Malena loves candy. And travel. And both together. And thus, this site was born.
by 
In Turkey, I spent a lot of time eating Turkish Delight, talking about Turkish Delight, trying to find Turkish Delight factories, and watching people make Turkish Delight. Prior to my first visit to Turkey, I actually had no idea what this substance even was - except that the White Witch used it to lure Edmund into her clutches in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! In Turkey in its most common form, it’s simply a gummy substance formed of starch, sugar or honey, and flavoring (typically pistachio, rose, or walnut.) However, recently lokum (as it is known in Turkish) has also been made with cream, giving it a whitish, opaque look and a milkier feel. (more…)
The old facade of a golden citadel towers over Afyon, a typically Turkish city where carbon-copy apartment buildings vie with older houses and mosques for space on the crowded streets. Horses carting mattresses wait for their owners near shops selling gold jewelry, while an entire street is full of men sharpening knives and selling cutlery and pots and pans. Tables on corners are piled high with pomegranates and greenish oranges with leaves still attached. From everywhere in town you can see a large rock hill poking into the sky, circled by the walls of the old Afyon Kaseli. Seven hundred steps to climb to the top, to have the opportunity to overlook the city, sitting on the graffiti-marked fortress. I decided to go for it - up to that point, all I’d done in Afyon was eat Turkish Delight, so some exercise might be good. For the record, seven hundred is an awful lot of steps. (more…)
Want to win a small box of exciting Middle Eastern candy? Guess the different Turkish Delight flavors, get the most correct, and I’ll mail you a little something from the road. Match up flavors to numbers in the picture by this Sunday at 12 noon (my time), but it isn’t as easy as it sounds! The flavors aren’t really normal US ones and some of them are repeated with only small variations, so good luck! Don’t be afraid to get a little creative. (more…)
Mmmm baklava! Not exactly a candy, but close enough for my purposes. In Turkey baklava tends to consist of pastry, pistachio, and a lot of honey. There are also kinds with chocolate, walnuts, and creme - but I tended to prefer the more basic variety. I tried the baklava in a venerable pastry shop in Istanbul, renowned by the locals as the best in Turkey, and then traveled halfway across the country to Gaziantep - the Turkish hometown of baklava - where pistachios are harvested and stalls selling the rich, sweet pastries abound. Sadly, I never learned to make it.
I am finally caught up in uploading pictures, so take a look on flickr for all my pictures from Europe, Turkey, and Syria. Next step: write lots of blog entries!
Yes, I am safe in Syria - even with the bombing the US did on the border with Iraq. The locals here aren’t exactly happy about it, but they don’t blame individual Americans as much as government policy.