Like Strawberry Wine...

On my trip to Turkey a few weeks ago, I stayed one night in an adorable old stone hotel, called the Taş Otel in the town of Alaçati (Ah-la-cha-tuh).  Every afternoon they serve their guests homemade cakes and çay (black tea).  When I went into my room, there was a cookbook laid out on the bed.  What?!  To an avid baker, this was basically the best gift ever.  Who needs mini soaps or lotions or a mint on their pillow?  Give me the cake. 

So, last weekend I was up in Cape Cod visiting my parents, relaying the details of my trip to them – seemed like the perfect time to test out one of these recipes.  My mom is also a baker and my parents love sweets.  My mom picked this recipe for us (and wrote down another to try later herself).  This cake was super easy to whip up.  My dad is allergic to nuts so we left them out, and frankly, I think the texture of the cake was a bit too soft to handle them.   

I made this in a loaf pan thinking it would have the texture of banana or zucchini bread, but it’s actually much lighter and fluffier than that.  The loaf pan was okay, but I think next time I’d use a 9" round or 9x9" square pan and eat this with a fork.  Loaf pan/round pan/nuts/no nuts – do what you prefer, but definitely give this a try.  The orange flavor comes through nicely but isn’t overpowering, and the ricotta provides that perfectly satisfying crumby texture.  No icing necessary.

And of course - when in Turkey, stay at the Taş!  Alacati Tas Otel

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter, softened

225g sugar

3 eggs

450g AP flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla

Grated zest of 2 oranges (I used 1)

2 spoonfuls orange marmalade (I used 2 rounded Tbsp)

100ml orange juice

100g chopped walnuts (I omitted)

125g ricotta (I used lowfat)

Instructions

Ok first let’s set the mood…listen to this while you read this post:  Zaynah - Kate Linn

This song was on the radio in almost every cab I took in Istanbul.  In fact, I “Shazamed” it during one of my rides because it was so familiar by that point I had to know what it was.  I kinda love it.  Anyway, let’s get to the trip…

Basically, I spent two weeks eating my way through Istanbul (and parts of southwest Turkey) with some friends, and I loved every minute.  We got a ton of sightseeing in too.  It was rare if we made it home before midnight.  We’d leave the house before noon and tool around all day, generally starting with a big traditional breakfast, tea and coffee, and then ending the day with wine and mezze.

Items of note:

1) Turks absolutely love yogurt, eggplant, meat (beef and lamb) and bread.  Lots of other things too obviously, but those three things play a prominent role in their diet.

2) You start your day with tea (çay – pronounced chai), have breakfast, then move on to coffee afterwards.  If you start with coffee, chances are, you aren’t Turkish.

3) It’s perfectly acceptable to have at least 5-10 glasses of çay per day.

4) Simit is sold everywhere for about $0.37 each (1 Turkish Lira).  The easiest way to describe it is a large, skinny, sesame bagel that’s a little dry.  It is truly a staple.  I found it much tastier when slathered with jam, honey or olive tapenade.

5) In addition to simit, another favorite treat is kaymak - clotted cream made from water buffalo milk.  Yes, seriously.  Our food tour guide referred to this as "The Queen" of Turkish breakfast.  Generally, a large glob of it is placed on a plate and surrounded by honey.  You take a smear of the cream and honey, smear it on your simit then groan in delight.  Typically it is eaten maybe once a week or so - its not an everyday thing by any means, but I'll tell ya - every place I had breakfast had kaymak!  Here's an article about it: Kaymak

6) Baklava does not have honey in it!  Who knew?  I think here in the States, it usually does, but traditionally it gets its sticky sweetness from simple syrup (sugar dissolved into water).

7) You will be hard pressed to find other types of food in Istanbul.  Turks love Turkish food – why would they eat anything else?!  I’m down…

In addition to eating out for every meal for two weeks, a friend and I did a culinary walking tour around the Beyoğlu neighborhood, including parts of Cihangir and Taksim.  It was really interesting and fun to check out some little mom & pop places tucked into the neighborhoods.  I highly recommend doing one if you have the time.  Here is the site we used:  Culinary Tour

Ok - I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.  The moral is, Turkish food is fresh, full of flavor, and relatively healthy compared to other cuisines.  

First and foremost, it’s time to applaud the 100^th post on my blog!  Whoot whoot!  To celebrate, I went to Canada and ate a lot.  Ha.  Not really, but the timing matches up….  Anyway, thanks to all 1, 2 or come on, perhaps maybe 3?? of you avid readers.  I truly appreciate every single second you spend reading, or even just taking a gander, at my little corner of the internet.  Over the past few years, when I’ve gone out to a new restaurant, or I’ve cooked after work to blow off steam,  when I’ve been off traveling (and therefore eating a ton), or just have taken to the kitchen on a lazy Sunday, sitting down and writing my posts has brought me such gratification.  It’s therapeutic for me and I hope there’s a least one person who has enjoyed each entry.  A couple stats before diving into my latest Canadian adventure…not too shabby:

Total pageviews:  8,865

Most popular recipe post:  Ma! The Meatloaf! – 11/21/11

Least popular recipe post:  Homemade Falafel & Yogurt Sauce – 6/7/11

Most popular restaurant review:  Thai X-ing – 10/23/12

Least popular restaurant review:  Dinner with Spike – 6/22/10

Top 10 countries reached in the last month:
United States, Russia, China, Germany, India, Canada, Australia, France, Ukraine, Netherlands

Ok – where to begin on Montreal…  From bagels to poutine to an amazing steak – I definitely ate very well.  But first, have you ever been there?  I hadn’t, though I’d been talking about it with friends for years.  It’s so easy to get to – a quick 1.5 hour flight from DCA and you’re in a mini-Paris.  Paris without the attitude (seriously, everyone can agree that Canadians are some of the nicest, right?).  Quebec is a French-speaking state, though 99% of the people we encountered all spoke nearly perfect English as well.  I highly recommend a trip North, but wait until summer…our 22 degree day with steady snow was the warmest, by about 30 degrees!

Despite the cold, we still managed to pack a lot into a long weekend.  We ate at a fancy restaurant, went to a museum, checked out some of the hot new bars, ate the famous smoked meat, ate both of the famous bagels (Montreal Bagels), shopped in the underground city, and of course, took in a hockey game.  In between all of that we had café au laits and drank wine, wine and more wine.  It was a blast and I can’t wait to go back.  I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

This is a must try - great ambiance, amazing food! Joe Beef

Famous Bagels - Part 1

Famous Bagels - Part 2 (try the pesto cream cheese!)

Adorable cafe where we warmed up with a couple bottles of wine!

French Onion Soup - always hits the spot

Cheese and Fruit Plate - to go with the wine, of course!

Famous Smoked Meat and home of Montreal Steak Seasoning!

Mmmm, beefy.

Live well, love well and eat well, my friends.  Skål! Santé! L’chaim! Salud! Prost! CHEERS!

Last weekend, some friends and I took a little road trip – peace out DC, hello Rileyville, VA!  Where the heck is that?!  Shockingly, it’s just two quick hours away near the edge of Shenandoah National Park.  Well, two hours without I-66 Friday afternoon traffic and a stop for essentials…beer, wine, liquor and that damn toothbrush that of course I forgot.  Oh I remembered my microplane to zest a lemon, but I forgot a toothbrush – go figure.

We went to the cabin to celebrate winning first place in the American University Eco-Comedy Film Competition for making this video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpxEstCqUfY. 

It was a great way to spend the winnings – escape from the city, enjoy each other’s company, brainstorm for some new ideas (although it took all weekend to settle on one for the next competition – perhaps more on that later) and chow down on some good grub.  We even worked in some canoeing, late night ping pong and foosball, and a morning workout in our ginormo back yard.  Good times all around, but let’s get to the food:

Day 1 - Dinner:

Soba Noodle Stir Fry with Almond Butter Sauce (see post from 3/18/12)

Smores over our fire pit

Day 2:

Breakfast

Buttermilk Biscuits with various toppings - honey, lemon curd, raspberry jam, etc.

Bacon & Sausage

Scrambled eggs

Lunch

Snacks – chicken salad (1/9/13), cheese, hummus (7/8/10), etc.

Dinner

Fajita Night!  Chicken & Steak

Corn Salad – recipe coming soon!

Guacamole

Quinoa & Black Beans

Dessert

Strawberry-Blueberry Hand Pies + 1 Shaq-sized pie (7/9/12)

Day 3 – Breakfast:

French Toast from homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Bacon & Sausage

Fruit

Mimosas, obviously

Not bad, right?  It was so much fun to cook for a crowd, and even more fun to have some kitchen helpers!  Miss you Bear Bluff!