This essay appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of Gastronomica magazine. Click here for a pdf version. The heat doesn’t faze Sevim, my seventy-year-old mother-in-law, even though it’s already sweltering at six o’clock in the morning. ‘‘Buraya,’’ here, she says, dragging a stained neon-blue tarp under a tree heavy with mulberries. Twelve feet above, her …
Several years ago I hit a one of those big life milestones…you know, the kind where you add a zero to your chronological age. Yes, I’m a bit vain so you’re not getting any more details than that. 😉 Anyway, to mark the passage into a new phase of my life, I resolved to walk …
I think I caught the culture bug from my grandpa’s View-Master. You know, the plastic stereoscope with the little round cardboard disks of 3D photos. My grandfather had a whole stash of reels – all about natural history and geography and architecture – with titles like “Tulip Time in Holland” or “Africa – Cairo to …
What’s it like over there in Turkey? People ask me that question a lot. They ask when they find out that my husband is Turkish. Or when I talk about spending the summer with our kids in Turkey. Or when I mention that I’m going there for work. Or when some Hollywood starlet says something …
Ever been to an aquarium? It’s such a cool experience, watching the aquatic parade. The sharks glide by. The sea anemones do their funky slow-mo dance. Even the guy in the wetsuit fits right in — Okay, maybe not him. But you know what I mean. The whole aquarium thing just, you know, works. What …
