The end of Ramazan holidays are over and today it was back to work. On Monday I made some coffee liqueur, a.k.a.: Kahlua. I followed 3 different Kahlua recipes and added my own touches. One of my touches was enforced: using vanilla powder instead of the vanilla essence required by all 3 recipes.

I looked for vanilla essence (or vanilla beans) everywhere but could not find it. Cetinkaya, the 4 storey department store/supermarket did not have it, neither did the mega store Carrefour, where I twice walked to after it wasn’t open the first time. I eventually settled for pure vanilla powder from a spice shop in the bazaar. How much per kilo? 250 new lira or 250,000,000 present day lira. I decided 20 grams was enough and forked over the 5 million for it.

In Mersin the only vanilla ingredient for sale in almost all shops is vanilla sugar, sold in 5 gram sachets. Vanilla sugar is very commonly used for cooking.

The method I used to make Kahlua on Monday is below. All the ingredient measures are imprecise as I use taste and feel to guide my cooking, not science.

Ingredients

100 grams instant coffee
1-kilo brown sugar (also hard to find in Mersin)
50 grams cocoa powder
1 litre water
20 grams pure vanilla powder
700 ml vodka

Method

1) Add the coffee, sugar, cocoa and water to a large saucepan (or in my case, a flat-bottomed wok).
2) On low heat, gently simmer for an hour or so, stirring every now and then.
3) Once cooled, add the vanilla and vodka and mix until thoroughly integrated.
4) Bottle and store, occasionally shaking, for 1 month before use.

To Serve

a) With milk and ice
b) On the rocks
c) Pour on ice cream
d) In your favourite coffee liqueur cocktail

Some advice when making the coffee liqueur: do not taste the coffee-sugar-cocoa mix too many times. Pure coffee, sugar and cocoa lead to a caffeine and sugar ‘high’. It was not a pleasant feeling!

I will write again in mid December, once the product has matured and give you my thoughts on how the homemade Kahlua worked out.

UPDATE: The Kahlua brew is not perfect but still very good, particularly added to Turkish coffee. With all the cocoa, the drink has a chocolate-coffee aroma. Next time I would probably use half as much cocoa and add the vanilla powder to the mix earlier.
If one has liquid vanilla escence it should still be added at the end.

The title of the webpage linked above is “G.O.R.A – A SPACE MOVIE” and this reflects the originality of the film.

Cem Yilmaz’s (Vizyontele) latest movie, G.O.R.A., had its premiere across Turkey on Friday. That night, Orhan and I went to the Metro cinema in Pozcu to see the film. The 9 pm session was sold out so we walked into town and eventually entered the 10.20 pm session at Boyner (formerly Carsi) cinema. G.O.R.A. was heavily hyped in Turkey and Orhan spoke about how it was meant to break records.

G.O.R.A. is set in both space and another planet. The movie is in Turkish and the comedy was less visual and the faster than Vizontele so I could not understand much. I was also very tired and slept through a great deal of both halves (movies have a break in Turkey). What I did see was enough to form some conclusions.

G.O.R.A. has several product placements, including AVEA (the company formed by the merger of Aycell and Aria), a major backer of the film. I wouldn’t be surprised if a cigarette company was also backing the film as the lead character pulled out a cigarette to smoke many times.

Think of Star Trek (or any 1980s sci-fi series) with a dash of Lord Of The Rings and a Turkish twist. This is G.O.R.A. The costumes, stereotypes, cliches and plot were stuff of b-grade legends. If the film had a saviour it was the Turkish twist. The carpet selling, coffee grounds fortune telling, sucuk (spicy sausage) growing on trees and other Turkish culture examples did give the film a sense of originality and would be funny for people who have visited Turkey.

Of course the film with English subtitles and a more awake Joe would have improved the film but I don’t think anything was going to save G.O.R.A. completely.

It was 12.30 am before we left the cinema. The streets were largely deserted except for some bank workers finally leaving the office and random small groups of men chatting in parks or at taxi ranks. As Ramazan did not finish until the following evening (Saturday), the streets displayed no evidence of people partying or having a good time. One of the retail shops had already got into the New Turkish Lira spirit and was advertising a 70 cm television for 460 YTL, the equivalent of 460,000,000 TRL. The lack of numbers displayed (only 3) seemed startling.

Orhan and I went our separate ways, walking home to different parts of town. I walked across Republic Square. The night felt liberating. In the background the whir of a coastguard helicopter at the nearby military base could be heard. In Camlibel, I passed the flack-jacketed policeman guarding an official building. The policeman seemed tense. A little further down the road a man slept and snored on a park bench. Before long, I arrived home and that was the night.

The hot water system I used to have in my apartment consisted of barrel on the apartment block roof with a electric element inside the barrel. There was no thermostat. To heat the water I turned on a switch in the bathroom.

In summer showering wasn’t a problem, as I didn’t require hot water. In winter, my shower options were severely restricted as a hot shower required 1 hour waiting for the water to heat up. For a bath, it was 3 hours of waiting. With no thermostat, if I left the heater on too long, the water would boil. As the barrel was only 2 metres higher than the shower (I live on the top floor) the water pressure was low.

All this has changed.

On Thursday Serkan and I went to the Ilhas shop and bought a new water heater for 115,000,000 TL (or 115 New Turkish Lira!) including installation and 3 years warranty. The original price was 150,000,000 TL however Serkan had seen this special deal on the Internet.

The handyman came and installed the device on Friday afternoon. The relatively small, white box fitted next to the shower and included a new rose. Now all I need to do to have a steaming hot shower is to turn the tap, adjust the heater to the second position and wait a few seconds for the hot water to appear. As the hose utilises the cold mains tap, the shower pressure is much better.

In short, the new shower is heaven!

I experienced my first piece of heaven Friday evening. After work I was due to meet Orhan and see the new Turkish movie G.O.R.A.. I will write about the movie later. Previously, in a similar situation I could have either: a) left work at an exact time to go home and turn the heater; b) had a cold shower; or, c) gone without a shower. Now, I have option a1) go home and have an instantaneous, hot, steaming and pressurised shower!

I have sorted my server and email problems so I can now get the blog posting up to date.

I had a semi-regular look at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s travel advice for Turkey, and, guess what?

DFAT have downgraded the travel advice. For the period from the Istanbul bombings in 2003 up until 17 October this year, they recommended Australian defer all non-essential travel. On 17 October they changer their advice and now:

Australians should defer non-essential travel to southern Turkey, especially in the border region between Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

I am very happy they have finally changed their advice but I still have a problem with it. Southern Turkey can be interpreted as an area south of a line from Izmir to Van. Do they really recommend Australians avoid all of this area or do they only mean south eastern Turkey?

I am about to move the servers for this blog. The movement will change the blog address from the ultra long http://users.chariot.net.au/~jktaheny/blogger/blog.htm to

taheny.com. Much better, hey?

Previously, taheny.com forwarded to the users.chariot address. Now, the blog will stay at taheny.com. Please adjust your bookmarks to this new address.

UPDATE [13 November 2004]: I had some trouble with the transfer but now it is all okay. http://taheny.com/ should now be working fine.

A couple of important dates to the religious and secular in Turkey.

Qadr Night

Last night, the 27th of Ramadan, was “Qadr Night” (Kadir Gecesi), the night the Koran was shown to the Prophet Mohammed for the first time. For Muslims, it is a very holy night.

Although this is my fourth Ramazan in Turkey, This is the first time I recall hearing about Qadr Night. When Onur mentioned it to me I thought he said “kadin gecesi” (ladies’ night). A slight difference in pronunciation can make a large difference in meaning!

Ataturk’s Death

At 9.05 am on 10 November 1938, Ataturk died. Today is the 66th anniversary of his death. At the same time each year, for a few minutes, many people stand at attention, sirens sound and traffic stops (including the Bosphorous ferries).

A few minutes ago whilst in the toilet I heard a siren. I thought the sound was an emergency vehicle and it led to thoughts about a home burning or some other emergency. I was relieved to discover the siren was only ceremonial.

PS: Mix FM, the local radio station is currently playing “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. Check the lyrics. I don’t think it is coincidental this song is playing on the anniversary of Ataturk’s death.

Visit NewLira.com to see the New Turkish Lira notes and coins. The new and old lira note pictures are also detailed.

An informative article in the International Herald Tribune explaining why Turkey’s proposed EU entry will be good for European business. The article also contains a useful summary of Turkey’s current economic conditions.