October 26, 2005

Iftar Dinner

October is an important month here in Istanbul. It's not Octoberfest as it is now in Deutschland but it's the Ramazan Period. This is my first time to experience Ramazan here. Basically, if you are Muslim and practice Ramazan you must fast ( meaning you're not supposed to eat,drink, and smoke anything) within a certain time. It starts at around 430 am until 6pm. The end of fasting for each day varies. The people who are fasting have the schedule of the ending. They also get reminded of the beginning of the fast in the early morning with a drum beat serving as a call to fast.

Ok. So what happens after fasting the whole day? Well, they then go to an Iftar (the breaking of the fast after the sunset) Dinner. I got invited to join an Iftar Dinner last Saturday.Majority of the people who were going are expatriates here in Istanbul. I didn't know any of them. I didn't even know the place and what kind of food they serve during Iftar. These reasons were enough for me to say ---> Sounds like a good plan! and so I went to the Iftar Dinner.

The place was in a Turkish Police Building.It was supposed to be a famous Iftar place for the high ranking government officials of Istanbul. I came just in time for the dinner to start. I met a Turkish couple, an American lady working in Istanbul, an Englishman who has been living in Turkey for 20 years and is a Muslim convert, a Dutchman married to a Polish girl, and a Swedish guy with Turkish roots. The Turkish couple were the ones who arranged the dinner and it was fantastic. It seemed like a normal turkish dinner with abundant food. I like the mezzes or the Turkish appetizers since they comprised of a platter of mini pizzas ( as call it since I can't remember their turkish names), cheese breads,tomatoes, some olives and Turkish charcuteries which was mainly sucuk ( looks a lot like salami but doesn't taste close to it).There was also this orange looking soup which I think had some lentils in it. It tasted a little bit like pumpkin soup but this was eaten with a few drops of lemon. The main course was a big slab of roasted lamb. This was a big problem to me since I do not eat lamb (I have nothing against it. I just don't eat it). Since I was invited, as a sign of gracious manners, I tried eating the lamb. It was not bad at all. Actually, it was really tender and juicy and it helped that I ate each piece with a slice of tomato. The dessert was called Gullaç. It was a layer of thin pastry sheets with milk and rosewater. I was not really a fan of this one since I am lactose intolerant but the taste of rosewater was interesting. Sweet and light. To finish the dinner, we all had Turkish Coffee. This coffee is not for the lighthearted. You need to get used to the taste to appreciate it. I can compare it to an espresso or a kapeng barako plus the "mud" or the residue of the grinded coffee beans.

The dinner lasted for 4-hours. I was happy with this since I eat slow. It was just right for my eating pace. Enjoying the company of new friends, four of us decided to go have a few beers at Taksim after dinner. We ended up meeting more people for drinks and my Iftar dinner turned into a night of drinking and dancing. Finally at 3 am I decided to raise the white flag and went home ahead of the rest. Now this coming weekend will be an interesting one again for me. After trying out the Iftar dinner, I am off to try and get myself acquainted with a couple of night spots here in Istanbul. Wish me luck. I hope I won't be raising my white flag as soon as last week...

*Gullaç photo is a snippet from ShowTVNet.

Posted by duke at 10/26/2005 04:15:00 PM

19 Comments:

tin-tin said...: haha. 4 hours? hindi obvious ang pagiging slow eater mo nyan :) i just hope you got to try all the food. :); 10/28/2005 07:42:00 AM
chuching said...: hi duke! did you mean ramadan? :) i think you misspelled it! :) more than iftar, i think you'll love EID. masaya lahat ng muslims! next week na ata yon! ramadan kareem to you! :D; 10/28/2005 10:33:00 AM
duke said...: tintin- Take Note: I've improved with my speed at that rate! I couldn't eat them all.

Hello gracita - Yes it's RAMAZAN. Here in Turkey that's how they call Ramadan. Next week na nga ang ending :D It's called Baryam here. Ramadan kareem to you too :D; 10/28/2005 11:22:00 AM
Owen said...: until 3 am? akala ko ba nagpa-fast yung mga tao jan. well they need to eat until 3 am for the next day's fasting.

interesting huh!; 10/28/2005 02:38:00 PM
duke said...: ISAAAY!

Welcome back. I envy you for being able to SHOP :D It's such a therapy!; 10/28/2005 02:45:00 PM
duke said...: hey Owen!

hahahah actually the dinner lasted till 10 pm.We started at 6pm. Nagkayayaan lang to go out for drinks kaya inabot ako ng 3am. Yung mga kasama ko 6am na umuwi. Umpisa na ulit ng fasting when they went home!; 10/28/2005 02:47:00 PM
Anonymous said...: RAH MA ZHAN sounded like a HOLY appetizer kind of dish.

Parang Holy Week for Catholics kaso we avoid eating for -- 4 hours? Are you friggin serious?

Well I heard during this celebration in some part of Malaysia people refrain from eating & drinking outside rather doing it inside the house, resto, etc. Must be a GREAT fun to witness the evening traditions.

Happy weekend.; 10/28/2005 02:54:00 PM
Analyse said...: so it's ending soon..there's one future maman in my class who pratices ramazan too, oh well, i guess they have to revise their law and exempt pregnant women..feeling ko tutumba na sya last time, it was the pushing techniques pa naman last time, i really pitied her...; 10/28/2005 03:38:00 PM
Gayzha said...: Ramadan or Ramazan is a very good religious practice for the muslims. I have also experienced this for almost six years while i was in KSA. I love it kasi one month kami na walang pasok after the Holy week, and then during the Ramazan, we usually get our bonuses as they become very BENEVOLENT !!! Most of all, i love the desserts - - - what i like with the Turkish food is their "salata" or salad - they really prepare it very well and they really know how to make proper "swarma" or "kebab"... Like you, i did not like lamb at first, but then later on i got used to it and now i really crave for it once in awhile...:); 10/28/2005 05:13:00 PM
duke said...: K- With the amount of food in the table. It was good that I was able to finihs eating in 4 hours :D It was the combination of eating and chit chat taht made the dinner last to 4 looong hours.
Really? That's how they do it in Malaysia? Here naman, people refrain from drinking and smoking exceot fro gweilos like mwah.; 10/28/2005 06:02:00 PM
duke said...: ana- oh my! that future maman is suffering so much. It's not easy doing aquagym without eating. Where does she get her energy? To think, they are not allowed even to drink water in those specified fasting time.; 10/28/2005 06:04:00 PM
duke said...: Jhaya- I heard less working hours here as well. Plus the fact that it's Republic Day tom so half day ang mga office. Really? they give good bonuses? sayang! I'm not working here!
I also like kebabs:) yummy!; 10/28/2005 06:06:00 PM
silentmode_v2 said...: eid is coming, time to eat and drink in public again! :); 10/28/2005 06:21:00 PM
Asha said...: Hi, a hop from Knoizki's and I landed here.

Cool blog you have here. Great experiences you've had. So much fun with food. :)

Anyways, have fun and have a good weekend.; 10/29/2005 02:17:00 AM
DanieL said...: i am shameless when it comes to food tasting. the food sounds delish. =)

happy halloween!; 10/29/2005 05:55:00 AM
nixda said...: nagutom tuloy ako...

'have to visit my Turkish naybor...
uutang muna ng kebabs ... hehe

aufwiedersehen (see u again)!; 10/29/2005 12:30:00 PM
Analyse said...: i dont even know if she still had energy at that time, mukha na syang zombie, as in..

happy halloween duke!; 10/29/2005 04:35:00 PM
Abaniko said...: if that's the case, don't you think it isn't fasting but just a delaying of their meal? anyway, happy early morning feasting. hehe.; 10/30/2005 09:21:00 AM
dreaming-neko said...: good luck!; 11/01/2005 07:44:00 AM

Confessions of an Expat's Wife

October 26, 2005

Iftar Dinner

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