Job Discussion Forums

Vixter · Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 64

I miss really good strong cheddar. Izmir Tulum just isn't the same...

Are there any places in istanbul that sell it? Not the placcy pre-packed cheese you get in the supermarkets, but the real thing?

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

Wow I have just been to the newly opened Migros in my part of Samsun. Found hommous and brown sugar! What a happy bunny I was.....

Also, thanks to the advice of another poster on this thread, I got some kaymak from my local bakkal. My husband says it is made from goat milk but happily doesn't have that 'goaty' taste.

Since coming here I have done more English cooking than I ever did in England. I suppose the ingredients lend themselves easily to it and it is one way of breaking with Turkish food. At the weekend made pasties and lemon curd - I am just about ready to join the WI!

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

Glad to educate you DMB. Actually my friend had a house rabbit who loved biscuits. I had a hamster who was crazy for peanut butter.

That's another thing you can't buy in Turkey - good peanut butter! Just as well if I don't want to balloon too much.

Yes this forum is so educational in lots of ways and pretty damn entertaining.

I have to say the Turkish forum is one of the most amusing. I lurk on the Korean forum as well and it is very lively but just not as funny as this one.

The humour on here just about keeps me sane to be honest.

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

A funny thing about Alevis is that they feel about rabbits as other Muslims do about pork.

Baba Alex · Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 2411

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

I have just asked my Alevi husband and he denies that. The differences between Alevis could be the subject of another thread.

Turks don't know the difference between rabbits and hares anyway, they have the same word for both animals - just another example of their 'near enough is good enough' mentality!

Some Alevi high-up and distant relative of my husband came to our office the other day with the obvious intention of inspecting me to see if I was suitable wife material. I think he also expected money but didn't get any. Have you converted to Alevism Just Me?

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

Strictly between ourselves, my mother-in-law's cooking gives me terrible flatulence - I don't know what she puts in it!

tararu · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 494

I didn't know alevis had an aversion to rabbit. Also, can you actually convert? I thought you had to be born an Alevi.

tarte tatin · Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 247 Location: Istanbul

You can convert if you marry an Alevi apparently. The old codger who came to see me wanted to know if I was up for conversion! The answer was 'no'.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

justme · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 1944 Location: Istanbul

I don't think I can convert to Alevism, but I can become Bektaş, which according to my husband, is as close to Alevi as one who wasn't born one can get. I forget where the Hac place is, but it's a stone you stick your hand into, and if you're bad or if God doesn't like you, your hand either gets stuck or cut off.

The whole rabbit thing is debateable? My husband is so adamant about it! He even gets mad that I told him I ate rabbit 15 years ago!!

Still, I told his family I won't convert just because they want me to, and that I think it's a serious decision that you don't do just to make people happy. They liked that (and I can still check the 'No Religion' box...).

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

tararu · Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 494

There are about four places that claim to possess his tomb. One is in Konya. Another is in Hacibektas in Kapadokya. My Turkish family call me Ozzy Bektas