Food.

I am a little surprised to admit that I am officially full while in Turkey. A week of four course meals at lunch and dinner has exceeded the maximum feed-able hours for my stomach.

It is just so good. So good. We have passed so many roadside stand with casaba melon and watermelon. You know I love me some melon. Tomatoes and eggplant and peppers.....zucchini blossoms! I was most excited about trying those as I have never had them and have always wanted to try----verdict? Thumbs up.

Desserts are honey based, think baklava, honey cakes----both of these in many shapes and varieties. Often, walnuts, pistachios or almonds will be chopped up and used as an ingredient or topping.

The first course is always "meze". This is the appetizer course that is, or could be, substantial enough for a solid meals. Veggies, spreads, pickled items, little meat surprises- there is, again, a great variety of choices to choose from. It has been nice because the dishes are just brought to our tables; had I been traveling without a group I would never have ordered the number of choices we have been able to sample.

Then we usually have a side dish---a salad or vegetable dish or borek. Borek is a dough that is stuffed, layered, rolled, or some other preparation with cheese, vegetables or meat. 'Borek' is the classification of food, like 'pasta' in Italian food can come in a myriad of ways.

The third course is a meat dish often served with potatoes or pureed eggplant. I usually don't even come CLOSE to finishing this course.

And then the desserts. In addition to the ones mentioned above there are a lot of puddings and sponge-y cakes; to be quite honest, the desserts I have had or chosen have not wowed me except for one. It was at a fish restaurant on the Bosporus and is a dessert common in fish focused restaurants. It is helva made from tahini and baked in a terra cotta dish much like creme brûlée. It was phenomenal. Helva findirli I think it what Zeynep called it. She is the Turkish teacher traveling with us in her mid twenties. I think her role is to help answer our many, many questions and take group photos at seemingly every opportunity.

The pictures below are from a family restaurant up the hills (mountains??) from Selchuk today. Home style cooking that was absolutely fantastic. Thankfully, it was not four courses but buffet style so we could choose what and how much we wanted.