{"id":3365,"date":"2016-04-08T18:44:53","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T18:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/feastandflowers.com\/?p=3365"},"modified":"2016-04-11T18:46:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T18:46:10","slug":"trip-to-istanbul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feastandflowers.com\/?p=3365","title":{"rendered":"trip to Istanbul"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I received an amazing gift from my youngest son Josh.\u00a0 He took me on a trip to Istanbul Turkey last month. The gift of time was something I will cherish as I know how rare it is to get an entire week alone with one of your children.\u00a0 We had the opportunity to share conversations on our struggles, fears, happiness, politics, food, friends, family, life and how to experience joy, and of course love.\u00a0 These conversations were shared in the backdrop of an incredible historic city.\u00a0 I started this blog with the intention of understanding how sharing a meal, serving family and friends is central to my happiness and expressing love.\u00a0 How wonderful that my son is carrying on that tradition and love.<\/p>\n

We are living in difficult times and we were very fortunate to travel when we did to Istanbul.\u00a0 The history, the sights, the food, the bazaar, the Bosphorous and the people were unforgettable.\u00a0 I will never be able to describe the pure wonder of what we saw and I hope that tourists will not be afraid to venture out to this beautiful cosmopolitan city.<\/p>\n

I am going to share a few pictures of the sights and also share with you the food we loved!\u00a0 We picked this area of the world primarily because of the food.\u00a0 I grew up on Armenian recipes, and yes I am an Armenian traveling to Turkey but this is part of our history.<\/p>\n

The food that mirrors what I grew up with was closest to the Anatolian cuisine, as it is close to where my ancestors were from.\u00a0 I can’t explain how excited I was to taste the flavors so much like my grandmother\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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The sumptuous pomegranates are the fruit of choice\u2026 the seeds are in the salads, the juice is served at most meals and the salad dressings are mixed with this juice.\u00a0 We fell in love with this fruit.\u00a0 The next spice used in most of the meals was sumac.\u00a0 We became fans of this spice on meat, in eggs, and on salads.\u00a0 It was used in many ways making everything it touched was delicious!<\/p>\n

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I grew up eating lamb.\u00a0 Since my father loved lamb, the Armenian heritage we learned to love lamb and this city is all about lamb.\u00a0 We had lamb kouftas, lamb kebabs, lamb chops, lamb on lahmajoon (Armenian meat pie)\u2026 it was all lamb lamb lamb!\u00a0 Meat is always served with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and a flat bread to wrap up your meat and veggies in.\u00a0 Yalanchi and Dolma grape leaves wrapped around a meat or rice filling served hot and cold was another of my favorites and familiar to my Armenian recipes.\u00a0 The salads made with rocket lettuce, parsley, sumac and pomegranate seeds with a dressing I am trying to duplicate.\u00a0 And I have not even touched on dessert!<\/p>\n

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The Turkish delight with flavor combinations of walnuts, honey, pomegranate and pecans dusted with sugar and cut from logs appearing in bakeries up and down the busy streets.\u00a0 I am now salivating thinking of the buttery, flaky Baklava.\u00a0 It is layered and cut out of large sheets pans, it is rolled to look like cigars and dusted with nuts, and it was unlike any I have had here except my grandmother\u2019s.\u00a0 We felt like we were in dessert heaven and we weren\u2019t even missing chocolate!\u00a0\u00a0 Quince is another fruit that I hadn\u2019t had here in the states very often.\u00a0 It was served cooked with a whipped milky cheese froth on top drizzled with honey and pistachios, another wonderful dessert.<\/p>\n

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Oh I think I forgot to mention the bread.\u00a0 I have a recipe for choereg an Armenian buttery bread we had at breakfast and it was served for breakfast at a quaint cafe, the first time I have ever tasted anything close to my grandmother\u2019s. They also served their version of Boereg, a similar bread to Choereg but layered with cheese and herbs.\u00a0\u00a0 We had rice and bulgur pilaf, a staple in my home.\u00a0 I was in a carb\/bread coma!<\/p>\n

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I could go on and on about the cheeses, the spices and the coffee.\u00a0 I do have to share how special the tea was.\u00a0 A perfect afternoon was sipping Turkish tea at the Topkapi Palace overlooking the Bosphorous and munching on baklava after a lunch of lamb kofta.\u00a0 I love the tea served in glass vessels small and perfect\u2026 a special way to end an afternoon.<\/p>\n

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My heart is full and the memories are filling me up in such a special way.\u00a0 This city is beautiful and the people are friendly.\u00a0 I hope I will be able to go back someday.\u00a0 Josh, this was a gift that I will cherish forever and the best part was spending the time with you.<\/p>\n

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I received an amazing gift from my youngest son Josh.\u00a0 He took me on a trip to Istanbul Turkey last month. The gift of time was something I will cherish as I know how rare it is to get an entire week alone with one of your children.\u00a0 We had the opportunity to share conversations …
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