For the foodies

This is Kokorec on bread. It is similar to Polish flaczki, which is tripe and sounds totally gross but tastes AWESOME. They put it with a bunch of Turkish spices and with some hot peppers and tomatoes so it was really good. Shannon's friends were right to swear by it. We ordered it from the Golden Kokorec off a sidestreet near Istiklal Cadessi. 

Also at Golden Kokorec we tried the stuffed mussels, or mediye dolma. I'm not sure what all they were stuffed with, but it tasted of dill and tomato and lemon. It was either rice or bulgar wheat I think. Yum. 

I recently saw this logo at a brunch spot with Brendan in Lakeview, Chicago. I was right, it's totally Turkish. We found this little cafe after sort of getting lost and finding ourselves in an artsy, gallery laden area of Istanbul. 

How could we forget to try baklava? Pistachios are everywhere here, as are chestnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and a bunch of other nuts. The powder sugar looking thing on the left is interesting, it is like this chewy candy I've see served with turkish coffee. It is coated lightly in powdered sugar with pistachios in it. We got these desserts from a bakery on the old town side of Istanbul, near the Hagia Sophia and Egyptian Bazaar.