING!   Even when times are tough.  Even when life is hard and you are the underdog.  I think I found some new bedtime stories for the kids!! 

I picked one story to illustrate a science project for the kids-  

The Crow and the Pitcher- a science project
as paraphrased by me

A very thirsty crow was flying one day when he spotted a pitcher of water.  He flew down to the pitcher of water and tried to get a drink but the neck of the pitcher was too narrow and the water level was too low for him to reach it with his beak.
(note:  It is hard to see the water level in the pics with my daughter.  My son's water I dyed red and it is much easier)

So he thought and thought.  While he was thinking, he spotted some pebbles on the road.  He picked up a few pebbles and dropped them into the pitcher.  The water rose higher as the pebbles displaced the water.  As the crow dropped more and more pebbles, the water rose higher in the pitcher until the crow was able to dip his beak in and get a drink.  When he was satisfied, he continued on his way

The moral-
Persistence pays off, or, where there is a will there is a way!!

The science lesson-
2 objects cannot occupy the same space.  The rocks displace the water, and since it has no other place to go, it rises in the pitcher.

Week 43: Turkey

Let's talk Turkey...

No, not the poultry, the wonderfully historical country on the border of Asia and Europe.  In fact, the country's largest city, Istanbul, is the only city in the world that is in 2 different continents.  Cool fact.  Istanbul has also been the capital at one time or another of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire!!  Sometimes, though, it went by the name Constantinople.  These days the capital of Turkey is Ankara (39.91° N/ 32.85°E), the second largest city in the country.  Because of the importance of Istanbul in the course of history, the who's who list of famous people born in or having lived in Turkey is very impressive. 

Here are just a few-

St. Nicholas

• King Midas - the same one with the golden touch? I'll check.
• St. Nicholas - the one and only Father Christmas was born in Demre on the Mediterranean coast.
•  St. Paul the Apostle
• St. Peter - built the first Catholic church (in Antioch)
• Aesop- the famous storyteller and fable writer
• Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived in Turkey in her later years.

Turkey has also been the setting for quite a few historical and biblical happenings.

• It is said that Noah's Ark landed on Agri Dagi (Mt. Ararat)
• Mark Antony is said to have given his new wife, Cleopatra, a section of the Turkish shore as a wedding gift.  Supposedly, he even had Egyptian sand imported for the beach.
• The oldest writings have been found on clay tablets from 1950 BC and the oldest human settlement, in Catalhoyuk, dates back to 7500 BC.
• 2 of the 7 wonders of the ancient world are located in Turkey.  They are the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. 

The Temple of Artemis

• The legendary city of Troy and the site of the Trojan Horse battle was in western Turkey.   

On top of all that history, the country of Turkey is also responsible for introducing the world to one of my faves- COFFEE!!  Thanks Turkey- I owe you one!!

The Netherlands can also thank Turkey for introducing tulips to them and we can all thank them for producing over 70% of the world's hazelnuts.  Unless you don't like hazelnuts. 

All in all, Turkey is proving to be a pretty awesome country to learn about this week!  I can't wait to get started :)