EuroAsia Run

Last weekend I participated in the EuroAsian Marathon - NO, I did not run the Marathon, but if you continue to read I will make a wild promise to you all that cannot be taken back...because, well, it's now on the internet....keep reading!

Nick and Trevor

My trusty running companions, Nick and Trevor and I took a cab to Taksim first thing in the morning to meet up with all the other European-side runners that were taking the provided buses over to the startline on the Asia side.  Of course the race is very hierarchal, separating us in terms of the color of our runner tags, which corresponded to our distance; Nick was a full-marathoner, Trevor a 15Ker and myself, the lone 8Ker...

So first thing's first: we have to wait in an enormous line to get on a bus that will take us over to the Asian side.  After seeing said enormous line, Nick and Trevor decide to leave me (with my encouragement) and go skip in front of all the other lazy 8Kers to ensure that they make it to the startline in time for, well, the start.

I wait in the line for about half an hour, and get many stares from people because of, my high-tech ipod armband...I think?  I generally am starting to get the sense that other people in this line are not taking the race as seriously as I am.  What gives me this impression, aside from the stares?  Well, maybe it is the array of donut-like pastries I see being consumed (I have nothing against these pastries, but an experience my brother had with pre-race junk food ended badly enough to dissuade me from eating anything other than very plain food the morning of a race), OR maybe it is the cigarettes that are lit up all around me....hmmmmm

crossing the bridge to the Asian side by bus...

Once we get to the starting area, I start getting excited as I see the crowd of people...and the plethora of Turkish flags - how many can you count?

Of course, people need to have a good breakfast before a race, and what is the Turkish answer to a good breakfast? Simit!  Sesame-crusted bagel-like pastries.

this guy had the whole station set up: Simit and Cay

my runner's chip, securely fastened

Now I shouldn't say that no one showed up to the race ready to get to business.  These two kids had their tags on, and were very focused on hydrating.

and being patriotic, of course.

By the time I see the starting line, I am really wondering how this race is actually going to work.  The Centreville, Virgina Turkey Trot I do every year is always a little dicey in the beginning, as people try to push past one another and get started, however the people around me don't seem like they are in any hurry to start running.  Now, I don't mean to judge people by questioning their athletic intentions just based on their outer appearances, however, babies in strollers?  perhaps not so athletically-inclined.

And we're off!  well, sort of.  More like we all start bumping into one another out of excitement as some people pick up their pace.

beginning of the race, the Bosphorus bridge off in the distance

Apparently the 8K is also the "fun run"...and walk.  But that's OK!  As long as I can get past people and get some space.

Which, thankfully, is not hard to do when you are competing against infants in strollers.

running across the Bosphorus bridge, from the Asian side, to the European side

The coolest part of this race is the idea of it: not only is it the only marathon to cross between two continents, but it's the one day of the year that Istanbul closes down its Bosphorus bridge to car traffic and allows pedestrians to walk across the bridge (hence all the families there or the fun run and walk)

Crossing over the bridge: Asia on the left, Europe on the Right

So we get to the European side and I really begin to notice that other downside to running with athletically-ambivalent Turkish participants: smokers.  It seems that it is perfectly acceptable to light up while participating in an 8k.  This makes me reconsider not signing up for one of the longer-distance races....

and we finish in Besiktas, right by the soccer (sorry) stadium there.  and surprise!  my friend Zac has come to meet me, the lonely 8k-er, at the finish line.

Zac and I then walk, taking our time, to the finish line of the 15k and the full marathon, which is ending at the Hippodrome, or, the end of the procession that the Byzantine Emporers would follow when arriving in then Constantinople - how symbolic!

As I pull out my phone to call my friend from d.c. Sarah (who is living and working here for the foreseeable future) I am amazed to see her right across from me, near the finish line.  Sarah is at the marathon to support her roomate who is running in the marathon.  So Sarah, Zac and I decide to go get a bit of brunch as we wait the couple more hours it should take for our respective friends and roomates to finish the marathon.

After a lovely brunch at a restaurant covered in carpets and kilims, whose owner apparently owns a carpet shop near Bennington, Vermont (!), the three of us head back to the finish line around 1:15 pm to cheer on and congratulate our friends in their last seconds of running the marathon.

So we wait....and we wait...and Zac takes a bunch of pictures of very old marathoners, in order to show these pictures to our friend Nick and make fun of him for finishing after these guys....nice, right?  it was all in good fun.

After about 2 hours of waiting, with a total time of 5 1/2 hours, Zac and I are discouraged, and decide to head home.  It turns out, Nick finished at 1:05, approximately 10 minutes before Zac and I showed up to congratulate him.  Nick ultimately timed in at 4 hours and 1 minute, yay!

Zac and I had a very long bus ride home, as all the roads had been shut down for the marathon, everyone wanted to get out, causing us to have a good 3 1/2 hour ride home.  Yes, Istanbul is massive, and totally packed.

That bus ride gave me a long time to think about the following: the 8k was very doable and I would prefer to not run with smokers next time.  Over the next few weeks the little idea that began to grow in my mind only got bigger, as my friend Breanna informed me of her plan to run in the Rome Marathon on March 20th, 2011.  Five months to train, again, doable!  My dear friend Megan is also a huge inspiration for this marathon, as she is running in the Marine Corps Marathon next week (remember that first spinning class last summer, Mega?) The final inspiration to do this came the other day, as I was talking to my sister, Jean.  Jean ran the Hawaii marathon while she was living in Singapore in the early 70s, when she was about my age.  She trained "anywhere I could" according to her, and if she can train in Vietnam in the 70s, I can train in Istanbul now.

So here it is, so I can't take it back.  I am registering TODAY for the Maratona di Roma, to take place March 20th, 2011.  Anyone is welcome to join me in my training and come run with me! 

Dumi & Joan's International Apartment of Cuisine: October

I am prematurely posting this - but please check back through the end of October, will be posting new recipes as they are created.....

Vanilla Date Smoothie:

My best purchase here thusfar has undoubtedly been the Tefal blender I found on sale about a week ago.  This is meant as no offense to the beautiful Anatolian rug I found in the Bazaar, but let's be honest, a blender can well, blend!

I LOVE this smoothie - it is surprisngly light and fluffy and gives me my necessary morning dose of sugar.  All you do is place in the blender: 1/2 cup plain, nonfat yogurt, 1/2 cup skim milk, 3/4 cup ice cubes, 3 dates and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and well, blend. 

Chocolate, Banana and Flaxseed Smoothie

blend together: 1 banana, 1/2-3/4 cup skim milk, 1 cup ice cubes, flax seed, 1-2 tbls cocoa powder.

Very Banana-y Smoothie:

place in blender: 1 chopped up banana, 1/3 cup plain yogurt, 1 tsp honey, 2/3 cup ice cubes, 1 tbls flaxseed. blend!

Whole Wheat and Flax Pancakes:

One of my biggest qualms with the food here is that, ironically, in a country with so much whole, fresh food, the local grocery stores sell only a variety of mass-produced, Nestle-like cereals.  As sugary and delicious as these cereals are, I am much fonder of a heartier breakfast.  So what to do?  make it!

I found a recipe, and with a little substituting, came up with these very hearty pancakes (that can also be made as waffles, if you are lucky enough to have a waffle iron).  All you do is mix in a bowl:

-2 cups whole wheat flour (or 1 cup whole wheat with 1 cup cracked wheat, oat flour, buckwheat flour, etc)

-2 tablespoons wheat germ,  if you have it

-2 tablespoons flaxseed, crushed or whole

-2 tablespoons choppped up walnuts

-1 tablespoons baking powder

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

After mixing this together, add and mix:

-2 egg whites

-1 cup skim milk

-2 tablespoons butter

This will form a very thick dough-like batter.  Heat up a skillet and cook up the pancakes! 

*tip: feel free to add chopped up apples, blackberries, blueberries, bananas: whatever you like into the dough. my favorite way to eat these, if not plain is with bonne manam jam.

*tip 2: I make mine on the weekend and freeze them so I can grab one in the morning, toast it and have a good, quick breakfast. definitely worth a little weekend effort. enjoy!

I just thought you all needed a visual of Dumi and her awesome Romanian ways of opening cans with knives

Orzo Pasta with Spinach, Shallots, Tomatoes and Red Pepper:

Bring about 1 cup of uncooked orzo pasta to a boil in a pot, let boil about 10 minutes.
In a saucepan, place a little olive oil and sautee 6 or 7 shallots (shallots are really small here, so if you are in the U.S. maybe 3 or 4).  When the shallots are grilled, place 2 sliced fresh red peppers in the saucepan and sautee as well.
In another, larger pot, place about 4 cups uncooked, fresh spinach in a full pot of water - bring to a boil and cook for about 5 to 6 minutes.  When done, place in the saucepan with the shallots and peppers.
Cut up about 15 cherry tomatoes, and throw in the veggie saucepan at the very last minute. 
When the pasta is done, throw that in the veggie saucepan as well and cook for 2 minutes.  Then serve!

Joans Hummus

this was a day or so old, but still good!

Let me first say that I am very hesitant to give out this recipe, as it is my precious keepsake.  However, my "recipe" is actually very makeshift, so I figure it can't do too much harm.  Here goes:

Place in a blender: about 2 cups of chickpeas (garbano beans), 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup tahini, 2 to 3 cloves minced garlic.  Now, you will need to put some water in, this will add to the creamy effect.  I usually end up adding about 1/2 cup, but add 1/4 first, blend and then another 1/4 cup.  And of course, add some salt and pepper to taste.

*tip: don't be afraid to play around with the proportions of hummus, I recently had a friend suggest I put more tahini in, and now the tahini-hummus rules in my kitchen. 

also, once you've "mastered" your favorite propotion of ingredients, think about adding cumin, chopped of olives or chopped up roasted red peppers before blending.

Dumi's Cauliflower and Chickpea Pilav (courtesy of BBC)

Heat 1 tsp vegetable oil in a large, non-stick pan and add two large onions, sliced. Cook over a medium heat for 5 mins until starting to turn golden. Stir in 1 tbls curry paste and cook for 1 min. Add 1 cup rice, 1 head cauliflower and 1 1/2 cups chickpeas, stirring to coat in the paste.

Pour in 1-2 cups water with vegetable bouillon mixed in and stir. Cover and simmer for 10-15 mins until the rice and cauliflower are tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in sliced almonds (if you have some, we didn't and it was still great) and coriander (we put in basil), then serve.

Pizza "Rustica" with Lot's-O-Veggies

thinish crust pizza with white cheese, eggplant, red pepper, olives, red ionion and garlic

I've been procrastinating making homemade pizza dough for years.  So I decided that here is the perfect opportunity to take the plunge, the worst thing that could happen is that Dumi and I would eat overly-yeasty pizza dough one night.  The dough part turned out to be incredibly simple, probably because I chose a simple recipe.  I halved the recipe, so if you want a bigger pizza, just double this up. 

Pulse together 4 cups of flour (I used cracked wheat flour) with 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt.  Then add 1/2 cup butter that you have chopped into small pieces, to help it pulse easier.  Pulse that combo until the mix is course and mealy, then add 2 large eggs and pulse that.  It should look something like this:

the pre-chilled dough, nice and mealy

Now chill that in the fridge for an hour, or a few!  I made this in the morning and went to school all day, and that was fine as well.

Once you are ready to make your pizza, preheat your oven to 300 degrees Farenheit.  Choose the veggies you want to use.  I chose: eggplant, red peppers, onions, garlic and olives.  First sautee 1 clove garlic in olive oil for a minute or two, then add thinly sliced red onions and continue to sautee.  Add 1 sliced fresh red pepper and 1 thinly sliced eggplant.  Sautee for about 10 minutes.

While you are sauteeing the vegetables, take your dough out of the fridge and place on a cookie sheet.  My dough turned out to be very mealy, which made me nervous, as I had the idea of an almost sticky-like dough in mind, but it turned out great!  So take your dough, whatever consistency it is, and with a rolling pin, press it down and out, covering the surface of your cookie sheet.  I made my dough about 1/4" think in the middle.  With a spatula or brush, brush on a few tablespoons of olive oil evenly across the dough.



basically, you can't go wrong with baked dough, veggies and cheese!



When your veggies are pretty well-cooked (they don' have to be completely done, in fact, you may want them kind of crunchy), transfer them from your sautee pan onto the pizza.  Then place however many black olives you like on the pizza.  Then take a cheese of your liking, and place as much as you like all over.  Cook pizza for about 10-15 minutes, or until edges are golden brown or cheese starts to bubble.  Let cool a little bit and serve warm.

Red Curry Shrimp with Bamboo Shoots and Rice Noodles

In one bowl, bring rice noodles to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.

In a large saucepan sautee 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, Dumi and I were super lazy on this particular night, so the garlic was more chunky - still delicious.  Then add 1-1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen shrimp and sautee.  for 5 minutes, making sure to drain any excess shrimpy-water.  Add 1 cup bamboo shoots or bean sprouts if you have them.  Now for the sauce: add 1 can coconut milk and 2-3 tbls red curry paste, depending on how spicy you want it and stir.  Bring to a boil, uncovered and cook for 5 minutes or so. 

Dumi's Peasant Salad:

recipe to follow soon!

Yenikapi Excavation and a Day at the RCAC

This past week, the first-year Masters students had the opportunity to visit the Yenikapi excavation site in the middle of the historic Sultanahmet district.  Of course we all accepted heartily and cancelled any afore-made plans.

To boot, we were driven in a shuttle from campus in the morning - always a welcome gesture when it precludes having to commute into downtown Istanbul, particularly during rush hour.

Of coure, even a skilled and experienced Istanbul driver can come across the regular difficulties; what is one to do if they miss their exit on the highway?  Why, back up on the highway and take your exit!  After backing up into 80 mph traffic, we get lost...and what does one do when one gets lost?  Why, you park your car in the middle of traffic, get out and go ask the driver in the car ahead of you how to get to the destination.

it's hard to see, but our driver is ahead asking directions from the car in front of us

I want to say first and foremost that it is a really big deal to be invited to an excavation site such as this, and therefore, want to be as respectful as possible about information.  I hope I got all the information correct here, and I (really) hope I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been published - however I highly doubt the little information I have written here is anything new.  If you are interested in this excavation, please read an academic source on it, I make no claims for accuracy!

So we get to the Yenikapi site, and it is massive.  Yenikapi is now the excavation site, where, about ten years ago, when digging to construct a new metro stop in the historic district so as to relieve some of the horrendous traffic, the diggers came across some interesting finds.  As they began to survey their finds, they reaized that what they had come across was beyond remarkable.  They had uncovered a a Byzantine harbour, that had been sitting underneath Istanbul for over a thousand years.  Underneath the harbour, they found layers of civilization, including, at the base, remnants of a Neolithic settlement - around ten thousand years old.

the site at Yenikapi

About the size of a football field, it has been dug, by hand, over the past decade. As we walked through the site, we walked on sticky mud with sea-shells and rocks scattered beneath our feet, and I couldn't help but wonder how long these items had lain there, what sorts of people had seen them or used them over the last ten thousand years.  It was a cool experience, to say the least.
Now that we are officially in Fall, I guess the weather that I have to look forward to for the next six months is rain, rain, rain.  My friend and I went into Sariyer the night before to pick up some cheap rainboots, and cheap "rainboots" I found - or 5 TL (about $3) crocks.  These will have to suffice for the next month until I can go home and get my good LLBean boots.  So let the rain come! 

As they showed us a Byzantine ship wreck, the rain really began to pour so much that it was difficult to hear everything our archeologist guides were saying.  Nevertheless, it was conveyed that they have uncovered "otuz beş" 35 (or did they say 36?) Byzantine ship wrecks.  These wrecks are now in the form of individual planks that are being soaked in water so that they do not dry out too suddenly (after being underground for so many years) and so that they can begin to reshape them into their supposed-original shape.

We also were able to see the layers of the earth that had been dug through to form the walls of the site.  Within these layers, I saw some bones, probably from an animal of some sort.  Of course, I was completely taken aback by the intensity of seeing these bones, stuck in the wall, having been there for however many thousands of years.  I wanted to point them out to some kind of authority on the site.  Not twenty minutes later, the archeologists took us to the processing lab (a very welcome reprieve from the rain!), where items found are washed and prepared for observation and cataloging.  Within this lab, we observed hundreds of Byzantine ceramics, Neolithic pine cones (!), and...bones!  so many bones that it put into perspective the relative importance of the bones I had seen in the wall - important, yes, but to them, just another day on this historically rich archeological site.

I should emphasize that this site is in the middle of Istanbul proper, in a busy part of the Fatih municipality.  I'm not up to pace on all-things-archeological, but I do know that this is quite a historic site in and of itself, being (one of) the first sites located in the middle of a bustling cosmopolitan city.

After our tour and necessary cay (underneath a make-shift roof that made me feel like an awesomely-cool archeologist "roughing it"), we - the MA students and the fellows, made our way to the RCAC, the research center for our program.  Of course, we had to figure out a way to exit the site, which was difficult with the rain....

Istanbul rain leads to puddles, or pools!

Alas, we found our way out, and thawed in the bus as we crossed over the Galata bridge and over to the RCAC.  We munched on a tasty lunch and then got to see where we will be studying/researching over the next two years....

the RCAC building from within

The selection of books in the RCAC is spectacular, and I therefore started making the mistake (which I have done a few times here now) of picking up everything that interests me at first glance.  However, I decided to be somewhat picky and only checked out Judith Herron's "Byzantium: The Surprising life of a Medieval Empire".  This is a book that has come highly recommended to me by a Professor here as well as some of the students.  I am ashamed to say that my Byzantine history background is slightly lacking, due to taking only the required, and very Western-geared history course in undergrad.  So a little catch-up is necessary, and Judith Herron's book somehow manages to make Byzantium super exciting...

RCAC library

another view of the library at the RCAC

After the RCAC trip, I treked back home, stopping at another 3 Turkcell stores to see if I could finally get a straight answer about phone conracts/packages and whatnot.  I think I am close to getting a phone of my own and can finally return my guardian angel's lended-phone. 

Byzantine and Neolithic remains, coupled with monsoon-rain and cay, just another fine day in the city of Istanbul.

A Trip to Sariyer Weekly Farmer's Market

So my friend and colleague, Nick, has been telling me about the weekly Sariyer farmer's market.  Now I am a huge fan of farmers markets, regularly buying produce/bread at the Dupont farmer's market (on Sunday mornings) in d.c., so of course I had to go to my new neighborhood farmers market.

mmmmm tomatoes

I should admit that I have been to other districts' markets since relocating to Istanbul - not out of intentional betrayal to my own Sariyer market, but through purely stumbling across various markets (Besiktas, Istinye - both rather designer-y).

Our own Sariyer market is less posh, thankfully, and has just the right amount of variety of goods without being as overwhelming as, say, the Grand Bazaar. 

As you can see from the photos, Sariyer market (like all other markets here) has a lot of fresh produce.  Veggies include: eggplant (patlacan), carrots, tomatoes, corn (corn is like a fast food here, with corn on the cob stands on street-corners), potatoes, red and green peppers, cabbage, onions, green onions, zucchini, pumpkin, etc. Fruits you will find are: lemons, apples, bananas, pomegrantes (they have light pink ones here that are ten times sweeter than those you find in the states), peaches, small and tart oranges. 

Things you will not find: cilantro! :(

patlacan!  (eggplant...my favorite)

veggies!

The markets also have a plethora of nuts (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts, hazelnuts are very popular) and dried fruit (apricots, raisins of all different shapes and sizes, cranberries, mangoes, pineapples, papayas, dates, wheat berries, figs).

mini cucumbers and enormous cabbage

pumpkin!  or the closest thing to pumpkin

Like in any foreign country you go to, the things you will find are similar, but slightly different than they are back home.  In Turkey, you'll find a lot of the same fruits and vegetables you would in the U.S., and most taste the same.  Some, however, are slightly, well, not "off", but just different!  For instance, the pumpkins you see in the photo above are not like the pumpkins you would find in the U.S. - when cooked they don't get mushy, but stay rather hard.  Instead of making tasty pies, the Turks will soak pumpkin slices in syrup (which is a very common way of preparing any dessert, to soak it in sugary syrup, delicious!) until the pumpkin is entirely saturated with gooey-goodness, and then maybe put some cream on top.  It's a great dessert!


I bought some of these potatoes for a Salad Nicoise



veggies

"buğrun buğrun"

doing business

One thing that always strikes me here is abundance of food.  Not only are there pide shops (with bread and pasty products) everywhere - and I mean everywhere! - but shops here go against the American idea of staking out a spot of their own, instead similar shops will congregate together, with the idea that people will come to the "dried fruit and nut" area and the business will eventually even out.  Shopkeepers will even work together and give one another business, if they don't have what a customer is looking for - it's all part of a strongly-held value of community, that is visible in many other parts of society.

so many mushrooms

a fruit section of the market

Last but not least, I wanted to show you all a "simit" stand.  Simit is like a thinner, more dense bagel, covered with sesame seeds.  Yet another example of the plethora of food being offered at every corner.  I have yet to buy one since being here this time, but I fully intend to pair one with lebnah, a yogurt-like cheese, akin to cream cheese - Turkish bagel and cream cheese!



simit, which is like a bagel with sesame seeds on it

That's all for now.