I'm reaching in a different direction this week. Let's talk Turkish food and music. Zen in the Kitchen talks about the simple pleasures in eating bread with fresh olive oil. Tastes of Mavi Boncuk gives us a background to the history of the Turkish national drink Raki, and Almost Turkish Recipes shows us what Raki and meatballs have in common:

Tekirdağ, my hometown, is renown for its rakı (Turkish brandy made from grapes) and meatballs. Tekirdağ rakı is famous because although it's made from raisins everywhere else, in Tekirdağ rakı it's made from fresh grapes. As for meatballs, the recipe is a mystery. The recipe is not widely known, because nobody in Tekirdağ would make Tekirdağ meatballs at home; you go out to one of the billion meatball restaurants in town for meatballs.

Yogurtland teaches us about Ashura, a dessert rumoured to have been made on Noah's Ark:

Here is a another traditional dessert from Turkey, which I am yet to find another country in the region to have it in their repertoire. Please let me know if you know any other cultures having this tradition.

Its name comes from Arabic, in which ashura literally means “tenth.” A dessert that is made on the 10th day of the Islamic calendar. Since Islamic calendar is based on moon, it is 10 days shorter than the Gregorian, hence this day as well as every Islamic holiday has a different date every year. One should not confuse this dessert with the day of ashura. Even though it is a custom to cook this dessert on that day, it is not a religious ceremony.

A story of this dessert tells us that it was a meal made in the Noah’s ark, right after the great flood was over. As you can see in the ingredients list, the main items of the dessert are the grains that one can hardly associate with any dessert.

After watching a video on Erkan's Field Diary, I took a little odyssey on iTunes and found some interesting Turkish podcasts that I would like to share with you. Blog Tarkan Deluxe has posted a podcast with a recent interview with Turkish pop artist Tarkan. Two Istanbul DJs have regular podcasts (both of which are great fun!) Turkish House Mix with DJ Bulut and DJ Murat Uncuoglu.

METU‘s (Middle East Technical University) College Radio Station, Radyo ODTU, has the distinction of being the first Turkish radio station to begin regular internet and podcast broadcasts.

And of course if you want to work on your travel Turkish, you can always study Turkish with Sinan.

Well, that is all I have for you today, 5 podcasts available on iTunes, but there seems to be an emerging Turkish podcast market. The more I learn, the more I will pass on to you. Until next week!