contemplating apricots

i've always had a tendency towards overextending myself, and so i've spent the last 6 months diligently searching for work plus tending to all my new Turkish housewife duties (cooking dinner every night, cleaning, washing & hanging & ironing laundry, etc.), preparing, researching & gathering stuff for the baby, and attending a professional women's group meetings. but now that i am 7.5 months pregnant and fatigue is setting in, i have realized that even though i sincerely want to work, it will have to be shelved until a year after the baby arrives. of course, if i have the time & energy, i will try to do some stuff on the side, but realistically, who knows if i will feel up to it, given the information i've gathered about newborns. my time will no longer be my own, and i will have to fully dedicate my attention to our soon-to-be new member of the family.
so as the days grow warmer, and i spend lazy days at home, trying to eat healthfully, exercising (although not as much as i should), reading all the baby books that i ordered on amazon, and keeping up with my housework, plus turning my existing summer pants into maternity pants, meeting up with friends, as well as organizing & cleaning out the apt & catching up on stuff i've been saying for years i would do, but never had time to address (i'm sure you all know what kind of stuff i am referring to) i came to realize that i am actually keeping myself busy (although i often have a hard time articulating this when friends & family ask me what i do all day). somehow my list of stuff seems to escape me and i end up lamely saying, "gee, i don't know."
but today as i sit reading some great food blogs and planning dinner, the intoxicating, sweet perfume of the perfectly ripe apricots i bought the other day wafts up from my fruit bowl and like a powerful dose of serotonin, it makes me feel fortunate that i don't have to work until my water breaks and that i can spend the afternoons feeling my baby kick inside my belly and rest up for the big event. i know these leisurely days are numbered, and i am reminded to relish them as i stop and smell the apricots.

ethnic eats in Istanbul

in my efforts to recreate some of my past life here in Istanbul and to stave off bouts of homesickness, i often find myself searching out ethnic food for solace. unfortunately, foreign food in Istanbul is expensive and not usually very authentic, probably due to less of a concentration of foreigners compared to other major cities, a lack of authentic ingredients and a lack of competition.
Curiously, foreign chain restaurants show up here as franchises whose steep prices are difficult to swallow, considering the prices back home are cheap compared to their Istanbul cousins.
I also admit i have a hard time paying high prices for certain ethnic cuisines, most of which are cheap, excellent & plentiful at home - namely, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, etc. unless they are prepared by a celebrity chef like Jean Georges Vongrichten - no complaints with Spice Market at the W Hotel Istanbul.
so my latest culinary adventure was to find good Indian in Istanbul. my search came up with 3 restaurants: Dubb in Sultanahmet, Taj Mahal in Cihangir, & Musafir in Beyoglu. Based on the menus and reviews, i voted for Dubb, although it is expensive which goes against my rule of having to pay a lot for Indian, it has a beautiful terrace which is always a draw for me. plus i have resigned myself to the fact that here it is a necessary evil to pay a lot if you want to eat anything other than Turkish. After having paid exorbitant prices for Italian, Thai & Mexican, I have begrudgingly given in, as a trade off to fuel my ethnic food cravings. After having lived in NYC eating a different country's cuisine for each meal and with a never ending supply of new, fabulous restaurants to sample, I understandably get frustrated at mealtimes.
So June 7th was my 1 year anniversary here in Istanbul, more than reason enough to celebrate, and so, against my husband's aversion to everything Indian, despite his never having eaten Indian food, he gave in to my request. He did protest against my choice of Dubb, due to his opinion that all restaurants in Sultanahmet are tourist traps, do, against my reluctance to have Indian food prepared by a chef from Pakistan, we decided on Taj Mahal, which my husband chose because the Musafir's website was not working.
In my review on tripadvisor of the restaurant, i titled it, "not bad for Istanbul, but not very good." enough said. at least it was not expensive and the mango lassi was actually much better than the ones i had in India, but the naan was outright wrong -sort of a cross between a simit and naan - very disappointing and strangely very different from the photo on the website. maybe the food is better at their Tunel location? or the food photos are actually from a stock photo company? and sadly we were alone in the dining room at prime time dinner hour on a Sunday evening.
2 weeks ago, we made a trip to El Torito in Etlier, which does not warrant a repeat trip. The restaurant seemed like it could feed about 300 people but had about 6 customers total that evening. I also read that the dishes were adjusted to Turkish tastes, which explained the fried outer tortilla of my burrito (durum style). the chips were going a bit rancid and the sour cream tasted like the UHT cream they have here that was turning bad - a literal translation of "sour cream" and no cilantro in sight! when i complained to a friend, she suggested Chilis, just down the street, which she promised had real sour cream - so i'll try that next time i jones for Mexican.
I think i will make my own ethnic food the next time a craving strikes - even though it will be just as expensive if i am able to find the ingredients, and time consuming, at least it will be a bit closer to the real thing.