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Posts Tagged ‘pudding’

Cultural Experiences – Both Planned and Unexpected

August 28, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

Our friends from Malta ventured out from Dubai to Fujairah for dinner with us last week. Our planned cultural experience was to go to the Ramadan Food Market to buy the components of our meal and bring it home to enjoy.

We brought home flat bread, fatoush (green salad), tamarind and some kind of berry juices, sausages in bread wraps, tabouleh (chopped parsley salad), hummos, kushari, samosas, pakora, chicken biriani, and probably more, but I can’t remember it all. It was a fun food adventure.

We supplied root beer, the only soda we had on hand. This was a new experience for our Maltese friends, who say that it smells exactly like a surgical spirit solution commonly used back home. [Our friend also confessed to having a pyromaniac phase around the age of eight when he sprayed this surgical spirit (mostly alcohol) on the ground and lit it for fun.] So, root beer, which is right up there with baseball and apple pie on the scale of American-ness is not very appealing to people in the Eastern hemisphere. This might explain why it is rare to find it in grocery stores. Now we’ll have to look for this surgical spirit to do a smell test and see for ourselves.

I had a similar experience when I first tasted Jagermeister (German herbal liqueur). I swear it tastes just like the cough syrup we had when I was little. Just tastes like medicine to me.

Our friends had brought us a treat from Malta – a pudding, which I tried the next morning. Before I tell you what it is like, I must explore the word “pudding.” In America, this word has just one definition. A pudding is a creamy, milk based dessert, like custard. (There are also bread and rice puddings, but again these are desserts.) In Europe and abroad, pudding can mean just about anything – sweet or savory. Christmas pudding is actually a cake. Blood pudding is actually a sausage. So, when someone says “pudding” we are not sure what to expect.

This pudding turned out to be what we would call a fruit cake. It is dense, dark, a bit chocolaty with tasty fruit bits in it. I’ve tried it cold, warmed up, topped with a little ice cream, and warmed up with butter. Quite good.

Posted in culture shock, food | Tagged cultural differences, pudding, root beer | Leave a Comment »

Food Tsunami Aftermath

April 27, 2011

Posted by Kanga.

Seven attended the Turkish food tweetup at Shikidim Restaurant last night. Both food and hospitality abounded.

The challenge was finding room for each plate of food that arrived.

Faisal indulged in this lovely serving of lamb.

As if we weren’t completely stuffed having over eaten the delicious salads and main dishes, samples of desserts arrived. Tea flowed freely. Conversation was lively. A good time was had by all.

For excellent food and great service, head on down to Shikidim Restaurant.

Posted in food, restaurant | Tagged ayran, Dubai, food, iskender, pudding, Shikidim, Turkish, tweetup | 3 Comments »

First Stroll in Istanbul

January 22, 2011

Posted by DaddyBird

I don’t usually get around to posting on this blog. Unfortunately I’m usually too busy writing, editing, proofreading, tweeting and configuring things elsewhere. Hopefully, I can get a few posts in while we’re here in Istanbul.

After getting settled in to our cozy room, grabbing a few things from a local market and having a bit of dinner, Kanga was wiped out. I was tired too, but just had to go out for a walk anyway. We’re only a couple of blocks away from the Blue Mosque! Why wait ’til tomorrow to see it? When I’m in a new place, I like to walk around and get the lay of the land as soon as possible anyway, so out I went.

I took some pictures while I was out. Of course some of them were of the local cats. They’re plenty of them around, which is the sign of a great city. 😀 (Lara and Terrence over at The GranTourismo Travel Blog have a cool post about the cats in Istanbul.)

An Istanbul street kitty

Took a few night-time pictures of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. They certainly don’t do to the structures justice, but then, I’m not sure that any pictures can.

Aya Sofia

The Blue Mosque

Walking distances are much shorter than I expected, which is great; we’re even closer to more of the sights that I knew. So far the city is just stunning. Can’t wait to see more of it in daylight. The weather is great! Nice and cool. While I was out walking around in 10 degree Celsius weather, wearing a t-shirt and no jacket, I was asked by several if I wasn’t cold. I told them I enjoy the cold, which I certainly do. This is my kind of weather. (Well, a bit cooler and rainier would be great too!)

Firuz Aga Camii

Our friend Rupert, who has lived in Istanbul, made a number of recommendations on places to go and things to do. One suggestion was to check out the pudding shops. I found one just a few steps away from Aya Sophia. The pudding is tasty, and the food looked good too, may go back for dinner.