Where is the pork?

View  from my apartment window this morning.  Nice day, as you can see the surrounding hills in the background.
Çig köfte is the one on the far left.  Mmmm

While I adore Turkish food, I do miss some things about other countries..such as the availability of pork.  While in Minnesota i do not eat that much of it to start with, it is nice to be able to get bacon or pork chops anytime I wish to.  Whether it is for breakfast, or for a big Latvian style dinner, I do miss pork.  

So far, we have found bacon in some of the huge supermarkets, but really, paying about $6 for 5 thin pieces of bacon just isn't worth it, though a Canadian friend did give each of us a packet for Christmas.  While I am learning how to make some Turkish food, like manti, I also want to make some Latvian food so that Emrah can taste it, but really, I would need a ground pork for 'kotletes', or a tenderized pork chop to really make it authentic.  I guess I will have to wait a few more months, when i head to Latvia, to get my fill of pork.

Lately we have been eating a lot of 'çig köfte', which is a type of raw meatball, though I'm told that now, the shops are not allowed to use raw meat and must substitute other ingredients.  A çig köfte is traditionally a mixture of raw fat-free double ground meat, bulgur, garlic, onion, peppers, and spices.  It is a lot of work to make it as it need a lot of kneading.  They say that all the kneading and spices cooks the meat.  It is formed into smaller pieces by hand and thus each has a fingers and palm imprint on it.  It is usually eaten by rolling a piece in a lettuce leaf and adding a bit of lemon juice, but you can also find çig köfte wraps as well, which are kind of like burritos.

Speaking of burritos, there are none here.  At least none that i have come across.  In general, i do miss the variety of food that can be found in the US.  Especially in my south Minnepolis neighborhood, I could eat Vietnamese food one day, Mexican the next, then Thai, and even German. Here, though it is all good, it is all Turkish.  I'm not sure if this is due to the proud to be Turkish culture, or because it seems like many Turks do not travel outside of Turkey, nor are there many immigrants here.  The diversity in America is really noticeable each time i come back from being gone for a while.

In other news, the weather here has been pretty pathetic, and hard to take for a Minnesota girl.  While we did get cold and snow for about a week (and thankfully that landed right around Christmas to make it a white one), since then it has been relatively warm and cloudy.  The past few days have been rainy and warm, maybe similar to early April in MN.  I know it's been a cold winter in MN, but i still prefer the cold and snow to any other kind of winter.  Due to the mediocre weather, the days here all seem the same, and i can't believe that it is almost February.

In a few months I will be heading off to Latvia, to train with the National Team in preparation for our Division II (yes, embarassing, as we need to get back into Division I) World Championships in Italy in mid-April.  After that, who knows, as my team here is already trying to find me a job, etc., to try to entice me to stay for next season.  As of now I plan to return to the states, but who knows.. as last October I had no idea that I would end up coming to Turkey of all places!  But in preparation for returning to the states, i need to keep experimenting with Turkish recipes so that when i do return,  everyone can sample how great Turkish food really is. 

New Year's in Kapadokya

Photos:

1.) Very common sight all over Turkey: Selling nuts and fruits.

2.) Crater Lake

3.) Me and Emrah exploring cave/rock houses

4.) New Year's Eve: Cengiz, Angelique, Leen, Me, Emrah. 

5.) Traditional meal in Avanos (break it open to find meat and veggies)

Last week, for a few days over New Year’s, me and five friends went to the region of Kapadokya (Cappadocia), which is about 3 hours drive southeast of Ankara.  It is known for its unique rock formations and thousands of cave houses carved in the soft limestone.  If I remember right, some of these carved houses were just a way of life in the region, while others, like the ones in a canyon we visited, were used by early Christians hiding from persecution.  Along with these bizarre rock formations, ‘fairy chimneys’, we also saw beautiful maountains, lots of snow, and an underground city. 

We were 6 people: Me and Emrah, Jim and Leen, Angelique and Cengiz.  It was good to have a few Turks along for some translations.  We were part of a tour, and so we met our bus, which was coming from Istanbul, at 4:30am on New Year’s Eve day.  I had only slept for about 20 minutes and so most of the bus ride was devoted to sleeping.  Around 10am, after an earlier breakfast, we made our first stop at some sort of church.  It was very cold outside and we shivered our way through the short tour, then escaped out to the streets to play with the stray dogs that were hanging around.

After another short ride, and short nap, we got to out first real stop which they called a castle, but to me just looked like a big rock with lots of carved caves and holes.  We climbed the stairs to the top and the view from there was beautiful.  We could see for miles all the snow-covered rocks and the village down below.  A few photos, and we headed back down and bought a few souvenirs in the shop below.  Im actually glad we came in January in the cold, as it was empty and free of hundreds of tourists, which I'm sure flood the area in warmer weather.  The shop owners do anything and everything to please, and i ended up buying a beautiful table cloth for $10.  I hope to stock up on more if i go back in March.

Back on the bus and more napping, then a stop at another rocky area (the first picture in the next post).  This one was bigger and more accessible, and pretty soon me and Emrah were running from one 'house' to the next, exploring every room, hole, and staircase.  We kept seeing more and more facades to attract us and ended up near the top of the whole 'hill' inside a very ornate 'house' or maybe a sort of church. From there, instead of going all the way back, we jumped down about 10 feet to a landing and kept slipping and sliding all the way back down to the bottom and to the bus.  And yes, we each took a spill on our way, but a few scratches here and there were well worth it.

Next stop was the hotel, which was a very cozy looking place.  BUt we only had a few hours to nap before our bus would leave for the New Year's Eve party which was about a 30 minute bus ride away.  We arrived to a huge 'restaurant' sort of place.  The room with all the festivities was laid out sort of stadium style.  We sat at narrow tables all facing the center stage area.  So me and Emrah actually sat behind our other friends, which was bizarre, as they had to turn around to talk to us.  The entertainment and food were great.  While waiters were serving unlimited drinks and appetizers, traditional song and dance were happening down below in the center stage area.  Those of you who may know the Ethnic Dance Theatre, it seemed like performances that they may do.  The continued with song and dance as more drinks were brought and finally the main course of lamb and turkey, cooked to perfection.  Near midnight, DJ music began and most people went down to dance, while we headed to another room with a fireplace to ring in the new year amongst our group of close friends.

After sleeping in till about noon, our hockey friend Ozan called, picked up me and Emrah, and we headed to his families hometown to explore more.  First things first, food.  He went into  shabby looking place and ordered our food, which he said would take half hour to be ready, so meanwhile we walked around town and visited a famous pottery place.  While most of these places are geared toward tourists, they also all have a very close family feel and everyone is very kind and helpful.  We then headed back to the restaurant and i was surprised with a very special, traditional meal.  We were each given a clay pot, which was closed at the top, but had a ring etched around the middle.  To open our lunch, we took a knife and gently hit the pot all around the ring, which cracked and then could be taken off to reveal a hot lunch of meat and vegetables, cooked perfectly.  I guess this is a traditional meal in the Kapadokya region, where clay is plentiful, and we all enjoyed it a lot.  

After some more sight seeing, we were back at the hotel for dinner and then spent a quiet evening having cocktails with our friends.

The next morning started early once again, with our tour bus leaving at 8am.   Im not quite sure of the order of events, but i think our first stop was at an underground city, which was absolutely amazing.  I dont remember the name of it right now, but it was at least a thousand years old, maybe for fleeing christians, and went 7 stories down below ground.  There were electric lights so that we could all see where we were going, but it would be easy to get lost down there.  Very where we went, more tunnels, staircases, hidden rooms, etc.  They even had a school and winery, along with Indiana Jones style 'doors' for safety.  In several places along the narrow staircases,  we saw big huge wheels made of rock, that could be rolled into place to block the stairwell from intruders.

Next stop was a canyon, i think it was called Ilhara Valley.  As most of the group followed the tour guide like robots, looking at the many rock cave churches, me and Emrah spotted some more cave houses across the river and made a break for it across the bridge.  It was well worth it, as we found a narrow staircase leading up to the second level.  I got up first, but when i got t the top, i found myself at a dead end, looking down the cliff at the ground below.  After a minute of standing, confused, i noticed above my head a hole, and somehow wedged myself up through it and finally found myself in the second floor of the house.  It was like being on huge open patio with a great view, with the rooms of the house behind me, dug into the rock.  It would be a great place for a BBQ.  After more exploring and climbing, we headed back up to meet our group.  While they had seen countless boring churches, which all looked he same to me, we saw several cave houses, many churches, and so many more things that were off the beaten path trodden by the robots of the tour group.

Two more stops were a crater lake and a salt lake... both beautiful as everywhere was covered in snow.  We reached Ankara that evening, exhausted from being out and about and traveling.  It was nice to be back 'home'.  But we are already planning on returning to Kapadokya in the spring, with our own car and our own timeframe, to explore more.

Kapadokya photos

Photos:

1. Cave houses.  Me and Emrah could have spent all day here, climbing and exploring.  We got almost to the highest windows you can see.  It was really amazing.

2. Cave houses, they called this a castle.

3. Me and Emrah on top of the 'castle'

4. A view from the bus...On our way from the rock caves to the salt lake.  We made a pit stop not far from here, and our bus got stuck in the snow for a while.. had to put on snow tires to get out.