Cappadocia caves - Turkey and the camel

In the photograph of the camel, you can see the holes, or doorways, in the background mountains in the city of Cappadocia. It is believed there are hundreds of undiscovered cave-homes dating back to the Bronze Age. Some are still occupied today.  Once inside the caves, we discovered they had been hand carved up to eight floors deep. The first floor is where they kept their animals. There were rooms for sleeping, storing food and wine, cooking and eating. They built community rooms and churches. The churches are elaborately decorated with painted Bible stories of early Christianity. The paintings are believed to be over 1,000 years old. Up to 20,000 people live d and hid from Roman enemies in the caves. They even had a necropolis, where the bones of the deceased were kept in large clay pots.

 

In this photo, we are sitting at one of the carved benches and table in an eating room. This room had 3 carved structures, seating up to 40 people. 

Aspendos - Geometric architectural wonder

Every seat has a perfect view of the Gladiator battles with lions. Entertainment for the masses.

Built around the 11th century. Perfect geometric design.  Much is still standing today. Can you see the Gladiators? Can you see the lions?

Gladiator battles with Lions - Aspendos Collusium


More later.

Where is Turkey?

We are packing our bags. Meanwhile, a short geography lesson. Where is Turkey?

It was fun to note the World Atlas website lists only 3 points of interest. Really? In all the world, there are only 3 points of interests? So they say. You know one is Turkey, or I wouldn't point it out for you. What are the other two? Hawaii (geographically not part of the Americas, but politically, associated with the United States in North America.) And, European Russia (considered Europe, but serves as a dividing line between Europe and Asia).

So what makes Turkey worthy of distinction? Turkey has the geographic privilege of being the only country that rests within two continents. It is the bridge between Europe in Asia, resting on the Bosphorus Strait. Turkey's position as the good neighbor to the West and the good neighbor to the East, makes them a well-suited mediator of East-West political relations.

World Atlas - What continent is Turkey on?

Tomorrow, I will visit the library for a Turkish language audio book.

Learning All Things Turkey,
Dian

Sakip Sabanci - ambassador to Turkey

Sakip Sabanci was the self-appointed Ambassador for Turkey. He relished the role, and enthusiastically promoted all things Turkey. I'm not sure I even knew where Turkey was (more geography later). He was a customer at a DuPont joint venture company I worked at. He and I always enjoyed our phone conversations, and he said he was "practicing his English." He was really practicing his selling me on Turkey. We did a little sales business, then we began chatting about business practices. We discussed why it was important to support rural areas,even at the expense of higher profits. We chatted about family. His daughter was about my age. We talked about culture. We were both raised by hardworking parents in a rural area. He assured me I would need to not only visit Istanbul, but also Adana. Not everybody would appreciate the small town charms of Adana, but he was confident it was the right place for me.  I think when his company moved from Adana to Istanbul, a little bit of his heart stayed in Adana. We discussed all kinds of things, and I always looked forward to his sales calls. He spoke so lovingly of his homeland, Turkey. He insisted I must come visit, and I would stay at his home. "Everybody stays at my home when they visit."  He enthusiastically told me his home was very nice, and just like a museum. He collected many beautiful artworks, displayed throughout the home. I learned later, the home really has been turned into a museum Sabanci home to "Horse Museum".

One day, he decided to come visit! Yes, in rural Oklahoma. He came to see our manufacturing plant. He brought several of his associates with him, maybe his brothers or managers. I am not sure. He gave me his autobiography, and signed it. I have read it many times.  He has been an inspiration for my own business practices. See all the sticky tabs in the book? Those are important things worth remembering. The book is a bit tattered, as I lent it out to anybody that ever mentioned Turkey. I'd make them read it.

I still always dreamed of visiting the Turkey that Mr Sabanci so wanted me to see. He was as proud of his home, as I am of my country.

Fast forward twenty years. I was in a class, and struck up a conversation with a student I did not know. What are the chances? This person was from Turkey! What in the world could I think to talk about? What could we possibly have in common? So I say, "I know someone from Turkey. Do you know Sakip Sabanci?"

Incredulously, he looks at me. "Of course I know of Sakip Sabanci. How did you know him?" I tell the story of when he came to visit Oklahoma. I'm not sure the student believed me. A few days later, I showed him a letter Mr. Sabanci  had written me, and the signed book.

This student also encouraged me to visit Turkey. And now we are.

More later,
Dian

End of Semester Flood Celebration with Asure Noah's Pudding

After 40 days and 40 nights of rain, the rains stopped. Noah's Flood receded. Many people want  to believe the remains of Noah's ark are located on Mt. Ararat, located in Eastern Turkey. Tradition says, after the flood, there was very little remaining food to eat. Everyone was asked to bring whatever they had. Noah's pudding was made from a  little bit of this and a little bit of that.

This story reminded us of the more than 40 days and 40 nights we have felt rained upon and flooded with homework and assignments. The semester finally ended, and the academic demands receded. Mehmet's lovely wife (I know she's lovely, we met her), and his mother-in-law prepared a traditional Noah's Pudding for our class celebration.

Noah's Pudding

Each student in Dr. Gullion's Qualitative Methods course brought a potluck dish to share. Let's just say, Mehmet was the star of the show. Thank you, Mehmet! Not only did he bring Noah's Pudding, he brought rice-stuffed peppers. The bright red, orange and yellow peppers made it an attractive dish. After the party, there were 4 leftovers. My husband ate all of them ;)

Rice stuffed peppers


If you would like to prepare a classic Turkish dessert, try Noah's Pudding. It's traditionally shared in January. It is almost January, so let's get started.

Noah's Pudding recipe

Noah's Pudding - video demonstration

Preamble to Turkey

To get in the mood for all things Turkey, we traveled to Richardson TX, just North of Dallas TX. (should North be capitalized?)

Destan restaurant was a great place to set the mood for travel to Turkey. We decided to learn about the food first. The restaurant has a salad bar, buffet or menu order. Take my advice, and take two scoops of the hummus on the salad bar. It's that good. Besides the best-hummus-you'll-ever-eat, we tried the Iskender kebab and Adana kebab. A fairly new restaurant, Destan, has opened in a strip mall. It's only a couple of blocks from the University of Texas - Dallas campus. Destitute students should eat at Destan's. Prices are fair, food is good, and portions are generous.

It's decorated with Turkish rugs on the wall, and the fanciest teapots you'll ever see. 4 big screen TVs are easy to watch if you don't like eating alone.

The owner, Burhan Kizilkaya, (yes, I had to ask him to spell it for me) and chef humored us and came out took pix with us for our scrapbook adventure.

We asked the chef to make us anything Turkish, and this is one of the dishes he prepared for us. I am still full.

Stay tuned. We're going to learn all things Turkey!