Gıda(GOO-Dah)

So one thing people keep asking me... "How's the food out there!?" to be quiet honest it's okay.  It's just like any other type of food, it's starts to get repetitive and rather boring. Not to mention that the food here is pretty bland. (sorry just being honest) It's a lot of tavas, shish, chicken doners and kebabs. Needless to say I'm over Turkish food.

I will say this though, I absolutely LOVE going to the market(s) here. They have a few throughout the week but I have only been to the Thursday market. Most of the 'stands' are produce but there are a few that have clothes, dishes, soaps...  It's almost like a tiny version of the flea market except with a lot more produce :) 

Why I love the Thursday market:

• The food is cheap ( <20TL!!)
• The food tastes DELICIOUS!
• The food is fresh!
• They will usually let you try the produce before you buy it (AWESOME!)
• Forces me to learn Turkish (or at least learn to say a few things)
• Better yet forces me to TRY and speak Turkish!
• It can be a nice social gathering!

Now for some reason I have had this crazy obsession with blood oranges. I have never tried one until I moved here, since they were non existent in New Mexico. Well when one of the wives told me you could get blood oranges at the markets I nearly peed myself from excitement! (not really but I was super excited!) So my 1st trip to the market I found 1 man that was selling blood oranges, well I have never picked blood oranges before so I had no idea what I was looking for as far as picking them out. So I bought 4, which quickly turned into 5 since that made a 1/2 kilo.. Well when I got home I was super excited to taste my 1st real blood orange. I cut it in half and realized that this perfectly round orange...was simply that, an orange. Talk about disappointment! 

So I cut another one in half, well this had a few red freckles in it but it wasn't a blood orange. I went to the bag, pulled out ANOTHER one and almost cut it in half but quickly opted not to since I had committed to eating 2 oranges already. Don't get me wrong they were the best oranges I've ever had in my life! But I was a little sad that they weren't blood oranges. Just as I finished the last piece of my freckled orange, Rene came home! (YAY!) I told him the story about my oranges so he went to the fridge grabbed an orange, peeled it and guess what! YUP a beautiful blood orange, go flippin figure! So I did a little research on picking blood oranges out and have had fantastic luck with them ever since! {I just googled how to pick out blood oranges and what I gathered was that the rind is supposed to be a little darker and a bit firmer then a normal orange. I just try to stick to finding ones that the rind is darker then a normal orange.}  Blood oranges will definitely be the one thing I will be sad about when we leave here.

 

So if you follow me on Instagram you've already seen this picture of my beautiful delicious blood orange :) 

^^^ This up here is a delicious salad with fresh Strawberry's from the market and Romain lettuce from the market as well. (also some almonds, feta and a yummy raspberry vinaigrette that I bought at the commissary in case you were curious as to what else was on it)  

GIANT MUSHROOM!!!! They were delicious as well, I put them in my lasagna that we ate for dinner tonight :) 

Oh and one other thing that I think is pretty awesome that I can get at the market is fresh eggs! It reminds me of Ali when we would go to sunflower market and she always buy local stuff things and ALWAYS ALWAYS cage free eggs :) Some of the eggs here still have dirt on them lol, or at least I think it's dirt....*dun dun dun!!!*