Food Fridays - Istanbul

I asked someone how to say "thank-you" in Turkish, and he taught me in a simple, beautiful way.  He said, "You can use English words to learn.  Just remember 'tea', 'sugar', 'a dream'.  Teşekkür ederim.  That lesson will stick with me for a while, not only because Turkish tea with sugar really does taste like something fit for dreams, but because that's what their food feels like to me.  Simple ingredients yielding simply magical dishes.  Enjoy.

Our first breakfast of menemen (an amazing combo of tomatoes, peppers, and egg).  Oh, and...Turkish tea!!  

Lavash is a light, puffy, unleavened bread that goes great with anything.

Circassian ravioli with ground meat

Karniyarik.  An oven-baked eggplant stuffed with minced meat.  It may not look like much, but it's the best eggplant dish we've ever had.   

Lemon, mint, pomegranate, rose, and orange Turkish delight

4 types of baklava: chocolate, regular, walnut, double pistachio 

Chicken shawarma, freshly pressed orange juice, and a pile of bread makes a filling breakfast.

Turkish ice cream...so thick and sticky, it comes with its own show.  Seriously.  Putting this stuff on a cone is not as simple as you'd think. 

There's street stands and little shops all over selling freshly pressed juice, in this case, how could we resist trying the pomegranate!

A mezze platter is a cold appetizer plate which varies from restaurant to restaurant, but all go well with, you guessed it, bread. 

A huge meat pie and a little Turkish coffee

Kele cosh - an Anatolian dish of lamb, yogurt and spices.  So good, the plate was spotless when we were done. Oh yes, and also very good with bread.