Food Improvisation

It’s been cold and snowy enough that we haven’t ventured to any markets or larger supermarkets since arriving in Istanbul last Monday. Instead, we’ve been relying on the very small grocery store next door and, instead of meal-planning, I’ve mainly just been buying everything that looks even vaguely interesting and then improvising from there.

I’ve learned:

  • Grilled anything in a can is amazing.
  • Buying all of the herbs/spices in a store is perfectly reasonable, even if you can’t read the labels.
  • Ayran is yogurt-milk, not milk-milk. (And Theo is skeptical of yogurt-milk.)

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Our improvised dinner below is lentils, zucchini, canned tomatoes, grilled peppers, and several spices with Turkish-only labels (my nose tells me they are cumin, black pepper, and cinnamon, but who knows!) served over rice cooked with mint with a side of yogurt. To drink: Ayran with pomegranate syrup and honey.

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