Back to EOTD, If It's OK With You

I realize this isn't a really pretty picture, but the restaurant was in a back alley and it was so dark I had to use flash and bother everyone around me in order to report on EOTD (Eggplant of the Day).

Pam, you were the only one to call me on my eggplant-less entry yesterday and yes, it's true: I did not eat eggplant yesterday. Did you SEE how much I ate? When I got to the end of the day without naturally, organically occurring eggplant, I just didn't have it in me to pursue it. Not even eggplant water. So I'm not sure what that means for the blog - is it done? Finished? Am I going to lose all of my followers? Will "Eggplant Every Day (Except One)" be OK?

Well, while the jury is out on whether I may continue despite a failed goal, let me describe the best eggplant dish yet - that of the very poor picture above. I was walking in the best part of the artist district looking for dinner when I stumbled upon this back alley Turkish restaurant. Another Big Turkish Mama greeted me, but instead of saying, "Take off your clothes!" this one said, "We make everything home cooked."

And she had me. Oh my. Let me describe what is in the picture: eggplant roasted over the fire and then mashed and topped with the best kofta meatballs yet, topped with Turkish yogurt, which is so far and above any yogurt on our entire continent that I feel sad just thinking about it. The red sprinkles is a spice called Sumak. And the tomato sauce is homemade, and parsley graces the whole thing. I want to go back for this every night. Eggplant moussaka is also on the menu, so I might have to try that.

When I was alone on the island of Penang for a few days (Malaysia), I was around possibly the second-best food of my life. Well, wait, that is a really bold statement. Clarification: my Vietnam neighborhood is the hands-down first place winner, and Penang, with its diversity of Indian, Chinese, Malay and Thai, well, it was heaven. The only problem was that there wasn't a whole lot to do in Penang, so I struggled to entertain myself between the eating extravaganza that took place every three hours.

(Hold on, I should clarify that none of this contest talk factors in my mom's cooking.)

Istanbul does not present that problem. Today I spent four hours at the Istanbul Modern Museum, and it was one of the most moving museum experiences of my life. I don't think I have spent more than two hours at a museum, ever. And the only reason I left today was because of my stomach.

Here are a few visual highlights:

It's called "Smoke" and it's a woven tapestry.












This one is called "Shopping" and it's made from designer name brand tags.

The part of the museum that took up most of my time, though, was a temporary exhibit that focused on video, music and sound. One installment had four videos playing simultaneously of women talking about their views on the head scarf. One was a cancer patient who had lost her hair, one was a transvestite, etc.

But the installment that stole it for me was based on Jeff Buckley's rendition of Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah." Actually, I hate to call it a rendition because not one of the 300 others who have covered that song should have done so. I mean he DIED after he sang it, and it is so beautiful and tragic and everything else all at once. How can The Voice or American Idol contestants even think of doing it?  So this exhibit was a video of an older Muslim woman wearing a head scarf, standing in front of ruins of a modern apartment complex in Ankara (the capital), kind of doing a karaoke to this song. Weird, right? But it worked as a commentary on a country caught between modernization and the traditional way of life. A Muslim woman singing a "Christian" phrase in this song. I watched it three times.

Now, about feeding myself after the museum completely wore me out: During my Culinary Backstreets tour - which I am appreciating more every day - Senem had pointed to a restaurant and said, "That one isn't on the tour, but try it!' So that is where I headed, and she was so right. I had this big, beautiful salad, which is in front of something called lahmacun. It's kind of like pizza, I guess, without cheese. Inside the wood oven-fired wrap is minced veal and onions, then you put the parsley and sumak-covered onions inside, squeeze the whole thing with lemon and roll it up. Delicious.

I will leave you with one last picture, of the monument in Taksim Square. I was pretty certain that Florida would be nowhere near here, and that comforted me. One of the film installations at the museum showed many events of historical significance at this monument. Oh, and much demonstrating against the invasion of Gaza here (in Istanbul, not at this monument), not so much protests or riots, but every so often you will hear a group yelling, and it's usually something anti-Israel.

Wait, no, for the sake of contrast, I'm going to leave you with the only Catholic church I have seen yet: it's on the street I told you about yesterday, Istiklal:

And, what about the eggplant problem?