My Rhodes Vacation - II

Pin It       I wanted to write a seperate post about eating/drinking in Rhodes because it is both one of my favorite subjects and a very rich culture there. The most popular food type is the sea food -not surprisingly. You can eat fresh fish, octopus, mussels, calamari and such. However in our first day we ate the worst fish in our lives. It was very hard and tasteless (I think the owner realised his mistake because he came by and wanted to kiss and hug us many times and afterwards served many free offers!!) but except for that first inexperienced try, everything was just wonderful.
      When you hear the word "Greece", probably the second word you hear will be "ouzo", the anise-flavored local drink -which is almost the same as our national drink, Turkish raki. It goes very well ice-cold with sea food.



Grilled octopus along with garlic bread and ouzo

      In Rhodes you can try many different foods at the same time with mixed plates. We did that a couple of times and by that way tasted many Greek foods (which also belong to our cousine with small differences:) like mousakka, tzatziki ("cacik" in Turkish), lazagna, dolma (stuffed vegetables), meatballs, cheeseballs, rice, mashed eggplants and many more...



Mixed sea food plate - it is called "Simi Plate"

Mixed Greek food plate

Our hotel owner's surprise in the breakfast: Home made grape jam on home made cake

If you are fond of meat, I recommend you to go to "Lemoni" grill restaurant. It is in the center of the Old Town and one of the cheapest but most delicious places in Rhodes!

Tasting the local wine in one of the center spots in the Old Town is a must as well.

And in our last day: Very happy me after eating so many good foods but also very unwilling to end the vacation.

 

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My Real Cabinet of Curiosities

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      I sleep, I read, I draw and sometimes even eat in this very room and this is my favorite wall in it. My real cabinet of curiosities.. and if you look carefully you can also see the terrarium of "Safir" (and many more unrelated things of course:).

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Brunost (BrownCheese)

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My Breakfast Today

      I like all kinds of cheese and when I came to Norway I met a new, interesting type of cheese called brown cheese. Actually it cannot be called “new” -at least in here- because it has been produced since 1880s. It is made by boiling a mixture of milk, cream and whey for several hours so that the water evaporates. The heat turns the milk sugar into caramel and that gives the cheese its characteristic color and taste.

      When I first tasted it, I really fell in love with the taste. Also the combination is appealing. People here eat it with (not salty and preferably full corn) crackers and biscuits along with jam. It goes very well with coffee as well. For many people around me it is a “must” to have in the morning before the breakfast or simply as the breakfast itself. When I asked how come it was not produced or sold to other countries, I got the reply “there is not so much demand to buy and it is the particular taste of this part of the world”. Ironically when I brought that cheese to my family and friends to taste, none of them liked it except for two J but for me it became a necessity and I carry it wherever I go. Finally, I recommend for those who have the chance to taste it, definitely to do so. It is cut by a special type of flat cheese knife and also can be used in the famous Norwegian “brown sauce” to go along with meat (I will talk about that in the upcoming days). By the way it has traditionally been considered healthy because of its high content of iron, calcium and B vitamins. 

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-27: Cold, Mild or Warm?

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      Norway is considered to be a very cold country, especially for those who are used to live in warmer countries like mine, Turkey. When I first visited here, I was surprised because it was June and I had to wear all my t-shirts and socks one over another instead of wearing them separately. However after moving here I saw that it wasn’t as scary as I thought in winters. On the contrary I enjoyed following the thermometer and got proud of my resistance for cold. The coldest I have seen is -27 up to now and people call it a warm, mild winter. I am waiting for my new cold record nowadays.

      This subject reminded me of a piece I noted down from Mehmet Hengirmen’s book “TANSIK”:

… The average temperature in outer space is -270°C and sun rays are not sufficient to heat the earth. If magma didn’t heat the earth’s crust from the bottom, the difference between the day and night temperature would be over 100°C…

      Before ending this part, maybe you would like to know the temperature of those two giant heating sources. Sun: 15000000°C and Magma: ranging from 600°C to 1600 °C. Can you imagine?

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