Dinner in Istanbul

Please excuse my sparse posts lately ­ I've been experiencing some technical difficulties with posting. Also, I was on vacation in Paris, Istanbul and Belgium. On my trip I had so many great food experiences. And of course, I have far too many pictures to prove it. Let me start with this amazing meal from Haci Abdullah in Istanbul. Note: If you think these photos are a little more arty/professional than my usual pics, that's because they are. My friend Michael Erickson is the master behind these great shots. This was one of my favourite restaurants in Istanbul. There was no alcohol served at Haci Abdullah but we didn't even notice the lack of wine to match these lovely dishes. And that says a lot considering we were on vacation.   This is a plate of Dolma. These are usually grape-leaf wrapped rice delights. These were so tasty and super fresh; I've never tasted them so fresh. The red one is wrapped in hot pepper but a bit too spicy for me. This eggplant and tomato dish is called Imam Bayildi ­ which means, "The imam fainted" (Imam is a Muslim priest). And I understand why he fainted, this dish is heavenly. I tasted several versions but this one was, by far, the winner. Here is a picture of pastry covered rice and me enjoying something else in the background. The rice "pot pie" style dish was not our favourite menu item but it looked cool. PS I will be attempting to recreate the eggplant dish. So I'll post the recipe once I feel I've got it. I think this will be easier than learning how to say, "thank you very much" in Turkish but we shall see.