Thursday, September 1, 2016

Spice of Life - Foods of Turkey

Greetings my dear friends (and new readers, too).  Today's post is going to be about food.  Lovely, colorful, tasty, Turkish Food.  My dear daughter told me I should write about different port cities, sights, landmarks, etc., and I may in the future, but I thought I'd spice it up a bit and talk about food!  I love to eat delicious food and make delicious food.  So, here are some photos of some great Turkish food from my last trip to Turkey in July . . .

We arrived in our seaside town the first part of July during the Ramazan festivities.  Corn was in season and on the way to our home this guy had set up a roadside roasted corn stand.  We stopped a couple of times and bought delicious, warm, roasted corn.  He wrapped it oh so carefully and even included some wet wipes to clean our hands!
We always look forward to going to the weekly farmers market.  Every Thursday the vendors set up their wares in the small streets behind one of the big grocery stores.  Since we know the area and know where to park, we love to venture to this market each week.  I've never seen such a  huge selection of fruits and vegetables as in the Turkish market.  It reminds me of all the years I used to visit Pike Place Market in Seattle.
 
We had very warm temps this year in July and it seemed even warmer at the market stalls.  My husband loves to bargain (it's in his blood), and he made friends with one of the fruit sellers. 
Turkey has an array of wonderful breads.  One afternoon we went downtown to do some banking/business.  We decided to eat lunch at one of the "tourist" restaurants.  We usually like to find places off the beaten path, but it was a warm day and we were hungry.  We chose a corner restaurant and we were not disappointed when this bread suddenly appeared, hot from the oven!
My husband always like to order adana kabob, but I love Turkish Pide or Turkish pizza.  This one is topped with seasoned ground beef which was spiced just perfect on a warm, hot, crusty base.
We are lucky that we have some large grocery stores in Alanya.  We were shopping at Carrefour and found this lovely lady making Gozleme in the bakery department!  We had tried this delicous hand rolled pastry that is stuffed with oil and herbs at the farmers market but we were surprised to find it at the bakery.  Of course, we bought a couple of gozleme hot off the grill and enjoyed them when we returned home.
I know I've shared this before, but experiencing a Turkish breakfast is a must when you come to Turkey.  This is our "breakfast" at our favorite little restaurant tucked up on the mountain.  Most of the items have been homemade by the restaurant owner.  And, of course, endless glasses of Turkish tea!
If you're not a tea drinker then you can try Turkey's Efes beer.  This year at the beach they served it to me in a glass with ice.  It was delicious and so cooling under the hot rays of sunshine.
And, if beer is not to your liking, there are many coffee/tea shops in Turkey, including Starbucks.  But, I'm not a Starbucks person really.  Being from the Seattle area, when coffee shops first took hold they were classy places with coffee served in proper cups.  Sadly many of the coffee houses have gone by the wayside.  My OCD really gets me going when I go into a Starbucks and see the overflowing trash, paper cups, napkins, etc., all every which way.  Here comes Roberts Coffee to the rescue.  It's a classy, beautifully decorated coffee house in Alanya.  I could spend the whole day there.
 
 On the last day of our trip, we decided to try a new restaurant down on the waterfront.  The seafood salad was delicious and the view was even better.

I love trying different foods and places.  Sadly, I don't have a photo of our favorite place called Simitci where we can enjoy coffee, tea, pastries, or sweets while sitting at their sidewalk cafe and people watching.  

Turkey is a vast country with a huge array of agricultural products that they produce.  I found it quite interesting that the following are some of their largest exports:

1.  Refined sunflower oil (Turkey #1 exporter)
2.  Hazelnuts (Turkey #1 exporter)
3.  Raisins (Turkey #1 exporter)
4. Poultry
5. Pasta (Turkey took over market in Africa)

I hope you have enjoyed another glimpse into this fascinating country.  Please feel free to share what you have been busy with as I'd love to hear from you.  Until next time. . .

My Best Wishes,

Pat
Linking with:

P.S.  I finished knitting my Amulet Shawl - Hooray!  I'll share a photo of it with you another time. 

26 comments:

  1. Looking delicious, colorful & spicy - have a great day!

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  2. Love this post Pat. I'm a real foody and Turkey is a country I have still to visit. The family are debating there of Croatia next year. Fingers crossed. Loved all the bread foods especially. Glad to see that the shawl is finished cannot wait to see it...

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  3. You have made me feel so hungry with your post. I can almost smell those sweet corns, bet they tasted delicious. B x

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  4. It all looks absolutely fantastic and so colourful. You've made me feel like a little snack now! x

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  5. Good choice to show us the food! I had a Turkish breakfast in London once. I'm not sure how authentic it was - but it was certainly delicious. I wouldn't mind tasting a few things from the spread in your photo.

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  6. Making me hungry just looking at all that colourful food.

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  7. Wow! We love eating out for breakfast and your breakfast looks right up our street! I've loved reading about the foods that you've eaten and seeing another part of the world that I've never experienced before, thank you! xx

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  8. Oriental foods are so delicious! When my sweatheart was in Berlin (his parents are living there), he always brings me foods from a turkish shop, I'm curious, what he tomorrow has in his backpack...
    Have a nice weekend

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  9. Who doesn't love food?!!!! Great post, Pat. I think I could visit Turkey just for the food! Have a great weekend.

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  10. Your post made me homesick for Turkey, it's been so long since we've been there. I love the food! Your pictures were wonderful, you could almost smell the food.

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  11. Ohh it all looks so delicious and brought back happy memories of sailing in Turkey. I agree the breakfasts are very special and the markets are so colourful.

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  12. I love learning about Turkey through your experiences, Pat! Although I have enjoyed traveling, I approach it rather timidly most of the time. Your experiences with food in Turkey look soooo yummy. I was especially interested in the export list and hazelnuts being on it since Oregon takes special pride in their Hazlenut production. I like to drink out of glass or stainless steel containers and find myself feeling guilty for buying drinks in plastic containers. Not many months ago I bought a ceramic cup from Starbucks so that I could bring it in to get filled with a hot or cold drink there without having to rely on their plastic containers, but I still too often end up buying drinks in plastic cups at other places when I am out and about...I have room for improvement! I'm looking forward to seeing your latest shawl! xx

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  13. What a feast and that was just breakfast?!! what a amazing variety of fresh local food!
    Happy weekend!

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  14. Oh, how I wanted a seat at that table!

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  15. Thank you of taking me on a tantalising tour of the turkish foods on offer. All that fresh food looks amazing and delicious, you have certainly opened my eyes and changed some of my misconceptions of when I think of turkish food here in the uk.

    Five on Friday

    Angela - Garden Tea Cakes and Me

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  16. All the food looks so tempting and colourful, I've really enjoyed looking at your photos. Thank you for your kind words over on my blog:)

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  17. Fascinating!! It is so interesting to learn about the foods in other countries isn't it. I never would have guessed about the pasta exports! Thank you for joining in, have a great weekend! xx

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  18. It looks like a fabulous place to enjoy and eat. Of it all, I wanted to join you at the roasted corn kiosk. Just the other day, my husband and I were reminiscing about the "real" coffee cups Starbucks and other coffee shops use to have. What happened to our culture?

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  19. Oh my goodness! I was drooling at the delicious wares in the market place and the breakfast. I love to see different foods around the world and this was a feast for the eyes. Have a wonderful weekend xx

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  20. Hello Pat. Turkish food looks absolutely delicious! Love those open air markets. Our daughter and her husband spent some time living in Turkey and really enjoyed the food and variety of produce there.

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  21. Amazing foods! Ooh, I'd love to buy that ear of corn. My mouth is watering! Turkey would be such a fascinating place to visit!

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  22. Hello Pat. All the delicious and colourful food you've shown is very interesting to see. What a feast! I think eating out in places where there are lots of different dishes all freshly prepared is an enjoyable experience and also a good way to try new foods. I hope you're having a good weekend.

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  23. Oh gosh I would love to have a breakfast like that! It's my favorite meal.

    Cindy Bee

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  24. It's good to see you again at Handmade Monday. The food looks absolutely delicious.

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  25. My husband would probably love visiting Turkey for the food. But that corn and bread certainly looked good to me. I'd probably find something I'd love, too.

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  26. Your pictures are wonderful - I loved so many foods that I ate in Turkey. Borek, halvah, mountain tea, doner kebab, octopus, fried eggplant, and yes, the breads! I can't remember all the names. I learned to eat yogurt there... maybe I learned to EAT there... it was the 1960's and no one ate yogurt in the U.S. yet.

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