Food Update

July 19

It is perhaps around the table -- breaking bread together here in Turkey -- that we have the opportunity to know one another best. This Fulbright group is truly remarkable, and the talents, knowledge, and passions each person brings to the table is always amazing. Having a glass of blackberry wine, which is a local specialty, or enjoying a glass of Efes beer with Patricia -- which is her personal favorite -- are also times that we can celebrate our collective "geekiness" together and simply rejoice in who we are both individually and collectively.


One of the sites at the ruins was a small monument dedicated to St Phillip, who was martyred. None of us know how he was martyred, but this query led to a questioning of how we would each like to be martyred. Our beloved Martin the Wise concocted the most memorable way to be martyred: being tickled to death.

If you look closely at the woman making the Gozlemeci (a kind of pita bread , thinly rolled and baked on the hot wheel, you will see a computer above her left shoulder. Another example, one of many, of the ancient arts juxstaposed against the modern life...

Here we see the buffet spread at the Pamukkale hotel. Patricia is especially drooling over the dessert tables...

Linda, seated above with Patricia, is our "still waters run deep woman" on this journey. She's brought and read the most novels, and she generously shares them with others when finished. She is a living, breathing, sharing cornucopia of books and book recommendations...Patricia actually convinced her to play "maid" for a day, but that wore off quickly when Linda ( with a few not so subltle words) told Patricia what to do when Patricia asked her to hold a parasol over her head as we trudged through the heat of the ruins.... And so it goes in Turkey... We are all getting a bit of travel fatigue and heat stroke, I think. Doug keeps mumbling something about "a wee donkey," and Monica was walking around singing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts..." which just appeared in the air as we visited the home of the Virgin Mary in Ephesus. More about that journey in another blog...