Odd Things from Turkey I bring to Poland

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b�rek, expat life, Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, pork, Warsaw, �ay

Selasa, 30 Juli 2013

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I used to stuff my suitcases with all kinds of pork and foreign cheeses whenever we traveled and returned to Istanbul.

Remember this old post: OddThings from America I bring to Turkey?

Funny enough, I now live in the land of pork in Poland. I swear there are more kinds of pork products here than I have ever seen in life including bacon flavored potato chips!

Although I have ready access to all the pork I could ever want, there are many things I still miss from my life in Turkey. Two weeks ago, when I returned to Istanbul for a one-week visit, I came prepared with a long shopping list.

Here's an overview photo of all the things I brought back from Turkey to Poland.

On day one, I visited Bilge, my favorite spice girl at Ucuzcular in the Misir�arsisi (Spice Bazaar). I bought almond flour, ground cinnamon and cumin, dried thyme, pomegranate lokum (Turkish delight), 10 vanilla beans, Turkish pistachios and nar eksisi (sour pomegranate sauce). I still have many unopen Turkish spices from our recent move. Soon, I�ll make my own vanilla extract using Polish vodka. I�m sure I could find some of the other items here in Warsaw, but it wouldn�t be quite the same.

Photo of Bilge and me in her shop courtesy of Bilge. Thank you!

On my second day in Istanbul, I visited the 4Levent pazar and bought three inexpensive refills for my nazarincense diffuser. One stall sells the freshest scents such as lilyum (lily), beyaz yasemin (white jasmine) and deniz ferahligi (sea breeze) from a company called Wickerist. Again, I easily could find incenses elsewhere, but I really like these.

At the Grand Bazaar, I only had a small list that included ceramic trivets and small serving bowls. Well, as you know I also splurged on a Kurdish-made kilim I mentioned on this post: WhyI still Love Istanbul & You Should Too. On my way out, I noticed one of my regular stall holders had started selling the cutest ikat-patterned slippers; and since I actually found a pair in my gigantic size, I had to buy them for only 60 tl.

Here are a couple other odd items from Turkey I brought to Poland:

• A box of Turkish �ay � for those days when I don�t want to make a whole pot of tea for myself.
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• Handwoven Turkish hand towels from Jennifer�s Hamam � because I had to get colors to match my new bathrooms at our apartment.
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• 3 sheets of yufka � because I miss eating Turkish b�rekand want to make my own.
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• Biber salsaci � I love using this Turkish pepper paste to coat vegetables with and roast them as Ozlem of Ozlem�s Turkish Table taught me in our cooking classes together.
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• �z�m Pekmezi � I used to use this grape molasses to make my own brown sugar for baking. However, �z�m pekmezi is often mixed with tahini and served as part of a traditional Turkish breakfast too. Please visit Kerry over at Earth Laughs in Flowers for her article about �z�m Pekmezi.
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• Turkish olive oil soaps � I love this kind of soap! What more can I say!

And if I could pack my friends from Istanbul into my suitcase too I would.

Now, it�s your turn: What Turkish items do you bring back to your home country? Or what odd things do you pack in your suitcase to bring back home? 

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