more food

First and foremost, thank you for your sweet birthday messages. I didn't have a particularly exciting day because I was working, but one of my students got me a cake (at 9:00am!), and after my last class (at 9:30pm, arghh) I went out for a couple beers with the other teachers. I can't really ask for more, especially when you add in some great phone calls. So, thank you!

I spent most of Saturday with Murat, a friend of my family's, as well as his cousin and the cousin's girlfriend. The day had started out mild but pouring rain, but suddenly, as I was riding the longest bus ride of my life, the sky cleared up to a lovely deep blue. It stayed that way for the rest of the day and was definitely a sign of how beautiful things will be as spring sets in. We went to a fish restaurant on the Bosphorus in Istinye, a far cry from where I'm living right now. Picture a tiny bay with little yachts docked along the banks of the Bosphorus, with hills rising up all around and the Asian side of the city across the water. Lovely! Also, you need to understand how fantastic fish restaurants are here - generally you get some kind of appetizer, and then while you're waiting for your fish (chosen from a list of completely unrecognizable names - mostly from the Black Sea region), an enormous bowl of luscious salad arrives, which you mix with lemon juice and olive oil and toss. Then each person's fish arrives, simply a whole grilled fish which you can season with salt and lemon and then devour. Delicious!

Then, even better, we went to a different swanky part of town and had kunefe, to date the best dessert I have had here (and I am quickly becoming an expert). It's a large, round, flat disc of one layer of something like shredded wheat, then a thin layer of sweet cheese, then another layer of shredded wheat, all completely doused in honey and butter and served warm and melty, with a dollop of cream on top. Then you sprinkle coarsely ground pistachios and walnuts all over and die and go to heaven. Bliss.

We're back to grey weather but I'm looking forward to more desserts, more bike riding, more fish, and more days off. Jonathan will be here Wednesday, hooray!