Days 5 & 6 (and 7)

Sorry for the lack of illustration in the previous few posts; I am trying to figure out how to get the photos off my camera and onto those entries, but I'm having 'internal errors' (which sounds very intimate), so you will have to imagine what my masterpieces look like. Here's a hint: mush. But yummy mush! (I have figured out how to get images up, but now the formatting is all strange and try as I might I can't fix it. So a new round of apologies for the wonkiness of the layout!)

The mystery green has been, if not identified, put to use. Andrew asked the grocer what it was and couldn't remember the name that he gave for it, but did remember that the guy told him to chop it up finely with lots of garlic and put it in yoghurt with a little olive oil. So we did. And on Tuesday, in a very un-Turkish meal, we put it on top of our BLTs instead of mayonnaise. The sandwiches proved to be much better for it!

But, since I had an entire plant of it, I decided to utilise this lovely dip again last night when I made aubergine fritters. It was an incredibly simple recipe, the key being salting the aubergine rounds first and letting it sit for half an hour so that the water beads up on top of the slices and can be wiped away before frying. The batter was deceptively simple; beer, flour and a little salt. With the dip and a glass of beer, they were honestly wonderful (if I do say so myself).

Earlier in the day I made a dish called Swooning Imam. It's really just stuffed aubergine with tomatoes, parsley and onions, with plenty of olive oil for good measure. The most fun part was roasting the tomatoes over the range to get the skin off. By the time we got round to the main meal, we'd had far too many bits of fried goodness and we were risking aubergine overload, so we skipped the Swooning Imam and went straight for the White Bean Salad. Another deceptively simple recipe: white beans are boiled until tender then added still hot to sliced onion; this cooks the onion without it going limp. Add olive oil, lemon juice and vinegar, plus some chopped parsley (lots), mint (less) and dill (just a little) and serve with sliced red pepper and boiled egg. So easy and really satisfying.

Today is the Queen's Birthday Party at the Embassy, so I won't be doing any cooking. I have, however, had my hair done and my nails painted. According to the liaison officer at the embassy and some other embassy plus-ones, most women attending will be dressed to the nines; I felt I should at least make a small effort so as not to embarrass Andrew. He, however, keeps reiterating that this is a work function. Since I don't have a history of acting inappropriately at work functions, I am going to choose to believe he keeps saying it to remind himself not to misbehave, not me.

A post on the QBP to follow soon (provided I don't misbehave so badly Andrew asks me to leave the country)...