Afyonkarahisar: City of heroic history, delicious food

Due to its location on the crossroads of favorite holiday destinations, Afyonkarahisar province has always been our stopover point during our car journeys; hence, it was high time for me to get in the car and discover Afyonkarahisar for good. I do not have an eye on its famous sucuk, which is a kind of dry, spicy sausage. Turkish cherry bread pudding was the one that whet my appetite. I still remember the taste of the dessert served with delicious Afyonkarahisar's kaymak, which is a creamy dairy product similar to clotted cream. Lamb kebab, döner and village bread with poppy seeds are other dishes also still haunting my memory. So, let's take a quick visit to Afyon as the weather cools and winter is at the door. Let's rest in its healing thermal waters, eat and drink plenty.

We can divide Afyonkarahisar into two sections, new and old. Old Afyonkarahisar is the area where old mansions now run as restaurants and boutique hotels are located. We can also call it the bustling and crowded part of the city. The bazaars and the famous castle of the city are also here. It's perfect for getting lost in the streets and photographing historic buildings.

First stop: Afyonkarahİsar Castle

We can start our visit to the city with Afyonkarahisar Castle. The castle, which has continuously passed through different hands, starting from the Hittites to the Ottoman Empire, was the subject of many legends. Today, we can only see the walls of the castle, located across from the Grand Mosque in the center. To reach the castle, you need to climb 1,000 stairs. The food in Afyonkarahisar so delicious that the idea of doing a little exercise by climbing up to the castle doesn't sound so bad. An endless Afyonkarahisar view is waiting for you on the hill. The entrance to the castle is free. Afterward, you can take a breather in the old mansions that have now been converted into cafes or eat gözleme, a flat bread filled with meat, spinach or cheese. Both the stairs and the fresh air tend to make people hungry.

Where Great Offensive started

Apart from the thermal hotels, Kocatepe is often the place visited first. You will have an interesting experience if you go with a guide to the place where the Great Offensive was kicked off on Aug. 26, 1922 by Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In almost every city, there is a grand mosque. This one is known as the Mosque of 40 Pillars, as it was built on a total of 40 wooden pillars. You can visit the mosque dating back to the Seljuk period between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Afyonkarahisar Mevlevi lodge is one of the oldest ones in Anatolia. Afyonkarahisar has become an important center of the Mevlevi order. The Mevlevi lodge, which is thought to have been built in the 13th century, was restored in 2008 after having survived many fires and was put into service as a museum. There are dervish rooms, kitchens and cemeteries in its garden. You can visit the museum free of charge.

Journey to the past

You can visit Anıtpark, which was erected in the memory of the city's salvation from Greek occupation in 1936.

Triumphal Museum next to the government office was used by Atatürk as headquarters during the Great Offensive. It is open during working hours.

If you are interested in antiquities, there is also an archaeological museum with a rich collection. It is open every day but Mondays.

Çeşmeli Konak (mansion with a fountain) is also the first special museum and serves as a culture and art center.

Pastries, sucuk, kaymak and more

Afyonkarahisar definitely deserves a gastronomy tour; moreover, its cuisine offers much more than the bread pudding, kaymak and sucuk, which I mentioned in the beginning.

Everyone has heard of İkbal Restaurant, which was founded in 1922. It has two branches: One is on the main road, while the other is in the center. In general, vacationers take a break on the road; however, the taste of the restaurant in the center is different. Its tandır is delicious. Do not forget to leave space for cherry bread pudding.

Have you ever tried sucuk döner? It is a dish you should absolutely try in Afyonkarahisar, and the best place to eat it is Gamze Döner. Don't forget to order some foamy handmade ayran, Turkey's famous yogurt drink, with it.

Almost everyone has visited Şefika Aunt's house in the village of Ayazini. She is also famous and was on nearly every television channel. Her gözleme with potatoes, cheese, spinach and mixed ingredients are very tasty. She grows the products she uses in her own field.

Aşçı Bacaksız (Chef Bacaksız), which has been serving since 1840, is now one of the cornerstones of the city. You should stop by to try famous its lamb kebab, which takes three days to prepare.

Salim Chef was a cook at the palace in the past. His grandchildren run the restaurant, which was named after him in the grand bazaar in the center. In the restaurant, you can try dishes like tandır and güveç kavurma.

If you want to take some cherry bread pudding home, visit Aftat. They pack it so well that it will reach your home still ready to eat.

Simple, Delicious Food For The Intermediate Days Of Passover

The Cooking's Just Begun — Pesach Part 2 And Healthy New Snacks To Pack For Play and Work

The Passover Seders are over and it's time to replenish your refrigerator. But don't fret: if you try my quick and easy fish ideas, you'll be out of the kitchen before you finish that last cup of coffee.

Fish Cakes

Use your own favorite croquette recipe with binder of choice. Use some of your fresh leftover herbs and mince into very small, chewable pieces.

I use Dagim tuna, fresh salmon that I grind or even fresh white fishes like flounder. To make it very simple, use any brand of gefilte fish. I use both Ossie's Fish and Raskin's Fish logs, both available in my neighborhood. Slice logs into pieces.

However you choose, bake mini cakes, slices or even ball-shaped cakes until golden brown on both sides and fully cooked on the inside.

Serve with your favorite condiments — I like to make a fruit salsa and a lemon, garlic, dill sauce.

Strawberry Rhubarb Salsa

1 Bag frozen bodek frozen strawberries and rhubarb, thawed and drained
1/2 box fresh strawberries, cut in quarters
1 Small red onion, diced
1 Yellow or orange pepper, seeded and diced
1 small Jalapeño Pepper, seeded and diced
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to Taste

Mix all ingredients together, let settle together in refrigerator at least 1 hour.

Lemon Garlic Dill Sauce

1 Cup mayonnaise of choice (full, low fat)
2 lemons squeezed for juice and some zest
1 cube gefen garlic
1 cube gefen dill
A taste of sweetener of choice

Blend together and refrigerate for at least one hour until ingredients to settle together.

Pack Those Healthy Snacks — Three New Products I Love

I can't keep enough of these products on my shelves. The children are even grabbing them, preferring these treats to the traditional goodies they enjoyed previously. All are available online as well.

Fruits By Pesha Dehydrated Fruits
Sea Castle Seaweed Snacks
Fresh From The Heart Cookies

And A Tip….

Now is the perfect time to make your lists of what you need, what you want and what is readily available. For example, I need two new pillow case covers, as my nephews wanted me to give them mine as their afikomen gifts.

I also need a bigger food processor and some more dairy cooking utensils. Make these lists now and also put them in a very visible place so that when you start unpacking next year you have time to purchase and tovel before the holiday.

Also, now is a great time to stock up on coconut and almond flours, ketchup made without corn syrup, new bottles of spices and many kosher spirits and wines.

Take advantage of the competitive prices and availability. Also support Made in Israel goods and foods, especially those manufactured in facilities boycotted by the BDS Movement.

Have a fun and relaxing Chol Hamoed!

New friendships, delicious food at Eagle's Trace: Culinary pros mentor students from Cordon Cool

Since 2005, residents and employees of Eagle's Trace have carried forth a proud tradition of giving back to the greater Houston area.

In 2017 alone, they volunteered more than 35,000 hours on campus and in the surrounding community, serving local schools as mentors and creating partnerships with nonprofits such as the Houston Cannery.

That spirit of service is continuing in 2018 as the culinary professionals of Eagle's Trace enjoyed a unique opportunity to share their talents and expertise with a group of students from the Cordon Cool Cooking School.

The Cordon Cool Cooking School is one of the newest programs offered by The Next Step Academy, a day treatment program specially designed to meet the educational needs of individuals with developmental delays, specifically individuals with autism spectrum disorders. There are two Houston-area locations, one just north of the Heights and another in Sugar Land.

On Feb. 22, executive chef Donald Mutin Sr., along with sous chef Keesha Oldham and lead cook Adam Perkey, hosted six students from Cordon Cool for an exclusive, hands-on cooking demonstration in the kitchen of the Garden Room Restaurant located at the Erickson Living retirement community.

Together, they prepared a popular signature dining dish enjoyed by residents of Eagle's Trace: marinated lamb chops with rosemary potatoes and a lamb mint demi-glace, served with a chocolate black bean budino cake.

"The students were incredible. We worked with them on fundamentals of the culinary profession, such as proper measuring and mixing of ingredients, portioning, baking and garnishing of the finished dish," said Mutin, who has more than 25 years of experience in the dining industry in the United States and Asia.

"To be involved with the students of the Cordon Cool Cooking School is one of the highlights of my culinary career," Mutin said. "As a teenager, I benefitted from the mentorship of many skilled chefs, even the great Emeril Lagasse when I was the sous chef at the Commander's Palace. So I understand the value of these rewarding partnerships and consider it a true privilege to spend time with these amazing young adults."

Those who attended the session from the Next Step Academy agreed, including Lauren Harrington Abel, the school's founder. She said that "it was so encouraging to see the staff of Eagle's Trace willing to meet our students where they are, without judgment or preconceived expectations. They seemed to have as much fun with us as we did with them. We need more partnerships like this in order to help children with autism become productive members of our communities."

Barbara Haney's son Bobby participated in the session. Haney is the creator of the Cordon Cool program.

"Our visit to Eagle's Trace marked the first time our students enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to visit a commercial kitchen and experience the real-life, day-to-day activities of a professional culinary team," she said. "These experiences are invaluable to creating relationships with professionals in the industry throughout Houston. Our ultimate mission is to create future employment opportunities for our students."

Taste Buds: Pennsylvania Dutch Market — eat delicious food with old people

When I entered the Pennsylvania Dutch Market in Hagerstown, I was interested in how the place compares to the Amish Market in Germantown, which is practically an institution. On Saturdays, the Germantown Amish Market looks like the United Nations — if the United Nations involved constantly bumping into people and waiting forever for fried chicken.

I went to the market during a non-peak time of Thursday afternoon, but it seemed the building had a wider walking path that prevented the bumper-to-bumper traffic of Germantown. Also, the Dutch Market in Hagerstown accepts credit cards for all of the stations, including the pretzel stand, where in Germantown, I would be required to count the coins in my hand like a pauper.

But traffic patterns and credit cards are nothing compared with the actual taste of the food. Thanks to my coworkers, I had a list of items I absolutely had to try. Slippery chicken pot pie, sticky buns, apple dumplings and hog maws were highly recommended. Hog maws, which are made from a pig's stomach, was something I knew I would never try — but I didn't tell them that.

Fortunately, I did find slippery chicken pot pie from the Farmer's Cookhouse. For the $6.99 combo, I chose baked corn as a side, but I was confused about my second choice. I asked the server, and he suggested Triple Beans, which includes lima beans. Now, I hate lima beans with a passion. They taste like nasty paste full of everything that is wrong with the world.

I was offered a sample, however, and I immediately fell in love with the sauce in which the side was drenched. I asked another server, who was so young I tried to ignore my understanding of child labor laws, who told me what was in the sauce. This is just a paraphrase, but she pretty much told me the Triple Beans sauce is basically a lot of sugar and ketchup. So there you have it folks: Sometimes, it's better not to know.

I took my soupy tray of food along with a bag full of desserts like a whoopie pie, sticky bun, shoofly pie and apple dumpling. I planned to share a dessert feast later, but I did get a cinnamon sugar pretzel and ice coffee to eat with my meal.

From the first bite, the slippery chicken pot pie tasted like someone giving me a warm hug from the inside. There's no crust, but the doughy pieces provided all the carbs I needed. The baked corn reminded me of mac n' cheese, with corn. The cheesy top layer and the creaminess below was delicious. I could honestly eat baked corn as a main dish. The Triple Beans were enjoyable to eat as well, but I'm pretty sure I could have tossed the beans out and just eaten the sauce.

Hours later, I realized that Triple Beans might as well be called Triple Farts. And so I beg of you: Make sure you place distance between yourself and the people you love after eating this food.

I may not order Triple Beans again, but I didn't regret getting a cinnamon sugar pretzel. If someone told me I could only buy one item from the Amish Market, I would choose a Dutch Twist Pretzel because you can get everything you need in one pretzel. If you want something that is savory that you could substitute as a meal, get a pretzel roll that's filled with delicious meat. If you want a dessert, get a cinnamon raisin pretzel and stuff your face with icing.

Pretzels are the one thing in Germantown that I feel is better than the facility in Hagerstown. Because Germantown is so crowded on Saturday, pretzel batches are constantly made, meaning a hot pretzel straight from the oven is almost always available. I thought I would be disappointed with my room temperature cinnamon sugar pretzel in Hagerstown, but I was pleasantly surprised that the flavorful interplay of butter, soft, chewy pretzel, and cinnamon sugar was still there. I recommend if you have the discipline, wait until you get home to heat up the pretzel.

Here's a quick rundown on Dutch desserts: Whoopie pies taste like huge swiss cake rolls made of love. The apple dumplings are delicious, but I wish there were more apples and a little less dumplings. I have no idea what Shoofly pie is (is it caramel filling? Why do the pie crumbs taste like powder?), but despite my confusion, Google cleared everything up when it told me that Shoofly is made with molasses, and that didn't stop me from finishing my dessert.

Overall, when you go to the Pennsylvania Dutch Market, be adventurous and don't worry about making a little mess.

Imade Borha can't cook rice and once burnt Top Ramen, but she is the adventurous foodie her friends rely on. She's ordered fried chicken through bullet proof glass and ate at a bowling alley that hosts Questlove every month. She believes food doesn't have to be pretentious or pricey for it to be good.

The Dish: Cameron's Seafood serves up hot, delicious food to go

Seafood where I come from is usually either a luxury or a gamble. In the middle of Texas, you have the white tablecloths of high-end establishments and the questionable quality of a fast food drive-through. Quality mid-range options are few and far between.

Finding an affordable, casual seafood option in the Frederick location of Cameron's Seafood was a treat for my wife and me. That it's a carryout place is even better.

As a physical space, Cameron's offers a clean counter and waiting area with a large glass display case full of fresh fish and shellfish. But the food is all made for takeout to enjoy at home, or at least somewhere else. There's no noisy dining room, no wait to be seated, no tables at all.

Cameron's menu is straightforward but expansive without being intimidating. They've got fish and shellfish, with options for broiled or fried. The latter can be ordered on a sandwich. Platters and sandwiches come with classic sides like french fries, hush puppies and mac and cheese.

That's where the choices stop being easy. Cameron's fish and shellfish selections rival most seafood markets. On the broiled side of the menu, customers can pick between rainbow trout, swordfish, mahi mahi, flounder, stuffed flounder and Chilean Sea Bass, in addition to standards like tuna, shrimp and salmon. For fried options, Cameron's also has croaker, whiting, ocean perch, black bass, softshell crab, haddock and others.

Platters range in price from $9.99 to $19.99, depending on which fish you choose, and include rice and steamed vegetables. I opted for the high-end of the range and took home the Broiled Ultimate Platter, which includes three pieces of tilapia, and a crab cake along with broiled shrimp and scallops, all atop a large serving of rice and vegetables. In an enjoyable albeit excessive addition, I ordered a cup of crab gumbo as well.

The fish preparation is pretty straightforward: broiled with garlic and Old Bay seasoning.

Cameron's was appreciably able to accommodate my wife's celiac disease and hyper-sensitivity to gluten, dairy and many spices. She ordered the broiled Chilean Sea Bass and was pleased with the large piece of fish flakey and buttery enough to taste good without any seasoning.

Delicious food, bold elegance

A luxurious dining experience. That is what to expect at what is easily one of Nairobi’s more exclusive eateries. Its Italian name; Oro, does after all translate as gold in the English language. Oro is a family business run by Italians whose roots are in Milan, one of the fashion, style and food capitals of the world, a background which in itself lends to the majesty of this restaurant. Furniture at Oro is not the run-of-the-mill kind that is ubiquitous in most establishments of its kind. Large tufted dining and suede accent chairs with studded perimeters demonstrate a flair for the dramatic which I absolutely love. I mean, if I am going to pay to eat out, you might as well make it worth my while.

The rapid speaking Italian proprietors are friendly and are always on site to ensure standards are maintained by their well-trained kitchen and wait staff (whether this actually happens is a different matter altogether).

 The establishment boasts a bold elegance where décor is concerned and features striking antique pieces. Oro’s unique cutlery and crockery make for great food presentation and the gold theme is recurrent through the entire restaurant.

Perched at the top of a building which hosts luxury furnished and serviced apartments (Suite Life) at the corner of Dennis Pritt and Nyangumi Roads, Oro has an indoor dining room, well-stocked bar and open area which is fantastic for watching the sun set on Nairobi over cocktails.

 In the evenings, you can enjoy the company of a friend in the relative privacy offered by the canopies and potted plants on the terrace. The loom style wicker chairs are comfortable and when the inevitable chill strikes, there are Maasai blankets available on request.

While all this might sound quite exciting, be warned that Oro gives first priority to residents of the apartments and registered members so before you go there, you might want to call ahead and see if they are admitting walk ins.

As long-time members, my cousin and I had for some strange reason not eaten at Oro for an inordinately long time, so we agreed to meet there for dinner a few days ago. Our reception was warm, and we quickly got ourselves settled with our cocktails of choice. The waiter assigned to us, who might have been a trainee though his badge didn’t say, was a mess of wrecked nerves and didn’t seem to fully understand the menu so we abandoned the idea of requesting him to suggest options. Because I was ravenous, I ordered the Molo Lamb Chops with a side of chips with basil and almond pesto sauce but when it was served, I threw a fit so severe, I felt my veins start to throb. The chops looked like they had been carved from an emaciated animal and there was hardly any meat on them. I considered requesting an extra portion but changed my mind considering how long I had waited for the first serving.

 That said, I was not disappointed by the quality of the food. The meat was tender and packed with juices. The marinating had obviously not been done for too long as I could hardly lift the flavours but the lamb was well aged and the pesto rather fresh which when as hungry as I was is all that matters. It was served on a bed of carrot and zucchini sticks which I gobbled up with glee. Happy with both our meals, we moved outside to watch the city lights with a large pot of tea and agreed that the team at Oro was still very much in the game.