The Fish Evening

Tuesday

Breakfast is always a good starting point for the day (that is after waking up), here in the hotel, it is all there except pork, this means no bacon, or pork sausages, but with such a splendid array or egg dishes, scrambled, boiled, fried or omelettes, plain, filled or Spanish, French toast, Turkish sausages spicy, local cheeses, goats, sheep and cow. Cereals for every taste, salads, smoked salmon and trout, you name it they have it, well almost! No poached eggs!!! Ah well, I can wait.

The array of breads has to be seen to be believed, warm filled rolls and twists, the pile of fresh breads absolutely fantastic and not a Mothers Pride wrapper in site. All the bread is freshly baked each day.

After breakfast I went for a walk around the hotel and took this shot of an early morning dipper coming out of the pool.





The blighter was in the all together and that in Turkey!!

I had decided before I came on holiday that I would be getting new specs here, about 50% cheaper than in Germany, I spoke to the optician and told him that I thought that my focal distances had changed and that while driving I had difficulty focus on distant objects (signs and the like). I have an appointment to go to the ophthalmic surgeon in January, I wanted a one before I left for holidays but alas none to be had.
He booked me an appointment with a local ophthalmist , I was driven there to find a wonderful young lady, a queue of 12 and more coming by the minute. I was as usual given a glass of tea (it happens everywhere). They wait was worth it she was thoroughly professional with all of the most modern equipment. She worked at the speed of light, I reckoned that she was earning €200,- an hour and working 6 days a week and 8 hours per day that meant she was coining in a cool € 9600,- a week. (Though I am sure she pays taxes). I was later to find out she doesn’t need to work, her husband owns 2 hotels and her father 3. She only doe’s tourists and cash in the hand. I did get a receipt!
But eye tests done back to the opticians, picked my frames (German light weights), specs will be ready on Thursday.

I then went back to the hotel and had a bowl of soup for lunch, there is a fantastic buffet at the pool restaurant and a grill and döner down at the beach bar. I must try that this week.
 We arranged to have a walk later that afternoon (Linda was having Massages and I was in the sport centre on the power cycle). We met up and walked along the beach and then onto a new promenade

through Pomegranate and olive glades.

Overhead the micro-light making its last flight of the evening and as we later found out of the season, I had aimed to do a photographic flight the next day!

 

Passing new hotels, some still in a state of construction, some being demolished to make way for the newest venture, this once agricultural peasant land being turned into a concrete tourist landscape, progress? Turkey beware! Do not do the same mistakes as Spain, Portugal and Greece.

 

The evening anglers

Fishing in the sunset

We watched some Polish lads fishing in the setting sun and found a Moray eel washed up in the surf, which had got itself entangled in a fishing line, nothing to be done, it was dead.



We passed a fisherman putting out his nets into the sea, for a nights fishing, just as the sun was setting. The sun sets at 17:00 prompt and within a couple of minutes the ball of fire had sunk beneath the horizon.



Reaching the bridge that crossed the small river that enters the sea at this point in the bay, it is also a starting point for some of the Manavgat river trips.



On the bridge was a digital clock and thermometer, November temperature in the evening.




We got the taxi back to our hotel and got ready for our evening meal, tonight was the a la carte fish night, in the restaurant that Linda had book for us.

We studied the menu (well Linda did)



We started with a very nice smoked fish soup; this had just the right amount of smokiness and was well flavoured.





She does eat ever so dainty!

Next came the sea food cocktail, this was very pretty, well decorated and tasty to boot, it contained prawns, shrimps, smoked salmon, stuffed cucumber, Russian salad. It was a very well composed plate of food both in looks and taste.



The very pretty starter



About to destroy a thing of beauty

During the whole meal the young waiter was most attentive, explained the menu, our glasses never empty, he was speedy and very professional.

The following course was a whole calamari tube, cut in a fan shape and coated in a very fine tempura batter, the calamari soft and tasty and the batter crisp and light, it sat on a small salad of radish, rocket and red peppers and a nice herb yoghurt sauce. Well done that cook!




The main was Bass, Lampuki or grilled prawns

I plugged for the Bass and Linda the Lampuki, I have caught and eaten Lampuki many times in Malta and Italy, it is wonderful meaty fish, but this time I fancied the Bass.

The main courses served, mine a wonderful portion sized Bass, perfectly seasoned and wonderful and juicy inside. It was accompanied by a very nice mixed salad, all made with local produce.

Linda thought her Lampuki exquisite, a nice flavoured, well-cooked piece of fish, it came mounted on top of a pile of shredded carrots, red and green peppers. The dressing was a very nice mustard sauce which was served in a separate shot glass.

Both of our fish cooked perfectly moist, well-seasoned again top marks to the chef.

We passed on the Desserts, Linda is only taking desserts every 4th day and the only dessert I eat on a regular basis is Christmas pudding.

During the meal a very crisp dry Turkish Sauvignon blanc was served, very pleasant to the palate and the ever observant young waiter made sure your glass wasn’t for more than 2 seconds, a very fine, well trained lad.



We then went and found our friends and sat in one of the many bars and chatted for a while, our friends went up to their room and I went into the 24 hour patisserie and watched the football with like-minded footy freaks.

The Patisserie is a meeting point; you can play rummy, have a game of chess or backgammon, read a book, drink mocha or an apple tea or just simply write up your blog. The ever attentive waiters and waitresses flitting between the tables and couches making sure you want for nothing. I drank my beer (s) and watched the football.   

A pleasant end to a very pleasant day

Turkey Holidays day 1 & 2

 

Autumn Holiday in Turkey

Earlier in the year our very good friends in Berlin said that they would be celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary, and  Wille would be celebrating his birthday in Turkey this year and anyone that fancied coming was welcome. So that was it we booked and got a very good early booker deal.

We had an early start on Sunday morning the flight was at 05:00 so this meant getting up at 01:00 and setting off for Hannover airport, great at this time of the morning no traffic, so an uneventful trip, drop Linda off at the departure terminal and parked the car in the adjacent multi-story car park.

Cup of tea and through the check in, normal security checks, all quite painless. We got on our plane to discover that the plane was only 60% full and the hostess said you can take your booked seat of change to any free seat that you wish. Normal aeroplane breakfast , I do wish they would have a bit of imagination, but it wasn’t too bad I suppose.

Turkey

Arrived in Atalya picked up our bags got our transfer bus and arrived at the Royal Atlantis Spa and Hotel.

 We arrived before our room was ready (we had been originally been in another part, but we asked about which area our friend was in and they said did we wish to be in the same block, we said yes that would be nice. The reception said our room would be ready at 12, but no problem we got our all-inclusive band and got shown down to the breakfast room, we had our 2^nd breakfast and this was a great improvement on the first.

We went out to the beach bar and sat in the shaded tree covered area, I drank a cold white wine and watched from the side-lines as the midday meal was started, I had a look at the menu and much to my delight all of the items had their calorific values, now this is something that other hotels could take on board.

The complex has 6 restaurants, 2 buffet type, the beach, the pool a la carte , a fish a la carte and a Turkish a la carte. The a la carte restaurants must be pre booked in the morning, as this was the last week that they would be open, we booked for the Tuesday and Wednesday so that was taken care of.

One of the pools as seen from our room

The View of thr Taurus Mountains from our Balcony

We got our electronic key and our bags got taken up by the ever friendly porter. We unpacked and had a quick shower and a bit of a nap (we had been on the go since 01:00 don’t forget). Our Friends had been out on the beach and phoned us to inform us we would be meeting for dinner at 18:30.

We had a look around the locality right in front of the hotel is the main Bazars, we had a look around popped into a bar for a couple of beers (was a footy match on the tele).

The entrance to the Bazars, this covers about 2 blocks and you can buy most things here!

The date palms at the hotel entrance

Our Friends had selected the main buffet restaurant for our first evening, it did have something for everyone, salads of every sort, hue and taste, at the buffet you could select from any amount of warm food, fish, meat, vegetarian, you name it something for everyone (except pork eater of course). Red wine came fast and plenty, the waiters and waitresses so attentive as soon as it was empty.  Linda even had a pudding tut tut bad girl.

After we had finished, our friends suggested we go to one of the bars that had live music on and dancing, so we popped into the bar and drank a few beers and couple or three raki’s it was a smashing start to our Holiday.

Monday and the ancient harbour city of Side

We had decided that we would go into Side on a recce, it was a smashing day, so we got on a dolmus and after a change of busses (only Linda and I on he dolmus) got into Side.

The antiquities

Side like most of this coast line is covered in antiquities, ruins, temples, towns and cities this area had been Greek, Roman, and then Byzantine prior to it becoming part of the Ottoman Empire. The bus dropped us of at the main bus station, you are straight away into the antiquities, a very large fountain, this is being renovated, there are two schools of thought, to leave them   as ruins or to try and renovate them into a state that they could have been when functioning. I find that by doing this you are very likely to destroy other epochs and in the case of Side it can be seen that much of the Greek and Roman building material has been incorporated into the later Byzantine city walls.

Passing through the now almost totally destroyed main city gate. Though some of the walls are in surprisingly good condition.

We walked down what had been the columned main street

(there was another that went to the East), the main street had once been lined with shops and houses

 with merchants mansions behind overlooking the commercial centre , with its central temple that has been in part renovated.

This is adjacent to the Pamphylia  a semi-circular theatre built in the style of the Roman Amphitheatres. The Pamphylia has also been renovated somewhat, but the Scenia has collapsed onto what would have been the stage and is just a pile of loose rubble, in its heyday it would have seated up to 20,000.

To the left of the Pamphylia the road turns through the Vespacian gate

 and its adjacent temple to Dionysius, with its inscription,

 this is not in its original place but must have been moved and set into the City walls some time in antiquity, there is also a lavatory under repair (good job I didn't want to go).

 and the museum is situated on the site of the public baths.

On passing through the small gate between the Pamphylia walls and the Dionysius temple you arrive at a nice area with a fountain and park benches and from there into the modern City of Side with its mired of shops, bazars , bars, cafes and restaurants.

This is a pedestrian area and leads down to the harbour, the two temple areas one too Apollo, the other to Diana, these where raised during the Byzantine period to make way to a large Basilica, this in turn made way for a much smaller church.

The shops and harbour area

Passing down to the waterfront you arrive at the area with its cafes and restaurants, take the time to stop off and have a freshly pressed Pomegranate (the Side means pomegranate in the ancient Anatolian language)

We walked along the commercial harbour wall before turning up along some restaurants that had taken the opportunity to use some ruins as a shaded sitting area. One had a couple of tortoises and a baby one, used to lure unsuspecting tourists into the restaurant.

We then walked to the fishing harbour, passing the fishing co-op selling the catch of the day, we saw quite a few people with their fishing rods and a couple of harpoon fishers just coming out of the water.

We stopped for a nice cold glass of water (it was my fast day) and Linda a couple of coffees, we chatted to a nice couple from Reading (yes there are very nice couples in Reading) it was the wife’s Birthday (I didn’t ask which one that would have been cheeky and that isn’t my style LoL) she was originally from Edinburgh. We spent a good hour before heading back along the promenade and up to the bus station to get our Dolmus (it means crush) back to our hotel in Gündogdu in time for dinner. This evening we had selected to go to the buffet with our friends, up changed and into the restaurant, there is something for everyone  I had a smashing salad and fish with Turkish vegetables  and a nice cheese platter with a nice red wine. We then adjourned to the bar and had a couple of beers and a few Raki’s, before heading off to bed, it had been a long hot day.

A Spanish Restaurant in Rheda - El-Espanol

I had been here a couple of times in the summer sitting out drinking wine and eating tapas, a couple of weeks ago I decided to try inside, mainly as they had shut up the outside service area. It was a most enjoyable meal, the service prompt and friendly. I decided that as Linda was coming up on Thursday I may as well book a table and we could have a nice evening meal as a start to our holidays.

Let me explain a little about El-Espanol, it is in one of the oldest half timbered houses in Rheda, and situated in one of the oldest parts of the Dual Town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück. It lies at the end of the road (Steinweg) that leads from the wonderful Rheda Schloß, adjacent to it the site of  the Rheda Synagogue, this fell to the thugs of the National Socialists on the infamous Reichkristalllnacht, when on the 9-10 November 1938 throughout the whole of Germany Synagogues and Jewish businesses where torched and the windows of Jewish families smashed (the sound of breaking Chrystal) and the occupants  terrorised. It was the start of one of the darkest parts of German History to end with 6,000,000 later being deported to the extermination camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka and other places of shame. Rheda did not escape this chapter of shame and was "Jewish Free" at a very early stage in the Era of Nastional Socialism.

It is also situated on Doktorplatz once the centre of the town and the position of the ancient Rathaus(town hall), the town hall was demolished in 1860 and all that remains of it is a single column in front of the now El-Espanol. In fact it is in the summer beer garden.

When I first came to live in Rheda almost 20years ago, the building was also used as a restaurant, also a fantastic one called the Münze, served the best steaks in the area, it closed about 10 years ago and since then the building has changed hands many times. I wish the present restaurant a long and successful life.

We arrived and the waiter immediately showed us to our seats, the restaurant was quite full (I had been informed of this when I had been in to book the table at lunch time, I had wanted a to have a table on one of the upstairs levels, but had been told no chance all taken. I must here tell you that the restaurant is run by and staffed with Moroccans, not that has anything to do with the quality of either the service or the food.

I already knew what I was having for a starter, it was the same as I had the last time Chaperone's, this was to be followed by a Spanish sirloin steak, topped with Serrano ham and patas bravas with a spicy concasse , beside this was a nice salad. also was a pot of aioli and a basket of warm bread, Linda had ordered also squid, but cooked in its own juices and served cold, but when she ordered the fish plater, the waiter immediatly said, I think it would be unwise as the main course is very big and I don't think you will manage both.  We took his word for it and Linda shared my starter.

We had ordered a carafe of Rioja, this was very nice, but then as my Sister-in Law (Manuela) would say there are better wines in Spain than Rioja.

 

The chaperone's came along served with bread and a nice salad, a very good portion.

 

 



The chaperone's had been grilled to perfection, just a drizzle of olive oil and a mixed salad with a diced tomato and herb dressing with a few rocket leaves.

I am a lover of sea food (in fact any food) but it must be well cooked and these chaperone's were perfect.

Next came the main course, I will start with Linda's first. The waiter had been right, the plate was full of fish, this was not a kids portion, it was a portion for those with hearty appetite, in fact it could do 2 people (a good tip for those visiting and for us the next time), it had three large fish fillets (cod, salmon and red fish- rotbarsch) and 2 large prawns, 5 pata bravas and a pile of mixed salad. Linda said it was fantastic and very well cooked.

Mine, the Spanish steak was done exactly how I like my steak, and exactly how I told the waiter I wanted it cooked in Germany it is called "English", I call it very rare. It was done to the point, it was served topped with a slice of Serrano air dried ham and very well spiced concasse sauce. The accompaniments the same as Linda's. The steak was very well cooked, as I said to my wish and to my expectations, well done that chef, it is not always so, the spicy tomato sauce, with just the right amount of fire in it.

It was a very nice evening, very nice indeed. our waiter could not have been better, Attentive, very observant, not pushy, he noticed when we had finished and promptly, removed the plates, asking if we would like to be served straight away or wait for the main course ( a sign that the food is freshly cooked). We had a nice chat and he told us he had been in England working and that he was a fan of Newcastle United and Alan Shearer, that made him my favourite waiter if not in the world then certainly in Nord Rhein Westfalian.

If you are ever down that way, visit the Rheda Schloß with its moats, parks and orangery (often have concerts and art exhibitions here), have a walk along the river Ems between Rheda and Wiedenbrück, through the Flora Westfalia a route that was laid out or the Bundes Gartenschau many years ago, it has a well laid out rose garden, lawns, flower beds, woods that are being returned to nature, through allowing them to fall and grow without the help of man, only the trees at the side of the paths and cycle tracks are cut back for safety reasons. I have often done bits about this in the past and will not do it again here.

Thank you El Espanol for a very nice start to our Holidays.

Teriyaki beef with Udon noodles and a Japanese salad

I had been to our local abattoir to see what they had on special offer and saw that they has fillet steak for a paltry €20,-a kilo, now this was a bargain so I decided to get myself a thick 300g chunk, not knowing what I was going to do with it. I must tell you that at the minute I am on a diet to get my cholesterol, triglyceride, sugar and weight down (I was bordering on the obese level). This had been playing havoc with my sugar levels. I am doing the 5&2 method, this is where you fast for two days and eat normal for 5 days. The two fast days (below 600Kcals/day) can be any 2 days that you choose, it is not a fixed day so you can swap any day that doesn’t suit you. I have lost 7kg in about 6 weeks and do not find it a hardship, with a bit of fore thought you can come up with some very nice and tasty (important) food in a 300Kcal menu, and that twice a day will do the trick. I had bought the steak on Thursday on my way to the Docs for get my 6 monthly check up, with the view of cooking it on Friday, but how was the only problem.

I was reading a magazine in the waiting room and in it was an oriental section and part was taken up with healthy Japanese food culture and there it was beef Teriyaki with a Japanese salad.

I have adapted this as they used bottle sauce and I have made as near as I could an authentic sauce.

Fillet steak Teriyaki with Japanese salad.

For one person (I am just one)

You shall require:

275-300g fillet steak sliced into not too thin slices

 

Teriyaki marinade sauce

2 tbsp. wok oil

4 thin slices of ginger

100g sugar snap peas

100g green beans

½ tsp. salt

2 small chilli’s sliced thinly

1 small tomato diced

1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

To make your own marinade

3 tbsp. of mirin

2 tbsp. dark soy sauce

2 tbsp. honey

2 tsp. dry sherry (instead of sake)

2 tsp. rice vinegar (the type used to make sushi rice)

1 tsp.  grated ginger

1 spring onion sliced fine

Mix all of the ingredients together and marinade the steak in this for at least 6 hours.

 

 

Bring a pan of water to the boil add the salt and blanch the beans, remove with a slotted spoon and cool in ice water, repeat with the sugar snap peas.

Noodles

1 sachet (200g) Udon noodles

1 sachet of miso soup

Make the miso soup to 5ooml

Add the noodles and heat through

 

The salad

½ red pepper sliced on a mandolin

1 spring onion cut into 3 cm pieces and sliced length ways very thin

3 cm piece of carrot grated

The sugar snap peas sliced very fine

2 tbsp. Gari (pickled ginger)

1 tbsp. sesame oil

Place all on a large platter leaving space for the Udon noodles and drizzle with the sesame oil.

Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok, add the ginger and fry for a few seconds, drain the steaks (don’t rub the marinade off) and add to the pan, now stir fry quickly, remove and set aside.

 

 

Now add the rest of the marinade add the green beans, the diced tomatoes and sesame seeds

 

Place the noodles in the middle, put the sliced steak on top and pour over the teriyaki sauce with the chilli bean sauce.

That’s it folks.

 

Sage and Onion - Tear and Share Loaf (The HBs)

Hairy Bikers Sage and onion tear and share loaf.
 

I must say this one was supposed to be done at the same time as the fougasse, but a funny thing happened on the way to the theatre, I in my pure stupidity used fresh yeast instead of quick acting dried yeast, for reasons that I myself don’t really understand as I had about 5 sachets with me and the piece of yeast that I did use cost about €0.10. I suppose it was me just being thrifty and as I had this piece of live yeast left over from the fougasse thought I may as well use it. Result being it didn’t react so well and in fact didn’t come up to proving until the next morning. But one thing is sure when I did bake it , it was fantastic, light and so tasty, I shall try it this weekend with the fast acting yeast and compare, but I cannot see it being any better.

So let us get baking.

I will give you the recipe from Si and Dave with an asterisk* of any changes that I made and a reason why.

150 ml of fresh full milk * (we only had low fat) and a bit for brushing the top.

400g of strong bread flour * (Germany 550 mehl).

1 sachet (7g) of fast acting yeast * (I used normal bakers fresh yeast about 20g).

1 tsp caster sugar * (I used normal as I had no caster, for Germans this is fein rafinade).

1 tsp of fine sea salt * (all salt came from the sea at one time so I used what I had).

15g butter.

1 tbsp sunflower oil * (I used peanut oil).

1 large onion (how big is large?? Always baffles me when they cannot be a bit more exact, such as 150g) peeled and chopped.

1 clove of garlic crushed.

15-20 sage leaves * (I only had about 10) plus the 8 to decorate.

Fresh ground pepper.

Method

Heat 150ml of water and the milk in a saucepan until it is blood heat (now in the HB original list of ingredients there is no mention of water! Why?).

 

Sift the flour into a large baking bowl (I have one of those nice beige coloured ones just like “Wor Mams and as you notice so has Linda), mix in the yeast *(in my case crumbled), the sugar and salt.

 

Make a well in the centre of the flour, and add the water and milk mixture into flour and mix well (I suppose you could have used a processor with a dough hook, but the lads said a wooden spoon).

 

Gather it into a ball and turn out onto a floured board * it may well have been my fault but the dough was exceedingly wet, now I don’t mind this as a wet dough will normally lead to a light and airy bread.

Knead for 10 minutes, it was like massaging flubber (can anyone remember flubber).

Place the dough in a well oiled bowl covered with oiled cling film for 45-60 minutes until doubled in size, now here I discovered my mistake, it had not doubled it was just showing signs of increasing in size, as I wanted it for that evening, I just let it get on and do its proving.
 

I did cook the onion, garlic and sage in the butter and oil over a low heat. Seasoned with plenty of black pepper, this I set aside to cool (until the next morning).

 

Next morning after I had been to pick up my car, I had a look at the dough and as it was now doubled in size, I now proceeded as directed and spooned the onion mixture on top and kneaded it in, the lads said use a bit of flour if it becomes too sticky and boy did I need that extra flour.

Here the instructions said form into 8 neat balls by pulling equal pieces from the large ball, this was not as easy as it sounded, in fact it was neigh on impossible, the dough was that soft and sticky I was glad to get 8 mis-shaped balls out of it and onto the baking tray covered with baking paper. I put one in the centre and surrounded it with 7 others (of varying shapes and sizes, I thought, this is going to be a right pigs ear). I covered with an oiled piece of cling film, hoping upon hope that it did not live up to its name.

I placed on top of the cooker to prove for 45 minutes (the cooker was not on and the kitchen was quite warm so it was ideal proving conditions. I went to watch a bit of tele (I do like the Andrew Mare show on a Sunday morning). On returning low and behold, I kid you not, it actually had formed into a relatively uniform loaf, I was so chuffed.

On went the oven at 180°C and when it came up to heat, I placed a sage leaf on the top of each ball, milk washed the top and popped it into the middle of the oven for 20 minutes checking half way through (for the mathematicians amongst you that is 10 minutes), I turned it so that it got an evening browning. (a sunset tan??)

I was quite impressed with the finished result so I slid it out onto a cooling rack (well Linda doesn’t have a proper one so it was a roasting rack that came to the aid).
 

Now I must say I do not know how it was meant to taste and feel but this was light and airy, had a nice moist crumb and tasted absolutely fantastic. Linda was impressed when I gave her a piece with some left over shrimp butter, well that’s what it is all about this tear and share bread lark. Well done lads, I shall try it again this weekend.