Sbarro's Mevsim Pizza Menu - Food Review

If I’ll talk about fast food today, I’d rather talk about Sbarro’s delicious Mevsim Pizza that my son and I shared with each other just last weekend.  I wasn’t really feeling hungry when we decided to eat something just for a snack, but when my son told me he wanted to have pizza I just couldn’t resist from joining him.  Who doesn’t love pizza anyway?  So we went to Sbarro, an Italian fast food restaurant that offers not just delicious pizzas from their menu but also their signature Italian style pastas (makarnalar), salads (salatalar), main course (ana yemekler), desserts (tatlılar) and a variety of drinks (içecekler).

Yufka - Turkish Unleavened Flour Dough (Filo or Phyllo)

If you had been in Turkey, or at least if you had been introduced to Turkish Cuisine, then you probably know what is yufka. And if you do, then you also probably realized that most of Turkey’s so-called beş çayı (tea time) menus are usually made with yufka. While in most of the puff pastry recipes I’ve been posting usually involve yufka, most of the tea time recipes that I will be posting in the future will mostly include yufka, too.

The Common Fish and Other Seafoods Sold in Turkish Supermarkets

 

I’ve been posting about fırında balık (oven baked fish) yesterday after our holiday dinner. Luckily we got those fishes for a really cheap price at the market yesterday because of the Zafer Bayramı (Victory Day) holiday. Actually, the çipura or çupra (Gilthead Sea Bream) in this season are supposedly sold at 14.90 TL (Turkish Lira) per kilogram with each fish weighing at about 200-400 grams. But since its holiday yesterday, their prices drop from 14.90 per kilogram to just 9.99 TL (that's just about $5)! Well that’s pretty damn cheap, so l guess it only makes sense to get a few more fishes to take home and use the freezer to store them for consumption in the next couple of days (perhaps for a different menu).

Oven Baked Fish with Vegetables - Sebzeli Fırında Balık

As we celebrate Victory Day (Zafer Bayramı) today, military parades, Turkish Air Force demonstration flights, and public street parades all make up the local news on television. And when you go out to the streets, you’ll see red Turkish flags hanging on windows and balconies of residential apartment buildings, houses, shops, offices, public and commercial buildings as well as posters and images of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (the founder of modern Turkey).

Filizler Köftecisi in Tuzla, Istanbul - Food & Restaurant Review

Summer’s a good time to dine outdoors and looking for some nice cozy restaurant where you can sit down, relax and enjoy a good meal while overlooking wonderful views of outdoors (perhaps with a garden, pool, or sea views) without having to go to beach resorts or spending too much from your pocket - would be a great break after a long and busy week.

Celebrating National Sovereignty & Children's Day

April 23 of every year is celebrated as National Sovereignty (Ulusal Egemenlik) and Children's Day (Çocuk Bayramı) in Turkey.  It is an official non-working holiday nationwide where all government offices or entities, state and private schools, as well as most businesses are usually closed on this day.  Official ceremonies are usually held by the local government entities to commemorate the creation of Turkish Parliament (Grand National Assembly) which took place on the 23rd of April in 1920.  The major celebration on this day takes place at the Ataturk Mausoleum in the capital city of Ankara where a ceremony is held and wreaths are being laid at the monument of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of Turkish Republic.

Menemen - Turkish breakfast of scrambled eggs

I have always loved making menemen for breakfast.  And even though I’m trying so hard not to have eggs everyday for my early morning meal, I still make menemen once in a while (at least once in a week) to satisfy my appetite for this delicious Turkish-style scrambled eggs.  If you’ll ask me why, its because in making a single serving of menemen, you just don’t consume one whole egg but at least 2-3 more.  Now I don’t want to have too much eggs in my diet, so I have to stick to my rule that I should only have menemen once or at most twice a week.  And most of the time,  I do prefer to have menemen on my breakfast table during a lazy weekend.  

Celebrating International Women's Day

A tribute to all the women in the world, March 8 is celebrated as International Women's Day and this year's theme is declared as The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.  On the other hand, the United Nation's theme for the 2013 celebration is,  "A promise is a promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women."

Fried Horse Mackerel - Istavrit balığı kızartması

The horse mackerel, also known in Turkey as istavrit is one of my favorite fishes to deep fry or just pan fry in winter. They are mostly at its best during the winter months when they are usually fat which makes them even more delicious. Besides that, they are mostly abundant in winter, especially within the early days of December to late January. And because they are at its peak, their abundance makes them very affordable when sold in the markets by the kilo. And unlike hamsi or anchovies which are typically small even when they are fat, the horse mackerel may come much bigger and fatter than the anchovies. More to that, you can buy more plentiful and cook more flavorful horse mackerel if you buy them in anytime between January to early February.

Kestane şekeri - Candied chestnut, a traditional Turkish sweet

Turkey has a wide range of traditional sweets. And one of these that I love the most is kestane şekeri or candied chestnut that’s usually prepared by cooking chestnuts in sweet sugar syrup.

Turkish Beyti Kebab

A single serving of  beyti kebap.

In Turkey, kebabs can be found everywhere. And of these many delicious varieties of kebabs you’ll find everywhere in restaurants big or small, it’s the beyti kebab that is among my favorites and usually stays on my top list.

How to Make Kabak Tatlısı – Turkish Pumpkin Dessert Recipe

I have to say that I have never tried making kabak tatlısı or pumpkin/butternut squash dessert before on my own.  Though as much as I’ve tried eating it several times before (my family and friends always make it), I can easily tell anyone who wonders how it tastes like that kabak tatlısı or Turkish pumpkin dessert is so delicous!

How to Make Mushroom Saute – Mantar Sote

Mushroom sauté or more commonly called in Turkish as mantar sote is one of the many delicious quick and easy dishes you can make at home. First of all, it is one of my favorite side dishes that include mushrooms.  I just love the taste of mushrooms! It's even one of the major ingredients I want in my pizza.