The last time my boyfriend came to Boston, that was in mid-January, we went out to meet some friends for dinner. We ended up in a fancy pub and I for once went with a totally unusual choice: roasted squash. Normally I am the person who orders burgers and fries in a pub. But for […]

One of my favorite German words is “Stulle”. I have had endless discussions with students about its meaning because every region uses different words or varies the meaning slightly. In my region “Stulle” is used for both a slice of bread and an open sandwich. I usually eat it for breakfast and dinner, while I […]

This Turkish dish is so good that the imam fainted. Or that is at least one version of how this aubergine dish got its name, imam bayıldı. But when the smell of cinnamon and the other spices started drifting through my kitchen, I found that story pretty plausible. Of course I had eaten it before, […]

If there ever was a fire, I’d probably only grab Canavar because he is more important to me than anything else in my apartment. And, having the tiny brain he has, he’d put up a huge fight so that I’d have my hands full with rescuing him while trying not to receive too many deep […]

The one reason why I would ever prefer Greece to Turkey is the octopus. In Turkey you can only find cold octopus pieces in one kind of salad, but in Greece … oh that’s a totally different thing. In Greece they grill them, they boil them, they make salad out of them. If I were […]