a real slice of Brooklyn
Just when this New Yorker thought she couldn’t get a real slice of home in Istanbul, she discovered Brooklyn Pizza!
We recently came across a new pizza place here called Brooklyn Pizza. Their motto is “Gercek New York Pizzasi” (Real New York Pizza). So we were pretty eager last week to go check it out and see for ourselves if it is worthy of having this claim.
We were pleasantly surprised! For starters, it is the only place we’ve found that has real NY-sized pizzas. A large is 18″, a medium is 16″. Typically what you find here in Istanbul is a large equaling about 9″, so you can imagine our thrill when we saw that on the menu! And of course we had to order the large.
I’ve stopped eating red meat, but Onur’s love for it continues, so we got a 1/2 Etli (meat) and 1/2 Sebzeli (veggie). SO YUMMY. The owner who is Turkish but was living in New York for the past 6 years just moved back and opened up the restaurant. We gave him two thumbs up – the pizza was awesome. The dough tasted just like NY pizza, not like Turkish pizza crust, it passed the sturdy test – meaning when you hold it by the crust end it stays straight and doesn’t flop from sogginess. It had just the right amount of pizza sauce (usually lacking in Turkish pizzas) and the toppings were aplenty! Oh and the size of the slices were exactly how a good NY slice of pizza should be.
We loved every bite of it! But unfortunately we couldn’t finish it. So we gladly took a doggy bag home. :)
Thank you to Brooklyn Pizza for bringing a real slice of home to us! Expect us back real soon!
the wing quest continues…
Coming back to the states for the holidays has satisfied many of my cravings for home, family, the familiar, Santa Clauses and jingle bells. But perhaps one of the best things about being back is, well, the buffalo wings. Yes, those lovely little hot wings that I miss so much in Turkey. If you’ve been reading my blog, you are well aware of the lack of good wings in Istanbul. And hey, I can’t blame them, it’s not their schtick. Just like borek and baklava are not America’s schtick.
Anyway, being back has given me the opportunity to indulge in as many wings as I can. And fortunately, or unfortunately, almost every place I go to eat here offers wings. So I’ve been indulging. In fact, so much I thought I would take a day off today. My stomach begged me. But I am happy to report that I have been repeatedly happy with the wing quality I’ve experienced thus far.
Check out my latest Ohio wings… next week is NY wings. :)
The Boulevard ~ Eastlake, Ohio
28 cent wings and $1 beers — can’t beat it! Wing quality is superb, perfect crispyness, and fantastic hot sauce. Although I got hot twice now, and medium once (to appease my mild-spiced friend), I think I will go for inferno next time. I like a little more heat with my hot wings. Oh and the celery is great here – fresh, juicy and not dried out in any way. Blue cheese is pretty good. Overall 9.5 on the Chicken Wing Scale of Loveliness.
And as an added bonus for those burger lovers, not only are the burgers great, but all toppings are only 15 cents! I love Ohio.
Panini’s ~ Willoughby, Ohio
On to Panini’s, an establishment known for their famous panini sandwiches, which come complete with fries inside the sandwich. I was told I have to get the wings, which I didn’t really need much arm twisting for, so I got them — Buffalo Hot, extra crispy (the later part which was recommended by a seasoned Panini’s hot wing friend). These wings got a solid 10 on the scale! There was a perfect amount of sauce, they were cooked to perfection, and the size and juiciness of the chicken was like no other. At first I thought the hot was not hot enough, but after a few wings, I was happy with the heat level. I could have kicked it up a little, but maybe next time.
And I can’t forget to thank my friend Tsam for sending me a write up on the best hot wings in NYC. I read it, studied it, and can’t wait to go to the Blind Tiger Ale House next week when we’re in NY. Thank you Tsam!! To read the review yourself: NYC Best Wings Review by nycfoodguy
i’m baaaack!
Ok so I owe you an apology for falling off the face of the blogging earth. Sorry for the brief departure. But I’m back!! And I’m happy to say that I have nothing to blame other than the fact that I actually have a life now!
After we got back from our NY/Germany trip in September, I realized that I needed to learn some more Turkish. The Turkish courses that I took at NYU gave me a good base for communicating when we first moved here, but I realized it was not going to cut it if I ever wanted to have a semi-intelligent conversation with anyone here. So I enrolled at a language school and began taking two different levels of Turkish at the same time, which meant I was in class 5 days a week. Like a full-time job… with homework… and I was not getting paid for it – I was paying them.
I say this all in the past tense because just this week I finished both courses. Yes, I graduated! So I have a comfortable fluency level now, but will take at least one more level after the holidays. I must admit that it feels good to finally be able to get complete, coherent thoughts and ideas across to others. I realize now how much we take advantage of the natural things in life like communicating in your native language.
So that’s been consuming my days and most of my nights, but my social life has also picked up at the same time. To add to our great friends that we already had here in Istanbul, I’ve since made a lot of friends who are in similar expat situations… many of who moved here because of their husband’s job, they are having a tough time with the language, they are adapting to a new life and culture, they are having difficulty finding a job too, etc etc. I’ve also connected with a group of professional foreign women here that are personally and professionally inspiring. And out of all of this there are some that I’ve really really connected with. And when you really gel with someone it’s beyond great. Yay to good friends!
So classes are done for now, my personal life is feeling more settled, my social life is back, Onur’s company is continuing to do well, so what’s next? Home for the holidays! Yep, next week we head to the states for an OH and NY trip. So excited! Really can’t wait! US here we come. 
there’s no place like home
Ahh New York. I never knew you to be such a beautiful place. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, or how does that saying go – you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone. Well NY is not “gone” for me or for us necessarily, but this visit back to NY after 6 weeks of living away definitely made me realize just how much I really do miss NY.
Sure the city is dirty, it’s loud, it’s fully of disgruntled and oft-times rude people. But it’s also a place of beauty, where you find so much talent; one of the capitals of commerce, business and general excitement and life. NY is so alive and really compares to no other city. It is in and of it’s own. NY has so many amazing things to offer, a culture so diverse and a people so unique because they come from all walks of life. NY is a place where I’ve spent the past 7yrs of my life, my adulthood and life after college, where experiencing 9/11 made me a NYer instantly; it’s where I “grew up”, made some of my best friends, fell in love, built my career, found and established myself. NY is my home, NY is me.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like living in Istanbul and there is nothing more important to me than the new life Onur and I are creating. But one can’t discount the missing-ness of a life built in an amazing city that we loved. NY will always hold a wonderfully special place in both of our hearts and who knows, one day we may be back. Let’s see!
So the purpose of our trip to NY was for our very dear friends’ wedding – Jane & Eugene, aka Eujane. They wed in a most beautiful Japanese garden in Westchester, NY. The wedding was beyond stunning and we couldn’t have been happier to see two of our closest friends exchange vows that left not a dry eye in the house. And let’s not forget the party that ensued afterwards – I don’t think anyone left the dance floor the entire night except for when the party ended and we had to leave. We actually got to make the most of the time with Eujane, too, since we flew in a few days early so that I could spend a few girly days with Jane (during which Onur had the lucky job of going to Bed Bath & Beyond for goodies we need for our apartment ).
Onur left to head back to Istanbul the day after the wedding, but I stayed in NY another week to visit friends. Two of my dear friends let me stay with them that week, which was so wonderful and gracious of them (thank you Irina/Vadim and Krista/Chester/Sneakers!). In 7 days I managed to pack in a multitude of things and get my NY fix (ahh who am I kidding – this fix will only last me a few days).
My schedule was literally packed. I had breakfasts, lunches and dinners planned with friends, shopping and hair appointments, a chrissy happy hour and a good dose of kitty-lovin mixed in. Crazy busy schedule – I love it! The week absolutely flew by, but not without me already planning a trip back in December.
Just a few of the highlights of my stay in NY: my stays in Brooklyn and Chelsea, fuzzy bedtime buddies in the form of big, lovable felines, happy hour festivities at PS450 with tmn’ers, early morning breakfast at Penelope’s, late-night burgers at the Corner Bistro, wine and cheese at Ayza with friends, coffee with a dear friend before she headed off to Scotland and got engaged!, lunch with a couple of old bosses-turned-good-friends, chicken wings & beer at Bar Coastal, home-cooked dinner by a tremendously talented chef friend, lazy rainy Saturday and the depressing movie ‘The Women’, getting my hair done by my very missed stylist, getting my new Gulec passport, Bed Bath & Beyond… again, cheese and wine and more cheese and wine, bar hopping in the W. Village / Meatpacking, brunch at Sarabeth’s, dinner at Kim’s new place in Bklyn, re-celebrating Eujane’s recent wedding at Irving Mill and afterwards at some fantastic wine bar, shopping shopping and more shopping, eating all of the foods I’ve missed – chicken wings, ranch dressing, macaroni & cheese, sushi (4 times), cheeseburger, cheeeese.
…and well a really big dose of missing my Onur. I guess you can’t have the best of both worlds. Well NY, thanks for a beyond awesome time. I can’t wait to be back around Christmastime. It’s been a fabulous trip home sweet home.
Update: I’m NOT running the 10K Nike Human Race
Update: I just found out that my pre-registration was cancelled due to the fact that 10,000 people have already signed up to run the race in Istanbul. Apparently there is a cap on how many people can participate. Boooooooo! Maybe they should have told me this when I registered! Anyway, guess this just means I will be running on the treadmill that day.
In non-lazy days of summer news, it looks like I’m going to run a 10K at the end of the month! The race is the Nike Plus Human Race – it’s basically the world’s largest organized race taking place in 25 cities worldwide on 8.31.08. They anticipate over a million people either running in one of the organized races or at home online which could make this the single largest sporting event in history. Pretty amazing. Istanbul and New York are two of the competing cities, so if anyone wants to run against me, let me know!
Here in Istanbul, I’ll be running across one of the two bridges that cross the Bosphorous in Istanbul (the Bogazici Bridge) – probably my only opportunity ever to cross the bridge by foot as this is not like the Brooklyn Bridge where cars and pedestrians use it. Anyway, I’ve only ever run a 5K before just this past May in the Revlon Run/Walk (my first ever race) so this 10K should prove to be challenging. Updates on my training later…
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/humanrace/index.jsp?sitesrc=persist_tout
my first week living in Istanbul
Tomorrow will mark my first week living here. The flight over was fine, save the grouchy Delta flight attendants and the little kid sitting behind me. But upon my arrival at IST, me, my 4 suitcases, 1 box and 70lb “carry-on” was greeted by my hubby who was bearing my most favorite flowers. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be in his arms!
I was also so excited to see the new apartment, which I had only seen pictures of so far. Wow is all I have to say. I am beyond happy with our new place! Onur did such a great job finding it. It’s nearly 1700sqft with 2 balconies… a HUGE difference from our 1br apt in NY. It feels like a real home, imagine that. But more importantly what felt real was the feeling of being a newlywed. After 2 months of being married but not really together, and three months of being apart before that, we now officially feel what it’s like to be newlyweds. And yeah, it is a grrreat feeling! The whole being newlyweds thing… totally underrated.
The first couple of days here were spent furniture shopping. Our place currently echos, so we’re eager to fill it with furniture and make it a home. So we spent two full days at these furniture “cities”. Hundreds of stores, but we only went to maybe 40? It’s like an outlet mall on crack, minus the discount prices. Looks like we’re going with customized furniture for the living and dining rooms (common in Turkey, from what I’m beginning to understand), and the plan is to go modern-comfy.
We also hung out with a lot of friends so far this week, which was a nice welcome to Istanbul. And I also met a new friend – the gym – oh but it’s so much more than a gym. It’s a 5 minute walk that takes about 15 because of the convoluted way you have to get there. Hello huge hills and random Istanbul streets. And this gym is like no other gym. I’ve decided this gym is more like a beach club… well minus the actual beach. The sheer size of this place – 14,000sqm (and the size of the membership costs too!), the 3 amazing pools (1 of them being a full-on beach club pool), and the on-site spa facilities make it more of a beach club to me. I mean you could spend all day here no problem.
While I adjusted to the time difference very quickly, I’m adjusting to the sounds here at quite a different pace. We’re in a very central part of Istanbul, but because we live in a private community, we’re away from the horn honking, bus screeching, and general big city traffic noise. This is a welcome break from apt living in nyc, for sure. But on the flip-side, I hear a lot of things like wind and birds chirping and well, nature… and let me tell you it does take some getting used to – especially falling asleep in the quietness. It is relaxing though, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes so relaxing I feel like I’m on vacation. I can get used to it – well, except for when those things, those birds or lambs or goats or seagulls or whatever the hell they are, make that funky noise… at 5am every morning. I gotta find my earplugs.
Some general observations from my first week living in Istanbul:
* roosters – they don’t just crow at dawn, it’s more of a throughout-the-day thing (yes we really do live in a very comsmopolitan area, so I don’t know why I hear roosters either)
* kitties – there are a lot of them here and they are so cute… but you don’t touch them
* screens in your windows – nobody has them. We’ll be “those” Americans stapling screens into our windows.
* no one is on time here, I mean no one. I’m a role model for all Turks!
* Turkey needs Bed Bath & Beyond… big time
