Old fashioned salesmanship

In the morning our tiles arrived, terribly exciting to see them finally here, though heaven knows when they’ll be installed. Our architect was there and assured us that everything would kick into high gear next week. I am rather doubtful as the tone from her and from the contractor has had a tinge of the […]

Back to the markets

Today, Saturday, and the organic market in Ferikoy was on, so we strolled there. We took the route through Dolapdere, with its vertiginous stairs, crumbling churches and beautiful neighbourhoods, and up to Ferikoy itself. It is yet another of the parts of Istanbul with truly lovely old houses, easily the equal of Balat, but very […]

A very long blink

The city has truly unfurled in the sun and with many lockdown restrictions gone. There is a different feel to the streets, it’s like there has been a very long blink, and what was before was Istanbul in September or October, and then there is now. There are many more people in the streets, there […]

Another island

It was a bank holiday for the GF and I had arranged my work so I didn’t have anything today, so we took a ferry to another of the Princes Islands, this time to Kinaliada. It was a less sunny day than the last time we went over, and in fact it pelted with rain […]

Happy endings

Yesterday, Saturday, was the day the government had decided, somewhat belated, to allow farmers to bring their produce to sell at Istanbul’s street markets. Why supermarkets are allowed to function in a lockdown but open air street markets are not remains a mystery for the ages – but so little of the pandemic response has […]

Poison for dinner

Last night I nearly poisoned us both. I was experimenting with mahlep, a Turkish spice and misread a Google Translate version of a recipe and put in 2 tb instead of what I assume was supposed to be 2 tsp. It tasted rather strongly of bitter almonds, so I looked it up online to learn […]

Missions

With lockdown due to start tomorrow, and yesterday’s mission being devoted to pleasure at the expense of the practical, this afternoon I went out with a detailed shopping list and a pre-planned itinerary. The first stop was the chemist, followed by a walk down Istiklal to the mobile phone shop where I topped up my […]

Half a sheep’s head

I had half a sheep’s head for dinner tonight, along with a bowl of tripe soup drizzled with chile oil, garlic and vinegar. Rather intense, and will be followed by some burnt apple crumble. A good thing my digestion is as sturdy as it is. It’s a cool, grey evening so I thought I’d best […]

Funny tofu

I made a funny tofu dish today which turned out surprisingly pleasant. It had tofu, turmeric, dill, a stick of cinnamon, chillies, fish sauce and lemon juice. So maybe slightly Vietnamese tinged? Anyway, it was good. Today is a lockdown so the streets were quiet. It was also a little cloudy all afternoon, so cooler […]