Producing with Nostalgia for 4 Generations!

I poured my self a cup of Turkish tea & served a slice of Raspberry Tart to go with it…

Trying to remember my connection to the author of this weeks post  my friend MIREY KARASO…

I probably noticed her 1970’s to 80’s in Buyukada… My childhood summer heaven…

Because she and her sister were the token red heads of our Island…it was impossible to miss them.

Then in the late 80’s I noticed her work as friends and family used her products, high design- wedding candy’s from La Bonbonniere (her new company).

Then we ran into each other in Dallas Texas at a Special Events Convention in early 2000’s…

And we chatted about being creative & producing events…in two different continents.

In 2010 Mirey sent her daughter Lara to NYC & CT, to become my intern & right hand for a while…

And in 2011 she has produced an amazing country wedding for my beloved cousin Elvan in Kemer Country, Istanbul…

So if you do not believe in coincidences… you will see that the parallels of our lives… keep crossing time to time...

Here is a story & recipe from Mirey of our shared cultures, rituals, passions, careers,  & meals:

Let’s read together….

“Moshiko… ( A Sepharadic way of saying my Little Moshe)

I am always excited about traditions…I believe they create miracles. Celebrations are special occasions where traditions are repeated since ages...
Fortunately I am an event designer for nearly 30 years in Istanbul. and I help celebrate these traditions...
Once an astrologer told me that I was also an event organizer in one of my past lives, in England... and had a very colorful life.
The truth is,when and if I come back,in my next life, I only want to be just a guest in other events...
This profession which I had just started as a joke, made my life...

I grew up with it, & it grew up with me...we shared so many nice moments with so many lovely people...We celebrated, traveled, loved, ate and certainly prayed while being grateful.

I also had the occasion of integrating different traditions from myriad backgrounds, as Turkey is a very cosmopolite country.
Food also is lovely here... Turkish cuisine mixed with my Sephardic routes, makes for really special hybrid.
Once I was invited to become a contestant to a "food festival" with a personal & special recipe.

The first thing I had in mind was to cook my great- grandmothers Sephardic recipe ...
“El Tapada de Berencena” (The Eggplant Tart).
The jury wanted me to repeat the food tasting three times as they loved this amazing taste.
When I was a little girl, I liked to watch my mom cooking...and I remember the way she hold the dough, how she made this delicious tart in an artistic way with the beautiful smell.
We used to go swimming every weekend in Prince Island (Buyukada) with our boat, at least 15 of us cramped in the wooden boat… led by Captain Maurice.

My mothers Tapada was a must have tradition for those joyful days....
To think that this is a recipe that my great -grandmother use to cook in Thessaloniki with her prostela (onluk), then my mom has cooked it in Istanbul city center later, and today I am cooking it in the country side for my family and friends... is HISTORY in making for me…
No doubt one day my Daughter will cook this for her 4^th generation table…

I hope you also share in my rituals, try this in your kitchen …..and serve it to your loved ones…

A quick warning …If you make this you might faint while its cooking in oven...the smell ... is that GREAT”

Here is the recipe...
Eat, enjoy,love and be grateful....

{Tapada de Berencena}  {The Eggplant Tart}.

1 cup canola oil

half a glass of water

1 tsp salt

2 tablespoons grated Kaser (Turkish Cheese similar to Parmesan)

As much flour as it takes…

Filling:

4 pieces of roasted eggplant

200 grams of grated Kaser

Boil the oil, water, salt, (5 minutes)

Take it of the stove and add Kaser and then flour.

Knead it into a  soft dough.

Divided into two and put in the fridge to rest.

Sprinkle a little grated Kaser bottom of tart pan.

Open up ½ of the dough mixture really thinly…

Make sure you roll the edges of the dough to cover sides of the pan.

Sprinkle the dough with more Kaser ..  This makes the dough really crunchy once cooked.

Once the bottom of the shell is ready pour the the eggplant and the  Kaser mixture in.

Again, put the remaining dough over the top as the cover ... The upper dough is now reversed on a plastic cover…and replced back….

The top then will be cut with a sharp knife,  to create diamond-design.

A little water is poured into your palms and sprinkled over the dough... more Kaser is sprinkled over top.

And then is baked in the oven.

Cook until brown on topat 350 degrees for approximately one hour.

Bon Appetite”

Check Mirey out at:

Www.labonbonniere.com.tr

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…

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.