June 20- Darkale

Özlem had offered to guide us to one of Soma's best kept secrets this morning. A very old, small mining town called Darkale located about 3km from Soma. It existed before Soma but its population is shrinking since larger cities now offer more promising opportunities for the new generation. As sad as it is to see so many of Darkale's houses abandoned, the town has not lost its charm and the milk is still delivered by horse. 

The fish restaurant in Darkale is famous in the Soma region and Özlem insisted on inviting us for lunch. So far we had learned that Özlem is a school teacher and a really enthusiastic guy to hang out with. Supposedly he is also the author of a successful childrens book. He had brought a signed copy with him as a gift for us. So cool! Just need to learn Turkish now so we can read it. Once seated, he had another surprise for us. As we waited for our food he pulled out a flute from his back pack and serenaded us to a good appetite with Turkish folk tunes. It was almost surreal sitting there on the restaurant in the cool shade of the large trees surrounding the restaurant, nestled against one side of the narrow valley.

 The fresh trout along with all the Turkish side dishes was delicious!!

The image below is of the traditional Turkish Ingir Tatlı (Sweet Fig) Dessert we had. I have not tried to make it but it looks quite simple. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb dried figs
• 2 cups warm water to soak the figs
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 table spoon unsalted butter
• Handful of walnuts for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Wash and drain the figs. In a bowl, let the figs soak in warm water for 30 minutes.

Put butter in a shallow pot. Heat the pot until butter melts. Spread the butter to the bottom as evenly as possible. Turn off heat.

Remove figs from water. Cut the tops. Open up a hole at the top. Fill each fig with walnuts. Place them in the shallow pot with the openings at the top.

In a separate pot, combine milk, water and sugar. Warm it, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk mixture to the figs. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat, let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let it cool to room temperature. Transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with walnuts.

I recommend drizzling some Tahini over everything at the end. Mmmmm, power food!!!

source: http://yaseminskitchen.blogspot.com/2012/07/walnut-stuffed-figs-cevizli-kuru-incir.html?m=1

THANK YOU ÖZLEM FOR THE WONDERFUL MORNING. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN HANGING OUT WITH YOU :-)))

Spent most of the afternoon route planning. One last tea with the ladies before going to bed.
THANK YOU SO MUCH GÜLEY AND ERDAL AND EVERYBODY WE MET IN SOMA FOR YOUR KINDNESS AND HOSPITALITY. IT WAS SUCH A PLEASURE TO SPEND TIME WITH YOU!