{"id":926,"date":"2009-01-08T07:29:06","date_gmt":"2009-01-08T07:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/?p=926"},"modified":"2009-01-08T09:40:26","modified_gmt":"2009-01-08T09:40:26","slug":"turkish-coffee-and-turkish-breakfast-in-istanbul-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msadventuresinitaly.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/08\/turkish-coffee-and-turkish-breakfast-in-istanbul-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkish Coffee and Turkish Breakfast in Istanbul, Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m back from Istanbul<\/strong>, and unfortunately during my trip my 50mm 1.4 had an unfortunate accident<\/em>, so most of my pics are from my stepchild lens. Forgive me. And if you’re coming to Milan from the US soon and want to courier a lens to me, let me know (and I’ll reward you handsomely).<\/p>\n

Istanbul was amazing!!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, during the winter you will have a completely different experience than during the summer, and we can’t wait to go back and experience an entirely different Istanbul. It rained all day every day while we were there, but the treasures of the city were still bright and exciting.<\/p>\n

Of course the rain in Istanbul seems like a dream compared to the 30cm of snow here in Milan<\/strong> we arrived to – our return flight was one of the last that landed before the airport shut down, and we got the last shuttle after 2 hours (leaving at 2:15am) and almost had to forage for a taxi at the train station at 3:30 in the morning. Things are closer to normal today after the city was in chaos yesterday.<\/p>\n

So we already miss you, Istanbul. And this morning, I definitely miss Turkish Breakfast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I mentioned that eating Sicilian granita and a brioche for breakfast<\/a> was my favorite breakfast and now I’ll have to amend that to say it’s my favorite way of eating breakfast in the summer.<\/p>\n

What has quickly overtaken the granita is a Turkish breakfast<\/strong>. I found it a great compromise from the savoury and rich American breakfast I grew up with and the always-sweet Italian breakfast.<\/p>\n

I loved the spicy biber <\/strong>(pepper) sprinkled over the feta-like cheese with tomatoes and cucumbers. Sometimes I would add some olives, but most likely I would return for some cheese pieces with lots of spices sprinkled on them.<\/p>\n

But the star of the breakfast was the Turkish bread rolls, which I’m desperately looking for a name for. It was a little buttery, a little crusty, with a soft center perfect for spreading jam or Chococream onto. UPDATE<\/strong>: Thanks to Hande<\/a>, she informed me that this bread is called po\u011fa\u00e7a<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ll appeal to Cenk at CafeFernando<\/a> but at 7am he’s not (yet) on my speed-dial for food blogging triage. Do you recognize them?\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

And Turkish Coffee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’ll remember, I only started drinking (Italian!) coffee daily two years ago, starting with my beloved Marocchino<\/a>. But I definitely enjoyed the Turkish coffee I had with breakfast every morning, even paying the extra charge to avoid brewed (American) coffee at our hotel. I didn’t find it to be that strong, since I’m used to espresso every day.<\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, the big secret is to make sure you let Turkish Coffee sit for 5-10 minutes<\/strong>, which is why when it’s brought to you it’s boiling: they don’t expect you to drink it right away!<\/p>\n

Why should you wait?<\/strong> As you can see here in the photo, all of the coffee dregs need time to settle at the bottom of the cup so you’re not drinking grounds and picking them out of your teeth for hours afterward.<\/p>\n

Several years ago I had the opportunity to drink Turkish \/ Lebanese coffee and often after you’ve drank it, they overturn the cup onto the saucer, let the grounds sink down the sides of the cup, and then they read your fortune. I definitely had an interesting reading that year.<\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, the view at breakfast didn’t influence my opinion of Turkish breakfast at all. That’s the Blue Mosque there in the background and foreground.<\/p>\n

\"Turkish<\/a><\/p>\n

Other food bloggers talk about Turkish Breakfast:<\/p>\n