Days 14-21

We had a busy weekend with Andrew's cousin in town, so I did very little cooking but much eating (a Turkish fish restaurant that was decked out like someone's beach house, chinese food, a wine tasting, Brasilian churasco). I did finally get out the (hypothetical) apron on Tuesday to make a welcome-back-to-Ankara meal for Andrew's friend at the Embassy. I made some meatballs which are translated from Turkish as 'ladies' thighs', pilaf and poached apricots for dessert.

I went to the nearest supermarket to buy the meat, but they don't stock pre-minced lamb and beef, so you have to ask them to mince it for you. This made things interesting for me, since I don't know how to say '750g of lamb please' much less 'could you mince it for me?' But I did manage to get the message across to the man at the meat counter with much gesturing of hands, nodding and smiling. I probably looked completely brainless to any bystanders, and the meat counter man definitely tried to hide a smirk or two.

The 'ladies' thighs' are made by finely chopping an onion, parsley, dill, and feta cheese and mixing these by hand with the minced lamb and one egg. They make a paste-like substance, which you form into thigh-ish shapes (fatter at one end than the other, apparently). You then pour another beaten egg over them, roll them in flour and shallow fry them. They're best warm with yoghurt.

I also made a really wonderful pilaf recipe, which I will definitely be using again: brown up some pine nuts and scallions, add a bit of cinnamon and allspice and add this and some dill and currants to rice that is half-way through cooking. Cook it the rest of the way and then let it sit, covered, away from heat for 15 minutes before serving. It comes out warm and fluffy, and the allspice and cinnamon are a nice balance to the scallions and currants.

Last night we went to a party held by a senior person at the British Embassy; he and his wife have a roof terrace, so they hired two caterers to set up an outdoor spit, on which they roasted several whole chickens, grilled kebabs and made baked potatoes in the wood fire at its base. They also served Pims, so I was a happy girl. I spoke to the Kosovar Ambassador for a while; he was a very interesting man (educated in the States and in Turkey) and he said that if I ever wanted to visit a place that is more pro-America than America, Kosovo is the place to go. I have duly noted this and will be going nowhere NEAR it. Kidding. Mostly.