Weekend Cooking: Taste of Two Continents food walking tour - Istanbul

 

Whenever we travel we like to do something foodie, whether it be a fancy meal or some kind of tour. Our recent visit to Turkiye was no exception. The food that we had over the whole trip was amazing, but one of the first things we did was a walking tour. 

Istanbul is a pretty special city and it is proud of the fact that it has one foot in both Europe and Asia, and this walking tour had elements on both sides. 

After meeting at a location near to the Spice Markets, the group of 9 made our way through the markets collecting various different ingredients for the first tasting, which ended up being a full Turkish breakfast. This is a tour that you need to come hungry for. I really didn't even need the hot chocolate that we started with!

This Turkish breakfast really set the scene for all of the breakfasts that we had throughout the tour. It introduced us to a number of different elements that I might not otherwise have tried and we continued to eat them throughout the period we were there.

The breakfast that we had included grilled olives, several different cheeses including tulum cheese, simit (looks like a bagel but has molasses added to it and is covered in sesame seeds), red pepper paste , pasturma (pastrami), menemen (scrambled eggs with onion and tomato), hazelnut paste and honey and kaymak (which is a type of clotted cream) all washed down with turkish tea.

Everything was really delicious. Actually, I didn't try the olives because I don't like them, but everything else was really delicious. The real revelations were the hazelnut paste and the honey and kaymak. We are all familiar with Nutella which is the mix of chocolate and hazelnut but this was just hazelnut flavoured and it was so good! Interestingly, this was only served with the breakfast in Istanbul. Once we got out of the city we didn't see it again.. However, the honey and kaymak (clotted cream) is something we saw pretty regularly.

The thing with the honey and kaymak that was such a surprise to me is that I generally don't like honey that much. I will have it in small amounts but certainly it's not a topping that I reach for as a general rule, but as a combination with the simit.....and it turns out other types of bread....so good!

After our breakfast we make our way down to the waterfront and caught a ferry over the Bosphorus to the Asian side of the city in the area of Kadıköy where we wandered through a market area making various stops.

The first stop was at a restaurant where we tried Beyran soup which is a regional breakfast soup. It includes pieces of lamb in the tomato based soup. This is where we also tried ayran which is a sour milk based drink that we saw all over Turkiye. That one might be a bit of an acquired taste. More palatable was the lahmacun which is a Turkish pizza style dish but you roll it up to eat.

As we were walking our guide pointed out a number of kokoreç stores. When he explained what it was I wasn't sure if I would want to try it, but when in Istanbul.... kokoreç is basically lamb intestines which is wrapped around different types of offal and then grilled. The way we had it was very finely chopped and served on bread. It was quite tasty, although it's not something that I would go out of my way to have again.

You may have noticed that there is a lot of bread in this food, and we weren't done yet. Our next stop was to have an Iskender Kebab. I guess I really only though that there were kebabs, but there are multiple different versions. What sets this one apart is that the pita bread is at the bottom of the plate so by the time you are get to it, it has been soaking in all the juices. When it is served, there is also a flourish of butter sauce added. It was so good!  

The next stop was something I have never seen before. It was a pickle shop, but it isn't just your normal pickles. The window display included things like pickled avocado, corn and all sort of other things. I don't like pickle so this wasn't a stop for me. It also might be another acquired taste, but it did look very pretty! We saw pickle stores all over the city where people just buy a cup of pickles and juice and they just eat it like that!

We couldn't complete a tour without having proper Turkish coffee and Turkish Delight, and then our final stop was a dessert shop where we got to try Turkish ice cream (which is dondurma) and baklava. We ended up going to this chain of dessert shops multiple times throughout our time in Istanbul. The dondurma is delicious, so creamy, but it has a very different texture to our ice cream, to the point that it is possible to eat it with a knife and fork.  Because of the ingredients it doesn't melt in the same way and it has a kind of chewy texture. 

I mentioned above that I don't generally love honey. The same is true of nuts, and yet I ate baklava at every opportunity, and honey and nut are a big part of baklava! The guide did tell us that you should eat baklava upside down which was interesting!

That was the end of the a very interesting day. The tour itself lasted around 5 hours, and the guide was very approachable and knowledgable. He also shared plenty of tips about good places to eat. Once the tour as done we had the opportunity to hang around a bit longer in Kadıköy which is what we chose to do. We then caught the ferry back to Kabataş which was very close to where we were staying.

it was a really fun, informative and filling day! We did out tour through a company called Yummy Food Tours and we would totally do another tour with them!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Away
Monday - Presure Cooker Spag Bol
Tuesday -Pork chops with mash and gravy
Wednesday - Beef and Broccoli
Thursday -  Chicken Katsu Curry 
Friday - Bacon, mushrooms and eggs on toast

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today

 Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is  Authors You Wish Were Still Writing Today (These could be authors who have passed away or retired/are taking a long hiatus from writing. You could also spin this and share authors who have switched to a genre you’re not interested in.) (submitted by Rebecca @ Top100Books)

When I  checked I realise that we did this topic a couple of years ago. Most of the names are the same (although I chose different book covers to share) but I did change a couple of them! For the most part I have chosen authors who have passed away, except for the last two!

I did have another author in my list and it was only when I went to Fantastic Fiction to check that I realised that she has actually had about 5 books out in the last few years. Whoops!

Anyway, here's my list.

Diana Norman/Ariana Franklin - I loved the Mistress of the Art of Death series which this author published under the name of Ariana Franklin, but I first started reading her books under her name Diana Norman, and I particularly enjoyed her Makepeace Hedley trilogy which started with A Catch of Consequence

Sharon Kay Penman - I love SKP's books and often mention books like The Sunne in Splendour or Here Be Dragons in relation to her. This time though, I am going to use the first of her Justin de Quincy mysteries as my choice. 

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I think it is maybe time for me to reread The Shadow of the Wind. I loved that book so much. 

Susan Vreeland - It appears I have only read three of this author's books, but they definitely left an impact!

Lucinda Riley - When Lucinda Riley passed away before the last book in the Seven Sisters series was released, her son took over the writing. Recently, it's been announced that he has written a new book set in the same world. I am invested enough to want to read the book, but also not sure how I feel about it all!

Terry Pratchett - I do occasionally find myself wondering what Sir Terry would make of the world right now. 

Stieg Larsson - Remember how popular this author's books were back in the early 2000's. Crazy to think that he passed away before the books were published and so successful.

Kerry Greenwood - When this Australian author passed last year I was sad to think that we had no more Phryne Fisher novels to come, even though I still have a lot of the series to read.

Laura Florand - Laura Florand will always appear on these lists for me. No, she hasn't passed away, but she no longer writes. When I went through a reading slump that lasted for years a while ago, she was one of the few authors who I still read! 

Lisa Kleypas - Don't panic. Lisa Kleypas is alive and well. In fact, she probably shouldn't be on this list at all given that she has recently announced that there will be a new book coming out from her soon. It's just that it has been a long 5 years since the last one! This is one of her standalone books which is probably lesser known, but it is also one of my favourites.

This week....or more precisely the last couple of weeks.

 

First of all.....Happy Star Wars Day

It's a bit strange to me that I am all over this Star Wars thing now. Up until about 10 years ago I had never seen a Star Wars movie but my husband is a big fan so we now watch all the spin offs and I already know we will be going to the movies to see the new Mandalorian movie when it comes out soon. I still have never seen all of the movies though.

I'm reading

As a general rule, I don't read as much while I am holidays as I do when I am home. Occasionally we have holidays where that doesn't apply, but over the last two and a bit weeks where we have been in Turkiye it has definitely been the case.

Since my last This Week post I finished reading both New Chapters on the French Riviera by Jennifer Bohnet and The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin (which I reviewed here and here respectively).

I then decided to read The Astral Library by Kate Quinn, as it fit two categories in the Goodreads Spring challenge, and because I really enjoy her historical fiction writing. This one is most definitely not historical fiction. I enjoyed it, but it did take me a while to get through, and it isn't my favourite book of hers.

After that I read The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. My read on a theme book club theme for May is Mothers and Daughters and this book definitely met that theme. I have only ever read The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, and that was in the 1990s so it was interesting reading this book now.

My final read while I was away was An Italian Island Love Story by Leonie Mack. This is part of her Wedding Adventures series which I really love! it was perfect plane reading! 

My reading numbers were down for April (mostly because I was too busy being on holiday). I read 7 books in total. I gave most of them a grade of 4 out of 5 but nothing really jumps out as being a best of the month. Hopefully next month. 

Books let our imaginations travel where our feet cannot - Nora Nguyen

Bookish Travel

While I didn't read many books, I did visit quite a few places in April (both in real life and through books!)

Europe

UK - Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe

Greece - The Islander's Daughter

France - New Chapters on the French Riviera

Portugal - The Hotel by the Sea

Australia

Queensland - Something in the Air in Pelican Crossing

America

Maine - The Seven Rings

Massachusetts - The Astral Library

I'm watching

We flew a Chinese airline this time as we had to rebook our flights to avoid the conflict in the Middle East. We would absolutely fly them again, but I know to expect that the entertainment selection is limited. I therefore only watched a couple of documentaries. One was about various destinations in China and another was an Italian documentary about The Hermitage museum in St Petersburg. When I say watched, I am being literal here as I couldn't understand what was being said in either of them!

Life

We had the most amazing time in Turkiye! Apart from one day we had amazing weather, we saw some amazing sights and food. If you have ever thought about visiting Turkiye, then do it. We would both love to go back!

The first few days we were there daughter came to stay with us with her partner we had never met before so we enjoyed time with them visiting some of the major sights including The Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and we did a foodie walking tour. After they left we did a Turkish bath, visited the Basilica Cistern and more. We then joined our tour which included a visit to Topkapi Palace.

After that we left Istanbul and headed to Cannakale which was our base for spending time on the Gallipoli peninsula. The whole reason we booked this tour was so we could attend the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove on Anzac Day and it was a truly memorable experience.

After that we headed to see the ancient cities of Troy and Ephesus, visited places like Pamukkale and finally Cappadocia where we were able to take a hot air balloon ride!

It was a such a fantastic trip!

Now I have to get ready to go back to work tomorrow! 

Posts from the last week


Blog Tour: The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May Links
Six Degrees of Separation: Wild Dark Shore to The Enlightenment of Bees





I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date, Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and the Good Book and a Cup of Tea link up hosted at Boondock Ramblings

Six Degrees of Separation: Wild Dark Shore to The Enlightenment of bees

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.

This month the starting point is Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey, which is a book I intend to read at some point...maybe!

For my first link I am choosing Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. I read this book many, many years ago, back in the 1990s at some point.

Another book I remember loving back then was The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Our current read on a theme book club theme is Mothers and Daughters, and would both of those books would have been good for that theme. I am, however, reading another book by Amy Tan, The Bonesetter's Daughter. This was one of the books that I read on the plane on the way home yesterday.

From here, there are a gazillion books that are have the title of The something's daughter and I was tempted to go down that route. Instead though I am choosing The Astral Library by Kate Quinn because it was a book that I read while we were in Turkiye.

A Turkish author I love is Elif Shafak. In anticipation of our trip, I had borrowed her book The Forty Rules of Love from the library but had to return it unread as I ran out of time. I will be reborrowing it soon though. 

Another book that I was really looking for to reading but had to return unread was The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel Linden. I will be reborrowing this one too!

Next month's starting point is a book by Austrian author Stefan Zweig – The Post-Office Girl. 

Will you be joining us?

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge - May links

 

Thank you to everyone who contributed a review in April for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. It's been a good start to the 2026 challenge. I will be back in the next week or so with all the statistics for the month. 

I am looking forward to reading your reviews throughout the rest of the year! I am sure there is going to be a lot of great historical fiction discovered and shared with fellow HF lovers over the course of this year!

If you haven't already signed up, it's not too late! The sign up post is here.

Just to recap what participants need to know. At the beginning of each month I will put up a post which will have a Mr Linky embedded into it for you to add your link.

Please remember...

• add the link(s) of your review(s) including your name and book title to the Mister Linky we’ll be adding to our monthly post (please, do not add your blog link, but the correct address that will guide us directly to your review). 
• it doesn't matter where you review - Bookstagram, Goodreads etc as long as you share a direct link to your review.
• any kind of historical fiction is accepted (fantasy, young adult, graphic novels...)
• if you have time, have a look some of the other links that are present. You never know when you will discover new blogs or books!

You can also join the challenge group on Facebook which you can find here and don't forget to use the #histficreadingchallenge hashtag on the socials.

Let the reading begin!!

Blog tour: The Hotel by the Sea by Julie Caplin

 

Rebecca has secretly been in love with her best friend Will for years. When she attempts to finally show this to him, he doesn't see her at all as anything other than the friend who keeps him afloat following the death of his wife five years before.

Humiliated, Rebecca decides that she needs a change and so she packs up and moves to the Algarve in Portugal to work as the yoga teacher at a small family run hotel for the summer.

There she meets the Rebelo family, more specifically Felipe Rebelo. Felipe and his family run the Quinta do Mar hotel. His mother runs the kitchen, his sister the spa, his nieces have jobs that they are forever trying to negotiate their way out of. Whilst Felipe gives off the air of a charmer who has a relaxed view of life, the reality is much different. Whilst none of his family can see it, Felipe is the one who everyone relies on to get everything done, the one they come to for decisions, the one who fills in the gaps such as working shifts in the laundry when no one else can. They all had to lean on him when his father and uncle died years before and they continue to lean on him now.

Felipe had dreams of being a professional cyclist but those dreams were put away to focus on his family. However, Rebecca is very competitive and so they first meet when they silently challenge each other to a race in the pool. She has no idea that he is really her boss. That rivalry quickly turns into attraction.

Soon Rebecca is torn. She has loved Will for so long but Felipe makes her feel desirable, wanted and valued in ways Will never has. Going with Will means leaving behind the life that she is building in Portugal.

I really enjoy Julie Caplins romantic escape series which is set in all sorts of interesting locations around the world and this was no exception. Portugal is on my list of places I would love to visit, although to be fair I am unlikely to join one of Rebecca's yoga classes

I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and Bookish Books challenge hosted at Blogging ‘Bout Books. Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour below too!

About the book

The Hotel by the Sea

Pack your bags and get ready to fall in love with The Hotel by the Sea—your next romantic getaway awaits!

Rebecca needs to escape. After making a complete fool of herself watching the man she's secretly loved for years run off with someone else—she jumps at a temporary job at the family-run Quinta do Mar hotel. Sun, sea, and a fresh start sound perfect.

What she doesn't expect is Felipe Rebelo.

Charming, infuriatingly confident, and always ready with a flirty quip, Felipe seems to have life sorted. But beneath his carefree exterior lies a man carrying the weight of his entire family. The last thing he needs is another responsibility. Especially one who challenges him at every turn, makes him laugh, and is dangerously easy to fall for…

Escape to Portugal's stunning Algarve coast in this uplifting summer romance about finding yourself, choosing happiness, and discovering that love isn't about being needed—it's about being seen.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Sea-Charming-Family-Run-Portuguese-ebook/dp/B0FSBMPXZX/

https://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Sea-Charming-Family-Run-Portuguese-ebook/dp/B0FSBMPXZX/

About the Author

Jules Wake aka Julie Caplin is an internationally bestselling author with over 2 million sales over twenty five books including the highly successful Romantic Escape series which has been translated into over 24 languages. Her books have topped the charts in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Iceland, Italy, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

After reading English at university, Jules Wake worked in PR where she honed her fiction writing skills on press releases and swanned around Europe taking journalists on gastronomic press trips. These visits inspired the locations of many of her books. She’s now a full-time author and what better job is there than making stuff up! It certainly beats housework.

As an avid romance fan, she’s written in several genres including historical romantic fiction, contemporary women’s romance fiction and romantic comedy.



Social Media Links


https://www.facebook.com/JulieCaplinAuthor/

Instagram @juliecaplinauthor

Weekend Cooking: On holidays

 

No Weekend Cooking post this week. We are currently on holidays in Turkey and while I have at least two posts to come about all the amazing foodie experiences we have had, I will save them for another week.