3 Days: Dinner, Beer, then a Holiday with Friends

I feel a bit strange taking pictures of food. I mean it's usually not the visible qualities of the food that's what's interesting. For instance, who makes an audio recording of a fireworks show? Anyway, I was really excited about dinner, so I took a picture of it!

It was my new experimental, fish-in-a-bath-of-green-things with a slice of tomato and lemon on top.

Moving on... Way back when Hyde came to visit, he brought me some quality from the Boston area. We drank some of it together of course, but I've been saving up the stout because a responsible squirrel doesn't eat all his acorns in September. Well, the other night was a perfect night for acorns.


All the conditions were perfect for drinking a really good dark beer named after a sea captain. I'll list them.

It was dark.
It was stormy.
It was cold.
I was getting together with some old friends in an old looking place in an old part of town.

Seriously, it felt like we were in the galley of a ship during a storm, minus all the rocking. Again, I took a picture of something aesthetic but where that was not the most interesting quality. Also in the shot is Emir, a friend I hadn't seen for quite a while.
 
Cursed to drink only one kind of beer (due to some stupid import laws which I hear are changing very soon), yet I found myself holding liquid gold: a dark, nutty, deep and rich stout from Nantucket. Anxiously I took the first sip. I threw my arms out to the side and closed my eyes. Efes is like an arranged marriage... not my idea and I just have to get used it though I admit we sometimes enjoy each other. Captain Swain's Extra Stout was like everything I fantasize about when I'm drinking Efes. I think that about sums it up. Thank you, Hyde. Enjoy that Rally to Restore Sanity today and thanks for helping to restore mine. By the way, Hyde, whose blog is here, went to the Rally to Restore Sanity, an event I wish I could have gone to and an event they could really use here in Turkey as well.

Moving on... Turkey had its own kind of rally on Friday. The 29th of October 2010, marked the 87th year of the Republic. It's the first time I had experienced the event here in Turkey. I witnessed something which seemed unfathomable: the closing of Bağdat Caddesi, one of the biggest and busiest streets on the Asian side of İstanbul. Turkish flags and picket signs with pictures of Ataturk were everywhere. Those signs just seemed strange to me at first, because I associate them with political statements. That's when I realized that in these times, a depiction of Ataturk is a kind of political statement.

Oh god, is he taking a picture?

e highlight for me was seeing Kuthan and Emir again. I lived with Kuthan for a while when I first got here, but he since found a job that put him in Ankara. I have only seen him once since he moved. Word is that he hates it there, but he otherwise keeps a positive attitude. His girlfriend lives in France, so in that sense İstanbul and Ankara are both far away from a place he'd rather be. Emir lives in Kadıköy and I see him from time to time, but it had been a while. He is always reading up about interesting subjects and our conversations are usually either about or inspired by Sherlock Holmes.