Travel – Page 99

Cappadocia: Derinkuyu Underground City and the Ihlara Valley

October 20, 2011 mmm-yoso Cappadocia, Travel, Turkey, Turkish Food

When we arrived back at the hotel after our morning balloon ride, we were both surprised at how early it still was. While grabbing breakfast……the spread was typical of most all the places we stayed at in Turkey.

Except that this one had ezme, the spicy dip…..which I'm pretty sure probably surprised more than a few visitors.

All in all, breakfasts at the hotels in Turkey can be a pretty filling experience……

The subject of "what now" came up. We were here in Cappadocia and there was no way we'd be wasting the rest of the day. We'd planned on doing some hiking but things were still pretty wet due to the yesterdays deluge and it seemed like there would be a bit more rain on the way today. Of course, just like before, this was a job for Mustapha, the owner of the Arch Palace Hotel. We're not big on tours, but Mustapha suggested one of several tours that would take us to areas that aren't too easy to reach on foot. We'd still be doing some hiking, but we'd also be driven around and not have to worry about much. So we ended up at one of the tourist offices waiting to start the "Green Tour"……

The first stop was a scenic look-out spot over Goreme and Pigeon Valley.

Remember Pigeon Valley, it'll play a key role in a future post!

Anyway one of the reasons we don't do too well on tours is that other folks just drive us crazy. We've developed caricatures of generic characters typical of tours we'd take, for instance, in many cases there would be the demanding woman who would want things done her way. Her husband would typically be very quiet, probably henpecked into submission. Should she not get her way, she would initiate "plan B", that would be when the whining starts. On this tour there were the "testosterone boys", always bragging about this or that, trying to top each other. Showing off by running up and down hills, making as much noise as they could…..showing how "edgy" they were. So of course, while we were checking out the view, they decided to torment the "photo opportunity camel".

Being stuck in a van with three grown men acting like sixth graders thinking they were really cool was a bit trying at times. As were the two Japanese young ladies who kept flirting with the tour guide…..

Still, the stops were well worth the irritation. The second stop was at Derinkuyu Underground City. Comprised of eleven floors (some say more since much hasn't been excavated) going down 279 feet this is one of, if not the largest of the forty or so underground cities in the area. It is said that the city held at least 20,000 and by other estimates up to 50,000 people. The air shafts themselves go down over 180 feet.

The story goes, that in 1963 someone was trying to extend their cave house when they went through a cave wall and discovered the passageway to the underground city. There have been relics found here that date back to the Byzantine era.

Many of the passages get smaller as you go down. That's the Missus on the right. She's five foot and weighs barely 100 pounds! The reason for these tapering passageways are simple….many of the folks moved down here for protection and safety. A large army couldn't rush down the passageway, they had to go single file and could be trapped and picked off. There are also large stone boulders that could be moved across the passage and locked into place.

The air shafts also provided water and there are a multitude of rooms which served as cellars, storage facilities, chapels, schools, and such.It's quite impressive if you're not claustrophobic….once you enter various rooms you can get quite confused so you'll need to be on the look-out for the arrows showing you the way up or down.

This was quite interesting……

The next stop was the Ihlara Valley, which is actually a 16 kilometer long gorge. We just did a short hike after walking down the 360 steps to trails which meander alongside the Melediz River which helped to form this gorge over the course of time.

At the bottom of the steps is Ağaçaltı Kilise (Church Under the Tree). The most stunning feature of this tiny cave church is the ceiling which features a fresco of The Ascension.

Notice that all the eyes have been "whited out".

It was a nice short hike in spite of the intermittent raindrops…..

It seems that every valley has its own distinct features which separates it from the others…..

The carrot at the end of the walk was lunch. Now having been on a few of these tours, I was prepared for some fairly terrible food. But the restaurant we stopped at in the valley called Belisirma was not bad. The food was actually Turkish, not some pseudo-westernized, dumbed down facsimile, and I got kinda worried when the Missus ordered the fish…..

The fish seemed very fresh and the Missus enjoyed it.

And I thought my lamb stew was decent, though I'm not a big fan of bulgur.

At least the flavors weren't dumbed down.

The soup on the other hand was insipid, but one out of three ain't bad. And of course this was Turkey so there just had to be a whopping amount of bread with every meal!

I was careful not to eat very much, we still had one more stop. And it turned out to be my favorite!

Stay tuned……

Xi’an: Our last evening

October 4, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

It hit me as I was finishing up my Rou Jia Mo. This was our last evening in Xi'an. Our three days here had been packed with activity and it's easy to get into that "ok, what's next, let's get going" mode, but everything must come to an end and we were ready to move on…almost.

The Missus really wanted another (our third) shot at the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San and knowing we'd probably not be back this way again, who was I to deny Her the pleasure of those wonderful, steaming, soup filled, baozi?

As we headed back to our hotel it started raining pretty hard, like cats and dogs hard. We looked for a place to take a break and noticed this little shop.

So we paused and had a snack….a really cheap snack….a well, not so great version Rou Jia Mo, which was only 1.5 RMB, think 20 cents.

And it tasted every bit like a 20 cent sandwich……..

We managed to make it back to the hotel, dodging raindrops, had a nice shower followed by a short nap. It was still raining pretty hard when we awoke, so we decided to head across the street to this restaurant for a light dinner.

This was a typical hotel restaurant, huge, with few customers. The sign said this place served Hunan food, but we really couldn't find anything that looked promising. The couple of folks in the place were all drinking, so we decided that perhaps a couple of beers would make for a nice getaway night treat. So we ordered some peanuts…..out came a humongous bowl of peanuts, enough to feed five or six people!

Since we needed some beer to go with our peanuts we tried the Hans Red Wolf lager…..I found out it's made by Tsingtao. Just your usual Chinese lager, no big deal.

To go with our mega peanuts we ordered a couple of vegetable dishes, starting with Baihe (lily bulb) and Black Fungus.

This was probably the worst Baihe dish we had on the entire trip, there were a lot of brown spots on the lily bulb and the flavor was a bit off.

The Missus also ordered a mushroom dish…which was also unremarkable…..

So we didn't quite go out with a bang…..

That's ok. There are memories of Xi'an that remain firmly embedded in our minds from the vibrant Muslim Quarter…..

To the amazing Army of Terracotta Warriors.

Which is good for any number of lifetimes in my book…..

Thanks for reading!

Xi’an: The City Walls, Rou Jia Mo, and some other stuff

September 27, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

Each city that we visited in China had its own personality of sorts, and Xi'an was no different. For instance, being dog lovers, we can't help but notice dogs during our travels. I've even included photos of the various dogs we see in various posts, and China was no different. The Missus had already noticed how many people had dogs for pets in Her hometown of QingDao, a sign of growing wealth and prosperity. Most of the pooches we ran into were small, poodles, schnauzers, terriers, and mixes of all of the above. In Xi'an however, folks seemed to enjoy larger dogs, we even walked past a couple of rottweilers during our stay.

One thing Xi'an had in common with all the other cities we visited in China was that folks didn't pick up after their dogs. Thus, the Missus's Fifth Uncle's advice of usually needing "to look six ways, and listen eight….. but nowadays, you need to look seven! Make sure to look straight down to make sure you don't step in dog poop!" Though i'll say that it's easier to spot poop from a German Shepherd than a Chihuahua!

The Missus decided that the morning would be a great time to visit the Xi'an City Walls. Xi'an is one of the few cities in China where the entire city wall still stands and you can circle the inner portion of Xi'an in a good four hours or so. Four hours! We'd be needing some sustenance. But of course this is China so during the "breakfast rush" doorways and windows that are shuttered are oen for business.

And a doorway becomes another business opportunity……

This guy was frying up Xiar Bing….stuffed flatbread.

Which seemed like just the the thing…….

These were huge, but very greasy and not very pleasant to eat. They were cheap though, if I recall 2 or 3 RMB.

We'd had an early start and the gates to the city wall weren't open yet, so walked over to the park area outside the wall where we'd enjoyed walking the previous evening. The place was buzzing with folks getting there morning exercise, be it jogging, dance, or Tai Chi:

Then it happened….we came across all the exercise equipment…and the Missus just couldn't help it.

Some of it seemed odd, like this thingamajig….I'm guessing it loosens your shoulder?

I was a little slow on the trigger on this one…right before I took a photo of the Missus running on these stumps a line of middle aged women ran over the stumps like a little centipede…giggling like school girls.

The city walls of Xi'an cover a perimeter of 14 kilometers and is 12 meters (about 39 feet or so) high. If you think that's impressive, the original city walls of Chang'an which was what Xi'an was named before the Ming Dynasty covered 83 square kilometers, basically seven times the amount of this wall which was built in 1370. Instead of going into too much detail, I'll just post this photo which you can click on and enlarge.

The morning was overcast and the pollution was bothering me a bit, but walking on the nearly empty city wall in crowded Xi'an (population 8.5 million) seemed very strange…..

The missus still had the adrenaline going and suddenly told me "I'm going for a run!" And took off…..

Since my foot was still screwed up I just waddled along.

In some ways, the views from the gate was more interesting than the gate itself…..

Eventually the Missus had turned around and headed back toward me. As She stopped I could heard a huge amount of noise and chatter coming from below us. I peered over the wall and noticed a large market! I snapped the photo to my right which for some reason is one of my favorites of the trip.

As we hit the halfway point we had gotten hungry, at which all attempts at walking the entire wall were aborted…with no complaints by either of us.

We took a stroll through the Muslim Quarter and headed back to the area around the Bell Tower. The Missus was looking for one of the places recommended to us….I was really looking forward to another Rou Jia Mo and Fan Ji La Zhi Rou Jia Mo (樊记腊汁肉店) came highly recommended. Rou Jia Mo is often called "Chinese Hamburger" in signs around Xi'an. It is a Shaanxi speciality that is often credited to Muslims, but I've read that this style of eating, in a "Mo" (basically a flat bread like a pita) was started by the Han Chinese with pork as the main meat. All the versions I've had so far had lamb and though I adore lamb, some fatty pork sounded quite good.

We found the shop on one of the side streets and though the place really didn't look busy from the outside, there was quite a line inside.

While the Missus waited in line, I managed to snag us a table.

There are several grades of pork used in the sandwich and the Missus selected two, the cheaper version came in at 4 RMB (about 60 cents), the superior version at 5 RMB (70 cents or so). With such prices the customers ranged from guys in suits to students to working stiffs……

The bread wasn't as dense as I expected and was a bit crackly on the exterior. The cheaper one was quite greasy with a good amount of gristle. I was amazed how much grease those simple looking brown paper wraps can absorb! Still it had a very nice pork flavor. The more expensive version was very good….I can only describe the flavor and texture as being between pulled pork and pork confit. It was like the essence of oink cooked in its own fat. But also quite rich and one of these was more than enough to keep me until dinner. Which reminds me, I gotta make pork confit again one of these days when the Missus allows it…..

We really enjoyed our time in Xi'an, but were itching to move on…….

Thanks for reading!

Cappadocia: Up, up, and away…….and one of the highlites of my trip.

September 10, 2011 mmm-yoso Cappadocia, Travel, Turkey

Sorry….almost no food in this one…..

One of the things the Missus really wanted to do, was to go for a balloon ride in Cappadocia. So during my correspondence with Mustafa from the Arch Palace, whom I wrote about earlier, the possibility of a early morning balloon ride was brought up. After thinking a bit and doing some research I decided to book a ride on our first morning, that way should the weather be terrible and all rides cancelled we'd still be able to get a "make-up" the next day. Good thing too, since it rained like crazy the afternoon and night before our ride. After dealing with Mustafa, I now understand the term "fixer" when I hear it on travel shows……. My request was pretty simple:

"As for the balloon flights, we'd like one that is not so crowded and safe."

Mustafa booked our flight on Atmospher Balloons. We awoke at 4am in the morning and were driven to….well, I'm not sure where in the darkness of early morning where there was a huge crowd of people all having sweets and tea or coffee and waiting for their shuttles to come and pick them up.

When we arrived and checked in we were handed a card with out pilot's name on it. We waited for our group to be called. There seemed to be some pretty large groups, and we were among the last called…..a small group of a dozen people, just as Mustafa promised.

We arrived at a large open area as dawn cracked. There were balloons being prepared for take-off.

We met our pilot, by the name of Serkan……a very witty, funny, and more importantly very experienced pilot.

The basket was big enough so each person would have a clear view (if they desired) from the rim. I had a look at the impressive burners…..

Which looked even more impressive when they were on!

You can't help wonder, "man, what if this thing catches on fire"…… but of course, the skirt/scoop which directs air into the balloon are fire resistant. But still, you can't help but wonder…..

Initially, you're part of a huge "flock" of balloons rising from fields all around the area. (Click to enlarge any photo.)

The sky is full of balloons, a pretty dramatic sign in itself…….

But eventually, everyone kinda goes their own way…….

Until it's just pretty your balloon and the amazingly diverse terrain of Cappadocia…….

Serkan took us very close to several ridges and low enough to brush treetops, only to slowly drift back up.

I'm not a big fan of heights, but I loved this….you actually felt like you were floating on air. We noticed that several of the other balloons had pretty much landed at an hour rght on the dot, but Serkan told us, "don't worry, we'll go longer….you have spent a lot of money on this, and you may never have a chance to do this again…so we'll keep on going."

Of course, eventually we'd have to land……this is where the real fun began. Apparently, there was a problem with Serkan's crew getting to us. Roads had been washed out in the previous day's rain storms. At that point, Serkan pointed to a couple of us and said, "ok, today you'll be my crew….." If you though he was joking, he wasn't. We found a flat spot and Serkan brought the balloon down. It landed so gently, like your head hitting your pillow. Serkan handed me a rope and told me to get on out and pull the balloon down……the men got out and we pulled like heck. The Missus got some great photos.

Once the balloon was on the grass, Serkan jumped out and joined us, teaching us how to flatten the balloon.

A couple of minutes later, one of Serkan's crew joined us. We were told that we needed to hike out….. which is what we did, over pastures, trying to walk on high and dry ground….

We eventually passed the reason crews couldn't get to us……one of the crew's trucks had flipped over, blocking the access road.

We made our way to the small town and jumped into a minivan back to our hotels…..

We were supposed to have had a champagne toast at the end of our flight, but of course since the crews couldn't make it to us that was cancelled. But I wasn't disappointed at all…..hey, I got the chance to help land a hot air balloon! I don't know why, but I really got a kick out of that. It was one of the highlites of my trip. I have a neat story to tell about the time I helped to land a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkey……….

Xi’an: The Army of Terracotta Warriors and the Dumpling Banquet from De Fa Chang Restaurant (德发长)

September 1, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

Since we were in Xi'an you knew we weren't going to miss a visit to the famous Terracotta Army, located in the Lintong District about an hour's bus ride (40 km) out if Xi'an. In fact, even huge morning downpour and the incessant drizzle wasn't going to stop us from visiting….. it did help that our hotel loaned out umbrellas for free. We managed to catch bus 306 and arrived outside the parking lot of this world renowned archaeological site…..the drizzle had dampened the spirits of the many hawkers and vendors and we made it to the front gates unscathed if a bit soggy.

There are three main pits and we'd recommend starting in reverse order, from the smallest (pit 3) to the largest. This increases the dramatic effect of the visit.

Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor of China must have been one heck of a force of nature and a pretty amazing individual being credited with starting the Great Wall, unifying China, and starting the national system of roads. Of course, he was also known as a brutal and tyrannical ruler who ordered the destruction of all Confucian and non-"scientific" texts, and supposedly buried 460 scholars alive for having the forbidden books. All of the great building came at cost of hundred of thousands of lives……no wonder the emperor felt he needed a large army to protect him in his next life!

The actual discovery of the army is an amazing one; in 1974 a group of farmers digging a well struck something about 15 meters down…. it was a head….but as time would tell, not just any head! The rest as they say is history, though I'm always interested to know what "fame and fortune" these poor farmers found in later years, and found this interesting article.

We started our visit in the museum to the right of the entrance. The most interesting item was a replica of the bronze horses and chariot found near Qin Shi Huang's tomb(about 2 km west of Terracotta Army), along with photos of how it looked at the time of discovery.

We started at Pit 3, the smallest excavation, it is thought to be the "command center" of the army, though strangely, we saw nothing recognizable as a commander or general. Perhaps the Emperor thought himself to be the commander?

Also, many of the soldiers are missing heads in this pit. Experts have surmised that perhaps grave robbers had broken into this pit and stole the heads, or perhaps vandals broke in at an earlier time and destroyed them. There are a total of 68 soldiers in this pit.

For many, Pit 2 is the most interesting as it features the 1300 or so warriors, horses, and chariots in various military formations.

What I found most interesting about this pit were the remnants that were unrestored, showing the shards of terracotta that were reassembled…..being that I was never much good at jigsaw puzzles, I can't fathom the work it takes to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Pit 1 is pretty amazing. The building is the size of a airplane hanger and lines of terracotta soldiers stand almost as far as the eye can see……

The hall is over 19,000 square yards and you can't help but be awed by the amount of work it took to build this army.

According to what I've read, every face is unique and was based on an actual Qin soldier.

This is a definite must see…….

Feeling great we headed back to Xi'an catching the bus in the parking lot of the museum……it was interesting as the bus driver knew most of the folks getting on and off the bus, he'd stop without them evening pulling the bell cord.

We thought that we should get something special to eat, it just felt right . We got off the bus and sloshed our way back to the mall across from the Bell Tower, again crossing under the streets and ending up on the wrong side of the road! De Fa Chang, right across from Tong Sheng Xiang was recommended for their dumpling banquet.

The display on the first floor looked quite impressive…..

We were ushered quickly to the busy second floor, ordered our dumpling banquet, and our food started arriving very quickly….

Starting with some "appetizers" which were no big deal……..

The mushroom based soup was very bland…..

The pastry were cold, hard, and somewhat greasy…..

The steamed dumplings started appearing, most were very uneven in flavor, sometimes cold inside, oddly bland, waxy, etc, etc, etc……

One that stood out was the goose dumpling, which had a nice gamey flavor and a hint of spice.

Many of them looked quite pretty………

But we were severely underwhelmed…….

Until we got the one item we ordered a la carte, the Dry Cooked Mushroom, a dish that we loved so much, I've been making it at home. This one was excellent, earthy, with a touch of sweetness and heat. There was also some Sichuan Peppercorn in this which was a nice touch.

We could really see the potential of the kitchen with this dish…..

Unfortunately, the next item out was the Jiaozi, which were terrible……

Whomever had made this dough had over-worked it….I have a feeling they made it in a large stand mixer and went to town. The wrappers were very brittle with little stretch to it. The filling was on the bland side…the Server gasped when the Missus asked for black vinegar then used it as a dipping sauce. I guess they don't eat them that way in Xi'an.

The last item (thankfully) arrived soon there after, a little bowl over heating element.

Opening the top of the pot didn't reveal much….a pale broth with some greens and a wolf berry or two…..

But soon, as the broth came to a simmer, mushrooms and tiny dumplings rose to the top…..

This was not bad….the broth light in flavor.

Much like the snack banquet in Nanjing, htis proved to be a lot of premade dishes with little attention to detail. We could tell that the folks cooking had some skill, but it was not put to good use in mass producing these dumplings. Still, all was not lost since Jia San wasn't a long walk away!

Thanks for reading!

Xi’an: The Muslim Quarter

August 27, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

In my post on the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San, I mentioned the Muslim Quarter. Located behind the Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter and the Xi'an Mosque was first mentioned in imperial records dating back to 742 AD.

Walking past the Drum Tower and down Bai Yuan Men Jie, the main street, you'll start to notice as subtle change in dress, women with their hair covered in scarves, men looking a bit less "Han" in appearance. The Missus notes that even the language here was different.

Bai Yuan Men Jie is lined with shops. Many of them selling dried fruit, nuts, and other items that Xi'an is well known for….being that Xi'an was the Eastern terminus of the Silk Road, perhaps some of these items have a long history.

In one of the shops I came across the sesame and nut stuffed dried peppers we had in a dish in Jinan, One of the Missus's foodie uncle's had mentioned we'd be seeing this in Xi'an. I had a taste and man, this was pretty spicy….back of the throat spicy that got me coughing pretty good.

Quite a few snack shops along the street as well.

This one served up a bunch of different fried dough……..

Which was actually pretty greasy and tasted rancid!

If you really want to see the "real action", it's all located on the side streets that branch out from Bai Yuan Men Jie.

This is where you'll see all of the produce, meat, and other vendors. We were told that there are folks who are raised, married, and die, who almost never leave this tiny enclave…… I'm not sure it's true, but it's quite a story.

The smells are intoxicating, there always seems to be a pot of something simmering or boiling over some pretty rustic stoves putting out some major heat.

And there were times where it didn't seem like we were in China…..

And of course, this was where most of the food stands were….like this one making Rou Jia Mo, often called "Chinese Hamburger" in signs, but more like a meat stir fry in pita bread. This stand was quite popular…..

It was pretty amazing the amont of heat that came out of this stove…….it looks simply like charcoal in a hole, but there is a fan contraption underneath.

As well as a bellow set-up……so things can get pretty hot.

I kinda enjoyed the Rou Jia Mo…

Though things get a bit crowded in the Muslim Quarter during the day, it was still pretty relaxed .

However, when the sun started going down……

Things behind the Drum Tower start heating up…..the crowds descend on the Muslim Quarter and it gets quite crowded.

I had to find areas to take a break from the mass of humanity at times.

I'm not a big fan of crowds, but we had to check things out because this was when all the grills came out!

The alleyways were full of little stands, all in turn filled with customers chewing away on skewers of yang rou chuan.

It was really amazing and somewhat alarming watching cars attempting to drive down the packed alleyways, but we saw no accidents.

I guess we enjoyed the Muslim Quarter, as we returned there on every day of our stay in Xi'an…….

Getting lost and wandering down the small streets that were like branches growing from the trunk that was Bai Yuan Men Jie.

Cappadocia – Goreme: Goreme Open Air Museum and Dibek Restaurant

August 21, 2011 mmm-yoso Cappadocia, Travel, Turkey, Turkish Food

The flight from Izmir to the large (1.2 million) city of Kayseri seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. The hour and a half ride from Kayseri to Goreme felt a lot longer, though the views were sometimes quite stunning. Goreme, a town of about 2,500 resides in Cappadocia an area renowned for "fairy chimneys, underground cities, and it's moon like terrain. The unique landscape was reason enough for us to include the area in our itinerary….who can resist the pull of fairy chimneys?

I chose the Arch Palace Hotel for our stay in the area.

No, it's not four star or even three star, nor located in a fairy chimney. The rooms were large and priced right at 50 Euros per night…no lift, but the best shower we encountered during our trip.

The main reason I booked our stay at the Arch Palace was the reputation of the owner, Mustafa Yelkalan. He is just about everything you'd ever want in an owner of this type of hotel. All the great reviews and recommendations you read online are correct, Mustafa makes wonderful recommendations and is a one man tour guide, concierge, you name it. More on that later……

When we arrived, Mustapaha met us on the terrace of the hotel, looking at the view of Goreme really gave you could not help but feel that you were in an exotic locale.

After getting squared away, Mustapha suggested that we head off to Goreme Open Air Museum, also known as Goreme National Park, a UNESCO Heritage Site. Mustapha told us that we should do it this afternoon since there was some major rain headed our way…. it was already pretty darn cold, temps in the fourties, so we could imagine what freezing rain would be like.

We headed off in the direction of Goreme Open Air Museum oohing and aaahing at the sites along the way…..

It was already getting pretty windy and chilly….. but that really didn't deter us. We headed through the gauntlet of tourist shops and hawkers in the parking lot…… the one that really made us laugh were the folks selling Turkish Ice Cream, dondurma. They screamed out what they were hawking at the top of their lungs in English……. but instead of "Ice Cream", they all seemed to inject a pause after the "I", and it sounded like "I SCREeeemmmmm, Iiii SCREeeeeemmmmm", the ironic absurdity of it all still makes the Missus and I crack up.

Goreme National Park is a monastic settlement carved into the eroded rock formations. This large complex of churches, chapels, refectories, and a convent is dotted with frescoes, many quite well preserved.

Our favorite was the Elmali (Apple) Church….. photos aren't allowed in most indoor areas, so you'll have to take my word on how beautiful and for me, quite haunting the whole experience was.

There is some climbing to be done here……

Many of the areas are lit only by natural light…. like the eating area within the refectory.

So when groups of tourists enter the place becomes almost pitch dark.

The sky was quickly turning dark and it started to drizzle, so we decided to hike down and head back to the hotel.

Of course the sky unloaded on us……

Then in a moment of what can only be called temporary insanity, he Missus stopped on at the sign for Zemi Valley and said, "let's check this out"! The trail was a river of water, it was raining cats and dogs, heck, it was raining lions and pitbulls….. After a couple of minutes, I convinced the Missus that we still had a couple of days left, and perhaps we would enjoy it a bit more if we didn't have to worry about swimming for our lives!

Returning to Arch Palace, I was ever so thankful for the wonderful hot shower. We dried off, rested for a couple off hours….night falls quite suddenly in Cappadocia, and we headed off to dinner. Getting dinner was one of those situation where Mustafa proved his worth. I told Mustafa that I really wanted to try a "real" Testi Kebab. A Testi Kebab is a stew, not a kebab, that is sealed in a pottery jar and cooked over an open fire. According to Mustafa, there are only a couple of places that do justice to the testi kebab. Earlier in the day he wrote down a list of five places…. I recognized the name of one of them; Dibek Restaurant. Mustafa immediately got on the phone and ordered a testi kebab for us for dinner…….an advance reservation is needed to get one of these at Dibek.

Later that evening we headed down the hill, dodging raindrops to the location of Dibek. You get a feeling that the restaurant actually envelops you as you enter, and the mild mustiness belies the age of the building, which is 475 years old. This floor of the building used to be stables and a wine storage area…..

We walked down the passageway to the front desk and eventually someone took notice of us.

The serious looking gentleman walked over and asked, "did you call…did you make reservations?" I started by saying "no….." and never got to "but", before I was told, "sorry, we are full…..we are full every night this week, maybe you write your name down and we can call and let you know if we have space." At this point I mentioned, "Mustapaha (who happened to be his cousin), called and reserved a testi kebab for us." Ah, instantly the clouds parted and the sun began to shine through. "Ah, Mustapha, lamb test kebab, right? Follow me this way….." We were lead past all the crowds to an area in the rear of the restaurant and to a sunken dining area.

The food started arriving soon after….starting with the standards, Coban Salatsi (Shephard's Salad), et al…..

Then a very friendly older gentleman arrived at the table carrying at ceramic container. He placed it on the table, left and brought back a plate with pickled cabbage and rice on it.

Holding the container firmly with one hand, he gave the pottery a good whack while turning around in a circle. Eventually, the top gave way…. we could literally smell the wonderful fragrances as he poured the stew onto a plate.

There was quite a large portion of the stew in that container, and it was very tasty.

A wonderful, almost smokey flavor had permeated everything in the piece of pottery. The lamb was still fairly chewy, but very tasty…you knew you were eating lamb. The vegetables literally melted in your mouth. This was one of the more memorable dishes we had during our trip.

I'm glad we took the time to make sure we ordered this; the rest of the dishes at Dibek were average at best….most of it sorely lacking in salt.

That testi kebab made up for any other shortcomings the meal may have had…… we could not stop dipping the bread (and since this was Turkey, there was a lot of it!) in that wonderful sauce! We left satisfied and ready to hit the sack.

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day!

Xi’an – Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San (aka XLB from Jia Brother’s)

August 10, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an, Xiao Long Bao

Most of the time I'll do our travel posts in chronological order….well, because it's the most logical I guess. But looking at the photos of the Guan Tang Baozi from Jia San made me kinda skip to our meals at two of the locations. We actually ate the Guan Tang Baozi, unlike the Shanghai style soup only Baozi, these were like Xiao Long Bao….and just about one of the best things I ate on our trip to China. In fact we ate GTB (sorry can't help the abbreviation thing) three times! The Missus just couldn't get enough.

I've heard that Jia San has several locations, we ate at two of them in the bustling Muslim Quarter in Xi'an. A stop at Jia San was a must based on the recommendations from my MIL's classmate. One location, the one we ate at twice was on a super congested side street……

This one has a small downstairs dining area…..

With an open kitchen facing the street.

You know you're at the right place when you see the photos of local celebrities on the wall.

On our first visit we ate upstairs which was also packed…. and the young lady and the young man working the area were constantly screaming at each other…..bowls seemed to be flying about, and the service was perfunctory at best. For some reason the noise, clutter, and craziness reminded both of us of a place in Hanoi.

In a funny moment, the girl just finished screaming out some orders to the young man….the Missus walked to the counter and asked for something, the girl started answering in a shrill scream, until she realized that this wasn't her coworker, but an actual customer and caught herself!

The other location is right on the main road into the Muslim Quarter, right on Bai Yuan Men Jie and looks much more modern.

Looking very much like a proper restaurant. The dining area is large and well lit.

With a large kitchen in the back. This location was better staffed and there seemed to be an army of people marching out of the kitchen with ponderous stacks of obviously scorching hot bamboo steamers piled high. I wish I got a clear photo of someone carrying one of those stacks, but the best I can do is show you a typical 14 steamer stack…..folks were actual carrying twenty of these out at a time.

It also seemed like folks were eating much more at this location……..

We ate just one thing here….the mutton Guan Tang Baozi……

The mutton in the baozi was so light, it melted in your mouth. Of course it was so hot that it melted the top layer of tissue in your mouth as well. The filling was both wonderfully gamey and sweet, with a balanced amount of "soup" to meat.

The wrappers were very nice, it had a bit of pull, but unlike the glutinzed over-worked dough of most XLB, these had a gentle pillowiness to them as well.

Ever since She's had these, the Missus can't bear the tougher lamb filling in the Lamb Jiaozi from Qing Dao Bread Food, sigh……

I swear; if we stayed in Xi'an for fourteen days, we'd be eating here for at least twelve of them!

The only thing we couldn't figure out was how inconsistent the sauce for the Baozi was. It tasted different on each visit! The first time it was slightly spicy, devoid of any other flavor, and left a layer of oiliness coating the inside of your mouth.

The second time, it was mildly spicy, but also had what seemed like mutton broth in it. This was the best version.

The third time, it looked like dirty dishwater, and tasted like watered down salted broth. Well, we didn't come here for the dipping sauce did we?

To this day, all I have to do is mention the Guan Tang Bao from Xi'an to the Missus and am rewarded with an instant Pavlovian response……

Chicago: Franks N’ Dawgs

July 31, 2011 mmm-yoso Chicago, Hot Dogs, Travel

**** Franks N' Dawgs has closed

On my last visit to Chicago, I had an inkling of going to another sausage joint after Hot Dougs. But I was so stuffed (and in major need of a shower) after eating my Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage and Duck Fat fries, that there was just no room left…..

So this time Franks n' Dawgs went to the front of the line. Picking up my rental at O'Hare, I made a beeline for the Lincoln Park area and Franks n' Dawgs. Really, after hitting up Hot Doug's, how could I not check out the creations of Franks n' Dawgs….. featuring sausages like the China Town Duck ("Chinese 5 spice duck sausage, pickled lotus roots, scallion radish slaw & Mae Ploy chili sauce"), Truffle Mac 'n' Cheese Dog ("Bratwurst sausage, truffle mac ‘n’ cheese with parmesan, brioche bread crumbs & thyme"), Black Sheep ("Toasted black pepper lamb sausage, black pepper oyster sauce, buttermilk vinaigrette, macerated figs, red onions & basil"), and Triple Truffle Fries? The menu will either have you drooling, or scratching your head in wonder ( The "FU" – "Marinated tofu with grilled eggplant relish, caramelized portabellas, Italian salsa verde & chèvre").

Things didn't start out real well for me…..there's a door on the street side, and a note saying to go through the alleyway for an entrance. But there I stood like a dummy trying to figure out how I'm supposed to get in, until I regained my English comprehension skills (at least temporarily) and finally read the sign. I had a game plan with "target sausages" that I wanted to try, but for some reason that all went out the window when I walked up to the counter and read the part of the menu that said "Iron Dawg Competition". Over a period two well known chefs create a "dawg", competing on the basis of sales. If I recall correctly, whomever has the most sales survives and goes on to the next round against another challenger. So I went with one of each…..not cheap since each sausage costs almost ten bucks! This little shop does some major business, and was pretty full, but nothing like the masses at Hot Dougs.

There was one part of my visit that really cracked me up. The really friendly guy behind the counter told me to "pick your photo from the Wall of Shame"……. there are photos with a wooden backing and a strip of velcro on the back. You attach these to your table instead of numbers so the young lady in the dining area can bring you your order. It seemed like all the good ones (like Nick Nolte's mug shot) were taken. The young man, seeing that I was having a problem choosing, told me, "too bad these aren't ready yet, these would be easy choices", and held up photos of Casey Anthony and one we can call "the Weiner". In the end, I chose this famous mugshot:

The first sausage to arrive for this little piggy was This Little Piggy ($9.50):

This looked a bit overwrought with butter pickled red onions, though the remoulade added a nice bit of rich "tang" to the whole thing. The salt and vinegar chip crusted oysters tasted somewhat fishy and seemed out of place on the sausage. I loved the lobster style rolls, they just seemed perfect……richly toasted on all sides and able to stand up to these fairly rich sausages. The sausage, a garlic pork sausage seemed pretty mundane sans all the garnishes and sauce, I loved the casing which had nice snap, but the sausage itself was pretty tough.

I preferred the "Boar'n to be Wild" ($9.95):

This was a wild boar sausage topped with fried onions (it's called tempura onions, but they looked plain fried to me), pieces of fried sweet potatoes and yellow peppers. I could make out the flavor of lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, and Thai basil. This sausage was more tender and reminded me of a milder Thai or Lao sausage. It wasn't bad, but not great.

I was quite full after this meal, there's a good amount of richness in these sausages. I did regret getting side tracked and not ordering what I had planned. So I'll have to make sure to revisit in the future…. after all I just gotta get those Triple Truffle Fries, right?

Franks n' Dawgs
1863 N Clybourn Ave
Chicago, IL 60614

Xi’an: Tong Sheng Xiang (同盛祥)

July 20, 2011 mmm-yoso China, Chinese Restaurants, Travel, Xi'an

Our next stop after Nanjing was the city of Xi'an… and boy was I excited! With over 3,000 years of recorded history, along with being the beginning of the Silk Road headed west and of course the Terracotta Army, Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. And by coincidence we visited three (along with Nanjing and Beijing) of the four on this trip. Also by coincidence, our visit to Xi'an last year was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road….. this year we visited Istanbul (Constantinople) the western end of the Silk Road! What didn't make me so excited was watching this guy smoking a cigarette on the runway in Xi'an….. guys do love smoking in China.

We caught the bus from the airport to a hotel downtown, then a cab to our hotel, the Ibis Hotel near the South Gate of the city walls. Lucky for us, the Missus's Mother had a classmate who had moved to Xi'an right after college. She provided us with great info and recommendations, and one of them was Ibis Hotel, which was one of the nicer hotels we stayed at all trip….it looked new….

And once past the plumes of cigarette smoke in the lobby, the rooms looked sparkling clean……though it reminded us of a Ikea showroom. The best thing? The price at about $17 a night!

There was even a "portable" police station right outside the hotel!

After dropping off our bags we took off for our lunch destination. Xi'an is known for it's Muslim Quarter and the abundance of lamb and mutton dishes. The first thing I wanted to try was Yang Rou Pao Mo….. and we were given a recommendation of Tong Sheng Xiang. Lao Sun Jia is probably more well known, but we went with the local's recommendation.

The restaurant is easy to find…… we walked (it seemed much longer than we thought) to the mall right across from the Bell Tower, which is strangely trapped on what looks like a traffic island.

What made most of our trips much longer were the underground passages across intersections….. you go down the stairs and end up in "Grand Central" with six or sometimes eight different ways to go! We'd always choose the wrong way and end up directly across the street from our destination. After a couple of tries we managed to end up on the correct side of the street. Like many other places we dined at on our trip, Tong Sheng Xiang was a multi-level restaurant.

You enter on the south end of the building, go up a flight of stairs lined with photos of folks I assume are VIPs until you enter the dining area. It looked pretty fancy for a place selling mutton in broth with unleavened pancakes…..

We ordered a couple of other dishes with the Yang Rou Pao Mo. I really enjoyed the Jellied Mutton:

Like a good head cheese, cut with the Black Vinegar and soy sauce.

The Missus didn't care for the Mung Bean Noodles.

Too much sesame paste for Her.

On this trip, if we saw Baihe (lily bulb) on the menu, we'd order it for sure.

Baihe with Gingko is one of our standard dishes nowadays……

As for the Yang Rou Pao Mo…. if you've never had it before it's quite an interesting dish. First a plate of pretty hefty discs of unleavened bread is placed on the table…..

Along with a large bowl……

Your job is to break the bread up into bite sized pieces….. it was pretty tough going at first since the bread is very dense. How much bread? Well, I guess that depends on your appetite…..I saw a young man break up almost the whole plate! Considering how heavy this stuff was, I could only imagine how that would weigh you down after eating….

Bowls of chili paste, cilantro, and some really yummy pickled garlic is placed on the table….

And my bowl was whisked away…..leaving me wondering what evil deeds were being performed on my pieces of crumbled bread.

The bowl returned….. the bread had been covered with a thick broth, almost like gravy, the scent of mutton so thick I could cut through it. Some fatty slices of mutton, toothsome, but oh so deliciously gamey had been placed on the top.

Can you tell that I really enjoyed this?

Hearty and substantial, this would keep you going for a while after a hard day's ride on the Silk Road. Of course I hadn't travelled to Xi'an on camel, but I could imagine, right?

The Missus got a kick out of what came back after we paid our check. We were given change in what She said was "old style money". Pretty neat, huh? Old currency after eating a rustic meal in a historic city at the end of an ancient trade route……