Today
is Bastille Day, July 14! Salutations to
France and to all French and Francophile readers.
14 TEMMUZ 2021: FRANSIZ ULUSAL BAYRAMI KUTLU OLSUN!
14 JUILLET 2021 : BONNE FÊTE NATIONALE !
Here in Turkey we’re heading into an extended holiday period. Tomorrow, July 15, is Democracy and National Unity Day, the country’s newest holiday, remembering the overcoming of the attempted coup d’état five years ago.
Next
week comes a major Muslim holiday, the Feast of the Sacrifice (Kurban Bayramı,
more and more frequently called by its Arabic name, Eid al-Adha). This holiday will last 4 ½ days, Monday
afternoon (the eve of the holiday) and Tuesday through Friday (the actual
holiday). As you can imagine, the
government has declared Monday morning a holiday, too, thereby creating a
holiday of nine days, if one counts the weekends on either side. And who will be working this Friday, July
16? Many will be taking that day off,
too.
Crowds
of people from Istanbul and interior cities are expected to head toward the
Aegean seaside resorts. The traffic will
be horrendous! And what about the
beaches in this time of Covid? I shudder
to think.
For
those of us staying put, the holiday means no mail service and no office
support. But the campus will be
delightfully quiet and peaceful.
* * * * *
* * * * *
We’re
definitely in summer now, with sunny, clear, and dry days. So far, not too hot,
but temperatures are predicted to jump this weekend to 99 F (37 C). Time to get out the electric fans.
Summer
was late in coming. Til the end of June
we had frequent thunderstorms and rain. This isn’t unusual. The
storms are typical for Ankara in May and June – no complaints about rain, by
the way. As an Ankara friend once told
me, summer never really begins in Ankara until July. For the moment, the campus is green. Wildflowers abound; the frogs in the drainage
ditch by the Middle Campus are croaking away. I even saw a fox the other morning,
light-colored with a bushy tail, emerging from trees and bushes and racing
across the road.
* * * * *
* * * * *
One month ago, in
full thunderstorm season, we attended an official dernek meeting in the city. Dernek is Turkish for an association,
society, or club. The government, no
matter which party in control, has always been suspicious of derneks as
possible hotbeds of subversive activity, so there are detailed regulations
about their organization, officers, membership, finances, and activities. In recent memory, the screws were severely
tightened after the coup d’état of 1980.
The rules have relaxed, but nonetheless, they must be followed. This particular dernek holds a formal board
meeting every three years, no longer with a government representative in
attendance, but with an agenda strictly observed and a report submitted to the
government.
Because of Covid-19
restrictions, we couldn’t meet indoors.
In fact, the meeting had been officially postponed, in the hope that we
eventually could. That proved not
possible, so the government approved a meeting outdoors, with masks, social
distancing, etc. We gathered in the
playground of the Basın Şehitleri Park, in Çankaya. Basın Şehitleri, “press martyrs,” refers to
journalists who have been killed. This is a professional risk for journalists
everywhere, but Turkey has had prominent examples, notably Uğur Mumcu, a
high-profile investigative journalist who worked for the center-left newspaper,
Cumhuriyet. He was killed by a car bomb in 1993.
In the playground,
under menacingly dark clouds, we held our meeting. The rules were followed scrupulously. Participants signed the list, to indicate
that the necessary quorum of members was present. We stood for one minute in silence in homage
to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. The meeting continued with formal reports on
finances and activities. The floor was
then opened for comments and suggestions about future projects. After one hour, we were finished.
Since most of us knew
each other, we took great pleasure in being able to get together, even with
masks (removed for drinking tea or coffee and eating cookies, both sweet and
savory in the Turkish manner), exchanging greetings and news of what we had
been doing these past months. How nice
it was!
* * * * *
* * * * *
Outside our apartment
are two black mulberry (Turkish: karadut)
bushes, or small trees. These past
weeks, both have been abundantly producing ripe berries. Although they stand only 3 meters apart, one
yields delicious fruit of the highest quality, whereas the other is merely
good. Why the difference? I have no idea. Sunlight, soil, and water are surely the
same.
The top quality bush
has developed a reputation. People whom I have
never seen before, even children, come by, inspect, and help themselves. Because this bush is just outside the
building where I live, I feel a certain proprietary sense. This bush is ours! These berries are mine! But share
I must, and I try to feel joyful that this bush and its companion are giving
pleasure to many.
* * * * *
* * * * *
One of the things I
have been doing during this pandemic is making bread. My favorite store-bought bread in Ankara is the
“rustik ekmek” (country bread) sold at Çağdaş market in the Kent Park shopping
center. It’s a dark sourdough bread, and
I find it fabulous. But I haven’t set
foot in this shopping center since March, 2020, and instead began to explore
other possibilities. Our local Meteksan
market sells a variety of flours, normal and organic. I have
been buying basic white (in Turkey, this is made from durum wheat); whole
wheat; rye; oat; corn (= corn meal); “German mountaineer’s mix” (Alman Dağcı Karışımı), which is a mix of
dinkel wheat (= spelt, an ancient form of wheat) with seeds and sourdough; and einkorn (Turkish siyez), one of the earliest cultivated wheats, now a rarity from
Kastamonu province used for bulgur and bread.
It has a wonderful rich, hearty flavor.
I have been mixing these flours in different proportions, getting
different results, all delicious.
The recipe I now
favor is a modification of one given to me in the late 1980s by Fred Williams,
a student of Classical and Near Eastern archaeology at the University of North
Carolina—Chapel Hill. I have no idea
what happened to Fred, but his recipe for bread has served me well. Here it is, in case you would like to try it.
This will make two loaves.
Fred’s
Bread (Ankara Style)
Ingredients (American measurements,
with metric equivalents)
2 cups (500 ml) regular white flour,
suitable for bread.
1/2 cup (125 ml) or 1 cup (250 ml) corn
meal.
3 1/2 cups (875 ml) – if 1/2 cup corn meal used; or 3
cups (750 ml) -- if 1 cup corn meal used: a mix of your choice, any
proportions, of any of the following flours: whole wheat, rye, oat, einkorn/siyez, German mountaineer’s mix,
etc.
Dry yeast: 2 small packages (approx. 2 tablespoons = 2
soup spoons)
Granulated sugar: 2 teaspoons (= 2 dessert spoons)
Salt: 2 teaspoons (= 2 dessert spoons). Add more salt if desired.
Honey: 1/3 cup (70 ml). More is OK, if wished: 1/2 cup (125 ml)
Olive oil: 4 tablespoons (4 soup spoons). I use light olive oil (Rivyera type, in
Turkey).
Warm water: 2 1/2 cups (625 ml)
Optional: anise seeds (Turkish: rezene). 1 tablespoon (= 1
soup spoon)
Optional: flax seeds (Turkish: keten tohumu). 1 tablespoon
(= 1 soup spoon)
-------------------------
1) In a large mixing bowl, mix the dry yeast, the
granulated sugar, and 1 cup of warm water (temperature approx. 105 F = 40 C). Let sit for 20-30 minutes. The yeast will be activated and will froth.
2) Add the salt, honey, olive oil, the remaining 1 1/2 cups
of warm water, and, if desired, the anise seeds and/or flax seeds. Mix (an electric beater works well).
3) Add the 2 cups of regular white flour. Mix with an electric beater for 5 minutes.
4) Add the remaining 4 cups of flours (corn meal + the
rest). Mix by hand until the flour is
absorbed in the liquid.
5) Cover the mixing bowl with a damp cloth. Let sit for 2-3 hours. The dough will rise.
6) Punch the dough to release the gas that has
developed.
7) Sprinkle a countertop with some regular flour. Take the dough from the mixing bowl, place it
on the countertop, and knead it for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle more regular flour on the countertop whenever the dough gets
sticky.
8) Prepare two loaf pans, greasing them with some olive
oil or butter (to prevent sticking).
9) Divide the dough into two. Form each part into a loaf shape and put in
the loaf pan.
10) Cover and let the dough rise again. Or: Tip
(especially in the colder months): heat the oven to 125 F / 50 C. Put the two loaf pans with dough in the oven,
uncovered. After 15 minutes, turn off
the oven, but leave the loaf pans in the oven for another 45-60 minutes. The
dough will surely rise by the end.
11) Remove the loaf pans.
Heat the oven to 375 F / 190 C.
Return the loaf pans to the oven and bake for 40 minutes.
12) Remove the loaf pans; cool on a rack. After 15 minutes or so, remove the bread loaves
from the pans, place them on the rack, and let them continue to cool.
