Nyleve Baar

Back from our trip - it was every bit as wonderful as I hoped (and I had high hopes). I think Turkey is my new favourite country. Great people, fabulous food, gorgeous things to see. When I got home, friends asked me - excitedly - what I bought. Leather? Jewelry? Belly dancing costumes? It was then that it occurred to me that most of my purchases were food. (Well, and a couple of carpets.) I came home with wonderful wonderful pul biber (where has this fantastic spice been all my life?), kofte mixture, pomegranate syrup, Turkish delight from Haci Bekir (sp?) near Yeni Camii, fabulous double-roasted pistachio nuts that I will have to hide from myself, a box of delicious figs, and quite a bit of saffron. I got one little packet of a very special Iranian saffron that the dealer measured out for me practically one strand at a time (this will be saved for special occasion), and then I also got several plastic packages of regular Iranian saffron for what I think was a good price. Did not buy Turkish saffron. I also picked up a can of Sirince olive oil in Sirince. For anyone going to the spice bazaar in Istanbul, here is a tip: the stalls and vendors OUTSIDE the actual covered bazaar have much (much) better prices than the ones inside. There is a whole row of stalls along the outside wall of the bazaar where they sell a lot of cheese etc. That's where I found the packaged saffron for 6 lire as opposed to 12 inside, and the pomegranate syrup - beautifully fresh. Also look along the street that runs off to the side of the bazaar for nuts and dried things. The same pistachios that were 14 lire per kilo inside, were selling for 10 outside. Could not bring myself to try gullac. Sorry, sazji. There is something about a wiggly white dessert that just didn't appeal to me. The breads, however, were something else altogether. Turks make delicious bread - who knew? And the yogurt!! And what those people can do with an eggplant... On the whole we ate wonderfully well everywhere we went. Found that as long as we stayed with relatively simple, inexpensive restaurants, we were able to eat really well for very little money. More expensive restaurants did not necessarily deliver proportionally better food.

When it happens to me - and it doesn't happen every single time - I get the impression that the substance causing the skin reaction is in the squash itself. I don't think that it's coming from the surface. Well who knows, really. I made a pile of roasted butternut squash a couple of weeks ago and NOTHING happened. I was expecting it but my hands stayed fine. Feh - who KNOWS?

I sometimes get this when I prepare a LOT of pumpkin, I think it must be something in the raw pumpkin that irritates the skin. If I only do one or two bits it's not an issue, but if I chop up a whole pumpkin I get the same symptoms as you descibe. I've found that if I wash my hands frequently during the preparation it's not an issue. But you could also wear light rubber gloves.. problem solved ← I get that reaction when I handle raw butternut squash - especially when I'm peeling it. My skin gets really tight and looks almost as if it has been scalded. It's so weird. No problem eating it, though. I don't think it's an allergy. And I have the sense that whatever causes that reaction is deactivated in cooking. Never heard of anyone else having it happen to them. Glad I'm not just a freak.

Great suggestions Behemoth. We are leaving on the 16th - Sunday and will be in Istanbul for a week. Then traveling around Turkey for another 1-1/2 weeks. I had heard about the Ramadan bread, but not the other wrinkly white thing. I'll definitely look for it. Is it too early for the olive harvest? Just wondering because someone else mentioned being able to buy fresh oil from stalls along the road sides. Will definitely try the restaurant you mentioned.

Just did two pumpkins the other day. It is so easy that I really wouldn't consider buying canned. And, honestly, the flavour is much fresher than canned pumpkin. Cut in half, scoop out seeds, bake cut-side-down (425o for about 45 minutes) on a large baking sheet with just a film of water. When fairly soft, turn over to let it dry out a bit. Scoop out flesh and puree. I also drained out some of the liquid by lining a colander with coffee filters. Drained for about an hour and lost plenty of water. Nice thick puree. I made two pies and froze the rest in containers for later. Ok, so it's not instant, but it really isn't much work. I like starting with real pumpkins. There's something so wholesome about them.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am sooo ready for this trip. Plan to spend entire days in markets. My husband doesn't know this yet.

I just made my annual Honey Chiffon Cake yesterday. It's big, moist, delicious and pretty foolproof. Very straightforward - not too heavy on the spices, no extraneous bits and pieces like nuts or raisins. The coffee, I think, helps to add complexity and balance the sweetness a bit. If you want, you can dust the cake wit icing sugar before serving. Honey Chiffon Cake 4 eggs 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 1-1/2 cups honey 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tbsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup cold coffee Preheat the oven to 350o F. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the eggs with the sugar until very light and creamy - about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable oil and honey and continue beating for another few minutes, until well blended. In another bowl, stir togehter the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add this mixture to the egg mixture in 3 or 4 additions, alternately with the coffee. Beat batter just until smooth. Pour into an UNGREASED 10-inch tube pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 325o F and bake for another 60 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and invert the pan to cool. You can either hang it over the neck of a wine bottle or just invert it on it's own little feet, if the pan has feet. Let cool completely before removing from pan. To remove from the pan, slide the blade of a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen. Twist the tube to get the middle loose too, then lift the center part of the pan out. Slide a knife around the bottom and carefully lift the cake off the tube. Makes one very large cake.

Yeah - you see a friend gave me a big bag of saffron that she bought for next to nothing somewhere in the middle east a while ago. It LOOKED like saffron - maybe a little lighter in colour, but it was in threads - but it had no flavour whatsoever. She thought it was a fabulous bargain. I thanked her and never used it. I suppose I could have thrown it rather lavishly into chicken broth etc. But I know there's some stupid saffron out there.

What's great at the spice market that I should plan to bring home? Any suggestions? Is the saffron there worth buying or is it not the good kind? Other spices that are either rare and wonderful or just a good deal?

I can't believe it - a thread on hoppers. I just had my first hopper experience about a month ago and I'm still trying to get over it. The thing is - it is extremely rare for me to be totally flummoxed by an entire cuisine. But this is exactly what happened when I finally walked into "Hopper Hut" after noticing it manyyears ago and not daring to enter. This place is in a Toronto plaza - Scarborough, I guess - just at the northwest corner of Kennedy and Ellesmere Ave. I never could imagine what Hopper Hut might sell, so I just looked at it but never went in. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and, well, it was lunchtime and I'd been shopping at Highland Farms (right next door) and...I went. Not one thing on the take-out menu looked familiar. But not wanting to seem clueless, I ordered - what else? The Hopper Combo #2. It took a while to arrive but when it did, I paid and took my box out to the car. Opened the lid. Imagine my surprise when I saw the 4 cup-shaped pancakes - one with that not-quite-cooked egg in the middle. It was accompanied by a plastic baggie filled with some condiment. I ate the 3 non-egg hoppers with the condiment. They were delicious but not at all what I expected. The egg I couldn't eat. I'm not an egg person and especially not such a wiggly one. Anyway - so now I've had a hopper. Next: a lamprie. And, according to a Sri Lankan friend, this is not an eel. I can't wait.

Fabulous! Thank you! Since we're only going to be there for such a short time, I haven't invested in a guidebook to the city so that's why I'm so clueless. I'll pick up a street map when we get there, and anything free from the tourist office but that's it.

Where is Exeter, Ontario? I'm in Ontario too - have dinner with us!

Oh I don't know. I'm sure I won't be looking for anything in particular - I just love typical city marketplaces, shopping streets, that kind of thing. I love to see what people are buying and get the pulse of a place. Museums and cathedrals are all quite lovely, but I find the daily life of people much more fascinating. Just thought there might be some particular street or area that is worth a stroll with that in mind.

Last year I went totally Moroccan for Rosh Hashanah and it was really wonderful. Made harira (soup), chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemon, a vegetable tagine (lentils and veg), couscous to go with them. Also, I think some tomato-type salad, sliced orange and onion salad, and a plum tart for dessert (non Moroccan). The flavours and ambiance of that type of food fit perfectly with the occasion, and felt absolutely right for the season. Might do the same thing this year. I don't mess with Passover, though.

My mother used to use this stove-top potato baker to do her eggplants. This gadget is a sort of double-walled griddle thingy (lightweight - aluminum or light steel) with a dome top that fits over it. You place the thing over a gas or electric element and put your potatoes (or eggplants) right onto the bottom griddle section. Cover and it becomes an oven. But the direct heat on the griddle allows the vegetable to char slightly. Has anyone ever seen such a thing lately? It's a really genius piece of cookware, now that I think of it. Makes much less of a mess than putting an eggplant directly onto the burner.

Sounds great. I see you're in Vienna. Any other must-eats? We are not looking for high end - lots of local character is more like it. Market? Shopping? AcK I only have one day - how tragic!

I know, I know - two nights. That's all we have. We'll be passing through Vienna on the way home from Turkey and would love some suggestions for inexpensive (I know it's not cheap there, but you know what I mean) and delicious Viennese food. Any kind. We'll be staying in a pension on Postgasse 14 (all I know is that it's in the old part of the city, near Stephens Dom). Would love walking-distance or easily accessible by public transport destinations. Not really interested in high-end dining, and not intimidated by local, um, colour. Thanks!

Just to clarify - these potatoes are layered UNcooked, right? And it takes, what? About 45 minutes to an hour you think? I've made a version with canned chipotles blended into the cream - it is heavenly. But I'm trying to make a more kid-friendly dish - so want to avoid the chipotles. Maybe roasted garlic... And I'm thinking...maybe buttered crumbs on top too (after cover is off).

Maybe it's just that I HATE to fail. So I had this idea yesterday to make scalloped sweet potatoes - pretty much the way I make normal scalloped potatoes. Layered - raw - with sauteed onion, salt and pepper, parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of flour. Then poured milk over all and sealed the baking dish with foil. An hour later I peeked. Yeck. The milk had gone all separated. The cheese was clinging desperately to the edges of the pan - as if it were trying to sneak out. The butter from the sauteed onion was greasily floating over the whole soggy mess. What did I do wrong? Is there any way to do it better next time? I really like the idea of this dish, but this definitely was not what I was hoping for. I returned the dish to the oven for another half hour - uncovered - but all that did was to slightly brown the top. Everything else remained icky. I drained off the excess liquid to serve it but the rest is going to the chickens.

It has happened to all of us - no matter how food-obsessed. Suddenly, and without warning, you open the fridge and nothing looks good. ( ) It's not a matter of boredom, exactly, more a lack of inspiration to do anything at all. How do we combat this creeping malady? Do we cook up something totally weird and unfamiliar? Or do we simply make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and try to get over it? Any ideas?

I think the place you used to go to is closed - if it's the one I'm thinking of. Lobster Island used to be on Augusta just about half a block up from Dundas. It had great tanks of crustaceans - good prices. It's gone, gone, gone. Sorry.

Steam the green beans until just tender. Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Throw in a bunch of whole garlic cloves (peeled) and cook them until they are soft and golden (don't let them burn). Take a fork and mash the garlic into the oil. Throw in the green beans, season with salt and pepper and add a splash of chicken broth or water. Cook over low heat, stirring often, until the beans are completely tender. Green beans are the one veg that I really prefer a little overcooked. Lightly steamed and crunchy beans taste furry to me. The above method will cause you to eat the entire batch yourself - I promise.

We're having the Third Annual Canada Day Fonduefest. This very successful event grew out of a conversation in which everyone was waxing nostalgic about how no one ever does fondue anymore. So we set up long tables on the lawn, have everyone bring a fondue (any kind) and fondue our little hearts out. Anyone who doesn't have a fondue pot can bring a salad. There are usually plenty of chocolate fondues to take care of dessert. Plus, strawberries are perfect right now.

Vivoli is wonderful. Not overly impressed with Perche Non - it seemed a little too shiny, if you know what I mean. But then I may be judging it unfairly. Just for your info: one reliable barometer of a gelateria is the pistachio gelato. Bright green colour indicates artificial colour - and if they've added food colouring to their gelato, who knows what else they've added. True pistachio should be a fairly muted greenish tan. We taste tested all over Italy and found this to be a pretty good way of choosing a gelato place.