Is she a MERMAID?

What can I say?
I was introduced to Deniz Dogruyol this summer in Turkey.
I was told:
“She is an amazing young woman, a great artist, totally up your alley”
One day I was in her home and the next at her artist studio/home in Bebek…
Then I asked her to be part of our intro to {a-la-Mo} web TV…
Soon it became apparent that there was a soul-friendship…
And here is the proof…
She puts our mutual love of seafood, our love for Cesme (Izmir),
And our endless love of the Sea…into words, much better than I ever can.
Read this PLEASURE JOURNEY from her pen…
I think it is SUPERB:


"Is it because I am from Izmir?
Or is it because my name is Deniz? (meaning sea in Turkish)
Maybe it is because my dad was a marine?
Having grown up with the view of the shoreline…
Plus being a lover of Cesme (izmir)…
I am very much one of the ones that say:
“I will eat anything as long as it is of the sea!”
Honestly I could only have a seafood diet…
The reality is I am not necessarily a gourmet.
With the exception of my obsession with dessert 
My dreams are always of the Agean tables…
The long conversations & chatters,
A soft summer breeze…
The kind that trembles your insides and outs…
For me to eat at that kind of table…
Is like photo squares from life…
Like a whole image composed of the meal, the conversations, the joy and the pleasure derived…
I can’t imagine that meal without the conversation, nor the conversation without the meal.
One has to linger…
Sit at that table as long as possible…
If it is summertime… you better start before sunset…
And continue way past midnight…
Well all memories spill on the table…
And lets ask the waiter for a shawl to cover our shoulders…
While the wind is softly whispering.
But we have not described the venue yet…
Imagine a true Agean Fish Restaurant…
Feet in sand, a weak street lamp,
Mismatched country café chairs,
No table cloth but paper… yet super chic! (I will get back to the paper cloth)
The sound of the waves is mixed with the male singers voice ( Tanju Okan)
The waiter is not doing French service…
More like a family style…
All left in the center of the table…
Looks more abundant that way…
We each help ourselves…as much as we desire…
No need to be formal… we are at a local fish restaurant…
For me…the culture of fresh seafood is casual in nature
Because everything of the sea relaxes one….
That is sometimes I do not get an upscale Fish Restaurant in Istanbul…
Besides few of my favorites… (between you & I) I find them all a bit too serious…
Ok! Then let the dishes come slowly…
Tapas…meze’s…
One’s that have fresh herbs as hero’s…
Lots of yogurt , eggplant, zucchini, and smashed carrot puree…
Greenest of the green veggies…
Salads with tons of bitter arugula
And a fashipn show of seafood & shellfish…
Some grilled calamari, if possible mostly the tentacles…
Grilled Jumbo Prawns…
Then a grilled buttered lobster, which I eat every morsel off the shells…
OMG it now is 10:30pm…
Remember we had started to eat before sunset…
Barely time for main course…
Should we have a seabass…cipura…tranca… sword fish…
While sipping Raki (Turkish Ouzo) next to it…
Isn’t life about chatting with loved ones, while eating dishes we love…
What else could complete that kind of picture…
Oh! I was to come back to the paper on the table…
As the hours go by…
My biggest pleasure now is to make my art speak…
All is my canvas now, the paper cloth, the napkin…
First I make a flower and put it on my ear..
Then I begin to take orders from my friends at the table…
I make birds, bugs, and flowers… whatever they wish for…
All orders are custom and delivered on the spot…
Deniz My Paper Art is always here to create your dreams and beyond your imagination…
Now that we have finished production…
It is time for Turkish coffee and Ayva Tatlisi {Caramelized Quince}
Now that we are way past midnight
The joy has risen…
We all start humming a familiar song, none of us want to get up and leave…
All sorts of fullness is now being experienced…
All faces are glowing…a shimmer in your eyes…
That is the most incredible scene from life…
Because at that moment not only the tummies are full…
So are the souls…
That is why we should not have meals without conversations…
Words shared our the spice of the meal… the salt & the pepper…
I feel like catching a plane to Cesme (Izmir) now…
I lived all that I wrote tonight…


PS: If you happen to be in Cesme..
Stop by ILDIR ADA BALIK and/or CIFTLIK LANGUSTA…

Stylized Salmon Croquettes...

My good friend Eric & I can not be so different on the surface yet so similar deep down...

Stylist to the stars, most respected magazines and media overall this fire ball & I share a passion for our children, fashion, sun, gossip, Starbucks, watches, food, cooking and eating...

After tasting his delicious Salmon Croquettes maybe 7 years ago or so... I begged him to give me the recipe & recount one of his memories about his crazy Golden Girls...

And the following is from his pen & pan...

"Picture this…..Rego Park, Queens, New York, 1970 and we live in a 2 bedroom apartment on the second floor of a 6 story building in a “fancy’ apartment building.  The reason it was fancy is because we had a doorman. Our kitchen was the center of fashion, gossip and the culinary world as I knew it.  I spent most of my childhood in the kitchen with both my mother and my grandmother. They were from Castoria, Turkey and spoke Ladino, which is a combination of Spanish, Greek and Turkish.

They would spend the entire day speaking in this crazy language about all of the women in the neighborhood, the feral children, and how certain ladies were terribly dressed. On any given day you can go in that room, it was filled with a cloud of cigarette smoke and food frying on a huge stove.  That tiny kitchen was capable of feeding an army of Sephardic Jews on any Jewish holiday.  The list of foods that they made were endless and half of them I could never figure out how to spell. There were meat stuffed peppers, salads, lemon soups, stuffed cabbage, rice dishes, okra, Greek dishes, lamb, eggplant and always a pot of squash in stewed tomatoes.  All I knew is that they were absolutely delicious. 

My mother, who was a striking beauty, had her hair done twice a week at Bonwit Tellers. She would go Saturday morning with me in tow with a picture of Marilyn McCoo’s hair from the Fifth Dimension and told her hairdresser that she wanted that flip.  He would expertly weave a white Pucci scarf into the front of her hair that matched her Pucci white mink cape and she was ready for her Saturday night out.  Each Saturday it was another scarf to match her unbelievable wardrobe. The woman was impeccably dressed at all times and I have never seen her without make up or sky high heels her entire life.  My grandmother was exactly the same, but her hair looked like a huge blonde hard boiled egg and it was about 2 feet high.

As the gay son (my mother always knew that) she would teach me how to cook all of her food and always took me wherever she went.  She was scared that my father was going to make me play football and I was going to get killed.  She called me Flaka (skinny girl in Spanish). My mother absolutely adored me.

The recipe that I have included was a staple in our home and I have been making them since I was a child.  Salmon croquettes were made for all occasions and were always on our table.  Our apartment would stink like fish and oil for days but after a while it was a smell that made it our home.  I hope you enjoy them and think of my mother, smoking, cursing, and wearing Halston. She was a gem…"

Arlene Confino Stern

So are you Eric...




{Salmon Croquettes by Eric Stern}




(yields ... who knows how many???)

4 Large Cans Of Sockeye salmon (on sale)

2 Large Spanish Onions

Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs

2 Tbs. Celery Seed

Kosher Salt

Black Pepper

4 Large Eggs

Canola Oil

Open the cans of salmon and put the contents of the can in one hand and carefully flake and remove as many of the bones as you can. I also leave any skin that might be on the salmon and also the fat if there is any and put in a large mixing bowl.  Chop the onions in a nice dice but not too small. I like when you get a bite of a piece of onion and also put that in the bowl. Add the 4 eggs and mix it with the onions and salmon (I use my hands, you don’t want to make a mousse). Add the salt to taste and slowly add bread crumbs until it can form croquettes. Add the celery seed and be very generous with the black pepper.

In a large skillet fill half way up with canola oil and start to fry nice sized croquettes on both sides until golden brown. I place them on kitchen paper to drain and always sprinkle them with kosher salt while they are still hot.

Being a proper Sephardic Jew we served these with a salad or as a side dish at most holidays and for Passover I used matza meal instead of breadcrumbs and added seasoning.  These are a staple in my family and they will totally stink up the house for days, so if you have an outdoor grill with a burner use it!

Sevil, Valentines Day and my chilhood...

I must have been 5 or 6 years old when I met you.

It was either at the end of a school day, or possibly I was returning from a weekend at my Dad’s...

I saw you on the living room sofa, sitting wearing a micro mini skirt… And a shy smile…

Who were you?

As we were introduced, I was told you were my Uncle Yusuf’s girl friend.

Well next thing I remember…

We were all visiting your family & childhood home.

It was vastly different the Sisli(Istanbul) apartment that we were living in…

A wooden Victorian old house in Yesilkoy (suburb of Istanbul)…

Your mom & Dad… your sister Meral Abla, tons of cats…

All so different but somehow much warmer…

Then I remember your engagement, the Military Service years, Ankara…

Our conversations were so fluid, as if there was no 15 years of an age difference…

I listened to you & you listened to me… & heard me!

I remember your wedding… In the Beyoglu registry building…

Then the reception in Tarabya Kosem Restaurant…
I was the only kid invited…

So proud… and feeling so special…

I got drunk for the first time that evening… I had my first champagne ever…My head was spinning…

From age 6 to 16 my life resembled a bit to a tropic island…

With calm beautiful days and at times interrupted by tropical storms…

And you felt all this, because you were extremely sensitive…

Maybe that is why, I end up spending the February school breaks in Yesilkoy with you guys… to avoid the storms.

We would spend our days in the farmers markets, we would read gossip magazines, sip our Turkish tea…

Always chatting about what to prepare for dinner…

For you also preparing dinner, to feed others & art of eating was always a huge ritual & pleasure…

Especially if it involved pasta, or the green Turkish plums with coarse salt…

It was one of those days when I made my first dish/dessert for you… (the only one I knew how to?) I must have been 10 or 11 years old.

It was “Flan”.

Now that I think about it... Knowing all that you did, having a degree in home economics & cooking, and all your abilities…

Why did you push me to make this dish? Could it be because you were trying to validate me? To encourage me? Or unleash my creativity?

All is possible thus you are that kind.

Years went by and you became a mother twice yet you had 3 children... (the twins)

I became a teen ager & got pre-occupied with my friends…

Then I moved to USA, there were countries & oceans between us now…

So much had changed, yet in a way so much remained the same…

I also became a father twice with 2 kids…

Yet you still called me "kucuk arkadasim" my little friend…

I am 47 now...

I am bold and the little hair I have has turned grey…

Yet my beautiful Aunt, that child whom you have supported, protected, understood, listened to, and each moment we shared… will always remain as a detail that made me who I am…

Today instead of asking why? How? How come? Wish we were? Wish we had?

I honor those beautiful memories… warm in my heart…

Kind of like the flans, toped with the burnt sugar… Sweet & bitter…

Like life:  bitter & sweet…

Your name is “Sevil” meaning “Be loved”

And today is Valentine’s day...
And your birthday...

This day should not only be for those who are LOVERS, yet the ones we love…
One or many…

What is important is who has touched our souls?…

Who has affected the change?…

You have affected me…

I wish to all the ones that love and are loved by somebody…

A very beautiful “Valentine’s Day”

{FLAN}

Ingredients:

• 1 cup and 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 13 oz cans evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. You will need 6 ramekins or other specialty flan cook ware and a large baking pan to put them in.

Pour 1 cup sugar in warm pan over medium heat. Constantly stir sugar until is browns and becomes caramel. Quickly pour approximately 2-3 tablespoons of caramel in each ramekin, tilting it to swirl the caramel around the sides. Reheat caramel if it starts to harden.

In a mixer or with a whisk, blend the eggs together. Mix in the milks then slowly mix in the 1/2 cup of sugar, then the vanilla. Blend smooth after each ingredient is added.

Pour custard into caramel lined ramekins. Place ramekins in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. Bake for 45 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready.

Remove and let cool. Let each ramekin cool in refrigerator for 1 hour. Invert each ramekin onto a small plate, the caramel sauce will flow over the custard.

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The New York Dragonista!

This weekend  my friend Vern & I, ushered in the year of the Dragon in NYC with an oriental theme without even having to go to China Town... We meet at Grand Central under the clock and checked into The Mansfield suite #1107.

In order to decompress we had to sip some Johnny Black & munched down some dark sea salt caramel chocolates while watching Monsieur Depardieu.

“My Afternoons with Marqueritte” (“la tete en friche”) was a wonderful film about random encounters and human compassion and that set the mood for our ZEN weekend.

Friday night our first stop was O'mai, a small Vietnamese restaurant on 9^th avenue. The space was small but the kitchen produces some remarkable dishes. We started with spring rolls & grilled prawn (some how lobster roll was translated as grilled prawn...) but both were superb... I was not really in the mood for bitching... remember ZEN!

The roast duck in tamarind sauce is not to be missed. The skin was crispy, the duck was tender and the sauce was light yet spicy without being overwhelming. The side dish of "bok choy" could be a meal on its own with jasmine rice & for us it was the star of the weekend.

We passed on desert and thanks to Google found Grom in the West Village. The pistachio gelato is pure bliss in a cup! It is smooth and creamy and it tastes as if you were eating fresh Turkish pistachios.(They claim it is Syrian pistachio, but I know better!...) 

Worth the walk and the price.

For Saturday night we found our way to 32^nd street between 5^th and 6^th and found a selection of Korean restaurants. Once again, Vern not being well versed in Korean cuisine, we had to have the real BBQ experience... Sizzle!...

Keeping with our theme we decided to take in Yimou Zhang’s “The Flowers of War”... in  the cineplex midtown. Okay, so no weekend can be perfect. From the first scene with Christian Bale something just wasn’t right and it all went down hill from there. It was more like a SNL skit than a serious movie about the atrocities that occurred in Nanking. Yet is worth seeing just to laugh at some of soon to be classic dialogue & possibly a cult movie in an obscure manner.

We finished our weekend on Sunday morning after reading the Times at Le Pain Quotidien, by Central Park West and as chance would have it, our waitress was Chinese...(no way!)

It had snowed the night before so the park was beautiful in its white blanket as we walked and talked and slowly. We passed by the Bergdorf windows and there were three beautiful red, paper cut dragons flowing though the three windows to welcome the New Year. A good end to a wonderful weekend...

Unlike "Thelma & Louise" we managed to stay away from cars & cliffs... and both made back to our routines in Florida & Connecticut...safely!

快乐新年份 vern = "Happy New Year Vern!"

谢谢你为一个伟大的周末及合作写这 = "Thank you for a 

great weekend & for co-writing this..."




PS: Vern is Director of Clinical Research for HIV and Pulmonary Diseases... saves lives daily!

            {Ginger & Garlic Bok Choy}

1 1/2 pounds very baby (dwarf) bok choy, each one halved lengthwise

Flavoring sauce:
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
11/2 teaspoons canola oil or sesame oil
2 teaspoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
11/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the bok choy. When the water returns to a boil, let the vegetables cook for another minute, until just tender. Drain, flush with cold water and set aside.

2. Combine the flavoring sauce ingredients. Taste and make any adjustments needed. You want a savory-briny-sweet taste. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, ginger and garlic. Cook for about 30 to 45 seconds until aromatic. Add the bok choy, give things a stir and cook for about 2 minutes, until heated through. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the flavoring sauce and keep cooking for another minute or so, stirring, to coat the vegetables well.  The bok choy will weep a bit of water.

4. Give the cornstarch a stir before adding it to the vegetables. Cook for another 30 seconds, or until thickened, and glossy. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

Enjoy!