Tag Archives: Beach

Dicho del Domingo – New Day

15 Sep

Sunset at Playa Langosta

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make and manifest the glory of god that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

– Marianne Williamson

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Bounty from Land to Sea

2 May

color photo of three yellow lemons

Cirali, Turkey –

Since this is going to be my first post really dedicated to food I need to give you some background on what exactly food represents to me.  Well it means a lot of things and to me at the essence of life – food is the heart.   I love the sense of community around food and the ceremony of eating.  I love family dinner.  I love brunch and lunch with friends.  I love the good conversations that manifests between my husband and I over a good dinner.  Even more, I love cooking good food, and I love it when I can share my food with other people.  Food is a really simple way to bring people together.  All this does not have to come from gourmet shops or five star restaurants – but sure those are good every now and then.  If anything those gourmet places somehow make you so much more conscious of what you are eating and how you are eating, which is a practice that should be a part of our daily life anyways.  These feelings, and passions, I have for food – well they can kind of be related to a love story.  And I realize that I am not the first person to have such a love for food, it’s been a part of who we are as humans for thousands of years.  I guess I am just fessing up to my love affair with food.  While most people attempt to tame their feelings, I guess I am just putting my feelings on the table for you. (No pun intended!)

Enough of my love for food for a few moments… Let’s talk about my deepest passion in life.  Farming.  Yes, I am a Washingtonian, living in a cement jungle and I love farming.  Nothing is better to me than the cathartic feeling that one experiences when working with the Earth.  The dirty sweat that pours down my face and into my eyes, and the salty taste when it hits my lips.  It’s the best feeling of truly hard & good work.  I feel such a deep sense of worthiness when I plant seeds in a vegetable garden, care for the mango trees, turn the stinky compost, give the ducks grain & love, harvest the tomatoes, and milk the goats.  I’ve always held the connection between the farm, the Earth, and my food.  I like to know that there is someone with an equal love for God’s bounty nurturing the food on my table – which is probably why I’ve been a champion for “organic agriculture” since I was 13-14 years old.  Yes, I did know what organic was then and I even (however ‘annoying’ it was) insisted on educating my parents about organic agriculture, mad cow disease before the outbreak occurred, health implications of persistent organic compounds found in conventionally grown produce, and everything related in-between.  I guess this whole farming thing – working the land, connecting with the earth, living sustainably for future generation – is just a big part of who I am.

So, what does all this have to do with Turkey and traveling?  Well it’s the preface for how I will share with you my foodie experiences in this blog.  And the past few days in Turkey have served as a prime opportunity to give you my initial Turkey Food Panorama.

Color photo of greenhouse filled with veggies

I’ve been so impressed by the Turkish customs & culture around food and farming.  In every restaurant there are many dishes prepared only with fresh vegetables and many options perfectly suited for flexible vegetarians (I’m not talking about Vegans here).  I’m also astounded at how ‘victory’ gardens are a de facto cultural norm here.  Everyone with a piece of land has a vegetable garden.  I see baby aubergine (eggplants) growing on little strips of Earth near parking lots.  I see large pots (often old buckets & milk cartons reused) filled with soil where tomatoes, cucumbers & mint explode with life.  And in the country side, nearly everyone has a small greenhouses filled with an abundance of fresh veggies – some greenhouses are made with clear plastic sheeting while others are glass structures.  Many people also have a few goats or a cow for milk production – yogurt & fresh cheese are staples in the Turkish diet.  On my journey so far, I’ve explored this custom quite a bit in talking with locals – in my very broken Turkish and all!  They’ve shared with me that they too love fresh food.  And that organic agriculture is simply just “how it is done” in Turkey.  They don’t want to dirty their streams, rivers, & ocean with pesticides and the like.  They know the implications of such contamination, and so they are organic.  They didn’t have to become organic.  Now I don’t want to give you a false impression here – I am simply talking about the same household gardens, I am not talking about any commercial agriculture in Turkey.

What have all these fresh veggies and little gardens meant for me?  Well I’ve wanted to taste and savor them all!  Through this food journey in Turkey, I’ve reunited with the vegetarian in me.  I don’t know if I’ll ever revert to being a loyal and stubborn vegetarian again, but I’m thinking I just may work to focus on living a largely vegetarian lifestyle that still allows for cultural flexibility.  I love the ripe plump juicy tomatoes I eat 3 times a day here.  I love the fresh mint & arugula in my salad.  I love the stuffed eggplant.  And did I mention how amazing the cheeses are?  And the apricot preserves. And the fresh pomegranate juice.  Then there are the lemon groves that dotted the coastline in Cirali.  Well they are magnificent.  And their blossoms are intoxicating.  I also loved the fresh plentiful fresh lemon wedges served with all of my salads and fish.  They are all divine! These are the foods of the ancient Greek & Roman Gods for sure!  Now, I don’t want to turn off my meat loving friend vis-à-vis this blog, so as a fair heads-up I will talk about the meat dishes in a future blog.  Bet let’s stick with my food experience thus far.

I love fresh fish.  And it’s the only “meat”, besides eggs, that I have eaten here.  Then today, I experienced something almost magical, but really it was just daily life in Turkey.  I was relaxing on the beach, taking in my last few hours bathing in the Mediterranean and sunshine.  An older woman, maybe in her early to late 70s, came down to the edge of the water about 8 feet away from me.  She was wearing sandals, long pants, a flowery head scarf, and had a plastic bag in-hand.  She kneeled down into the pebbly shoreline and unpacked her bag – 2 fishing poles and a sealed container with her bait.  She carefully set-up her fishing poles, baited the hooks, and with great finesse cast them into the sea.  She (and I from a distance) keenly watched the tip of the poles for any indication of a fish making move.  It was really beautiful watching her fish.  I hoped that the fish I had eaten had been caught with such care and love.  After about 20 minutes, a man and woman with their two young children came down to the sea.  They all sat down around the old woman and were talking.  The woman, I believed it was her daughter, was talking to the old woman with kindness and sincerity.  I saw sadness come over the old woman’s face, and two tears fell from her left eye.  The younger woman gently touched the side of the old woman’s face and her thumb rolled over the crevice under her eye lightly drying the tears.  It was a very endearing and powerful moment.  It reminded me of how similar life is no matter how different our cultures and history may be.  I don’t know what happened exactly but they all continued to talk while the old woman fished.  The conversation got more spirited and light; the young girl (about 2 years old) was laughing and throwing pebbles into the sea.  I think the little girl’s young & vibrant spirit somehow reminded the old woman that everything would be okay, and gave her a purpose to keep on fishing.

woman fishing on the edge of the sea

Later on in the evening I enjoyed a delicious dinner of grilled Sea Bream.  When I inquired to the waiter about what type of fresh fish they have, he insisted that they have many.  And that led to me getting invited to go to the kitchen.  The waiter showed me the chilled box of fish and I got to choose my own fish for dinner.  And to top it off I got to see ‘inside’ a traditional Turkish kitchen which is very cool.  Now choosing my fish is not as good as eating the fish that you catch, but it was close and just a fun part of this foodie experience.  The chef rubbed some spices and sea salt on the body of the Sea Bream and laid him out on a hot grill.  Just 5 minutes on each side and he was perfection.  My Sea Bream was served up with a fresh salad doused with typical Turkish herbs, a few cips, 2 juicy lemon wedges, and a fresh pillowing pita hot out of the wood fired oven.   And I can’t forget the glass of red wine.  This was dinner fit for a King!  And there it was before me.  The perfect balance of all the things I love about food and farming – under the Turkey sun!

Color photo of a whole grilled fish - Sea Bream - dinner.

Now tell me, do you love food?

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Land of Pirates & Fairy Tales

30 Apr

Cirali, Turkey –

Now that I have officially spent 24 hours in Turkey, I can justifiably share with you the adventure over just the past few hours.  I arrived in Antalya on Friday evening, hopped a taxi from the airport and headed into the old town of Kaleici.  I knew I was in the right place when I saw Hadrian’s Gate lit up against the night sky.  After checking into my hotel, which was an old Ottoman house repurposed as a small B&B and museum of a small collection of Ancient Turkish artifacts, I headed out for some dinner.  The streets are very narrow and mostly for walking, as only cars can go down a few of them.  Little bazaars are set-up all along the streets selling everything from clothing to bottled water, apple tea, and souvenirs.  The owners of the bazaar stalls are very friendly, almost too friendly, but egh they are just trying to make some business so they can close up shop for the night.  I found a nice little local open air restaurant for dinner and by that time I was done for so I headed back to the B&B for some rest.

Color photo of the Kaleici skyline at daybreak, just after Fajr.

View of the Keleici skyline at daybreak at the end of Fajr. The Mosque is directly to the Northeast of the tall trees. Just a few moments later smoke started billowing out of a small metal chimney. (Rebecca Harned - Kaleici, Turkey - April 2011)

At exactly 4:28am the sound of prayer reverberated through the old single paned glass Ottoman windows in my room.  The nearby Karakas Mosque to the north and the Pasa Mosque to the West began the Fajr prayer through intercoms that resounded prayer throughout the entire city.  It is the first prayer of the day and is thought to be God’s (or Allah’s or however else you relate to a higher power – all the same to me) most-favored prayer since all others are still asleep.  I also learned that Fajr is the most essential and obligatory prayer requiring that all are congregated at the Mosque for this moment of devotion, as stillness & tranquility resides over the community.  During today’s Fajr, I didn’t know how important and regimented congregational prayer is to the Turkish until I experienced the Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha later in the day.  And each time the sound of prayer is echoed across the city or village it really does make me stop and think to myself what is meant by devotion.  During Maghrib today I paused and noticed a baby porcupine foraging among a grove of lemon trees abutting the turquoise coastline.  At that moment, while most are at the Mosque praying, I saw God in the lemons, porcupine, and orange blossoms.

I am not yet able to fully characterize this landscape – though I see, feel, hear, touch, and taste it.  Breathtaking mountains & ocean vistas, ponderous customs, and vibrant spirituality.  And not to mention the mysterious history of this rich land.  The history of Turkey is as complex as it is ancient, and we are talking about some of the first human existence known to man.  So I won’t attempt to give you a glazed over Turkish history lesson here but tid bits of Turkey’s mysticism and history have already come to life in the last 24 hours and I am sure to share more.

So after spending the morning in Kaleici, I decided to head 40 kilometers southeast to an agricultural & fishing village called Cirali.  To get there, I took a streetcar through the city of Antalya to the Otogar (or bus station) and then I found a mini-bus (the typical form of public transportation to surrounding villages) heading in the direction of Cirali, about 40 kilometers through very windy mountain roads.  The streetcar cost about .75 cents and the mini-bus cost about 6 bucks, not bad and very efficient.  I was the only foreigner on the mini-bus except one friendly guy from Morocco, Anass, who was on his way to Olympos to meet-up with his girlfriend.  About one hour into the trip, and many conversations later, the mini-bus left me off at the side of the highway, high in the mountains, and across the way was a little thatched roof stall selling apple tea steeping hot over an open flame and reused water bottles containing fresh honey for sale.  The sign read, Cirali 10 km, and off I went by foot down the road.  It wasn’t more than 10 minutes and a car came by heading that way and I took a free lift to the village.  Barely a few words were exchanged between the gracious driver and I, as hardly anyone here speaks anything but Turkish – more on that later!  And just in case you find hitchhiking a bad idea, it is a perfectly acceptable and typical mode of transportation in rural Turkey and in many other countries I have traveled.  I’ve both been a hitchhiker and picked-up hitchhikers many times and met some wonderful people in the process..  Back to the good stuff…

Little did I know the true splendor that awaited me in Cirali.  And that is where I found the makings for daydreams of pirate ships, lost treasure, pixies and gnomes.  Think white sand & pebble beaches, crystal clear waters, rocks jetting up along each end and behind the beaches, ruins of mysterious ancient civilizations poised above the spears of coastal rocks, snow capped mountains, warm breezes, royal palm trees, and quaint groves of lemon & orange trees.  And at the 5 prescribed daily times, the village Mosque recites the prayers over loud speakers.  How is all this in one landscape?  It’s the land of pirates and fairytales.  Just lay your towel out below one of the palm thatched umbrellas on the beach, and let your mind wander.  Ancient tombs to your back side.  And Mediterranean oceanside caves to your right.  While the sweet pungent aroma of lilacs & orange blossoms captivates your heart.  And in the midst of this beauty, you are sure to find neverland in a dream or two.  Goodnight.

Color photo of beachscape in Chirali. Mountains landing into the Mediterranean Sea.

This is the land of pirates and fairy tales. These majestic mountains, with rocks & ancient ruins of unknown past jet out of the coastline. There are caves that bring the sea within the coastal mountains, where there must have been pirate treasure hidden a thousand years ago. (Rebecca Harned - Cirali, Turkey - April 2011)

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