The above photo is of “Yunus Et Market“. In English this means: “Dolphin Meat Market”. Unlike most butchers in Turkey, this butcher in Silifke specialises in dolphin meat.

The dolphin meat is a by-product of the tuna trawlers in the Adriatic. The butcher receives the meat at a discount price as it cannot be sold in the EU or EU member countries. With Turkey beginning official membership talks with the EU there is strong pressure for the trade to be made illegal, drastically affecting Yunus Et Market and other dolphin meat distributors.

I’ve never knowingly tasted dolphin meat so I can’t give a first-hand account. People have said the taste is a cross between game and red meat.

Although not official, I’ve heard one of the main uses for dolphin meat is as a filler for lamb and chicken doner stacks. Apparently the meat is very good for holding the doner stacks together and the flavour does not differ enough from either chicken or lamb to be greatly noticeable.

When you next have a doner in southern Turkey you may want to ask the restaurant if it contains dolphin meat.

For a while in the last week this website was down. An anti-war hacker (with a Turkish email address, oddly enough) accessed the server my website is hosted on and promoted an anti-war message written in poor English. All is okay now and this website has moved to a new server.

Last night the moon was full and low over Mersin:

LIBBY Taheny is more water-wise than most. Along with some of her neighbours in Union Street, Northcote, she is already conserving water by installing a drip irrigation system in her garden, recycling the rinse water from her washing machine and installing flow reduction devices.

But even she had her eyes opened when she attended a series of information sessions organised by commmunity education group Watermark Australia.

“The information we learnt was amazing,” she says. “Just realising how much water is used in the production of food; how much we waste; how crucial the water problem is in Australia.”

Ms Taheny, a horticulturist, along with a small group of neighbours, felt that as individuals there was not much they could do to influence water policy. But they could make practical changes and perhaps persuade others to do the same.

UPDATE: Below is the photo accompanying The Age article. Auntie Libby (on the far left) thinks the photo is ‘horrendous’ so that is good enough reason for me to include it 🙂

Reading the TV guide on Saturday I discovered my favourite American comedy Married… With Children is showing on CNBC-e at 19:15 Monday to Thursday and 11:30 Saturday and Sunday morning 🙂

For the first time in living memory I have had 2 or more consecutive days off work and not travelled. Well, I did travel a short distance–down the coast with Levent to his family’s rental flat in Tomuk. Coincidentally, Buket and her family were staying only 3 levels above in the same complex and building!

Lots of swimming in the sea and pool, eating of great food (icli kofte, lamb stew, a full Turkish breakfast and amazing lahmacun) and chatting with good people all took place; email writing, hotel searching and long-distance bus travelling did not.

I am now refreshed, slightly sunburnt and ready to get back to work.