Cooking in Istanbul

Since we had done all the usual tourist things during our previous visit to Istanbul we decided to try another popular thing to do this time around. A cooking class. Other than the kebabs we enjoyed during our previous visit we really didn't get to learn that much about Turkish cuisine so we decided to sign up for a cooking class with Cookistan

We took an (overpriced) cab from the docks up to the Radisson Plaza where we met our instructor for the day along with a bunch of (much younger) cooking enthusiasts. Our instructor, Ayşın, was phenomenal. She had a great sense of humor, and great timing in everything we did that day. We started out with a walking tour of her neighborhood to get a sense for the kinds of small shops that people use today in modern Istanbul. When we arrived at the cooking school this was all set up for us.

The menu for the day can be seen on the chalk board:

• Suliman Soup -- Yes, I now officially like lentil soup.
• Borecik -- a delicous meat mixture baked in pastry
• Stuffed dried Aubergine -- even though aubergine sounds a lot better than eggplant, I'm still not a huge fan. Although they were not too bad. We also used the same mixture to stuff grape leaves and I really liked that.
• Bulgur Salad -- Again, a new salad, and I'm fan.
• Circassian Style Chicken. Kind of a cold chicken salad that you can eat with a spoon or put on bread for a sandwich.
• Pumpkin Dessert -- Maybe the only thing all day I really didn't appreciate. -- It was too much like eating sweet squash for my palete

In a very small world moment you can see the young man in this picture with me, who works on the same team at Epic with one of my former students!