Category: health

Kayaking in Adana

M's Adventures
Lovely sunset on Seyhan Dam Lake.

The Seyhan river flows through Adana and after it was dammed, a lake was created. Now, that lake is surrounded by residences, restaurants, and boating clubs. One of these is the kayak club of Adana.

We went for a sunset kayak. The place is a bit hard to find but once you know, it’s easy. The outing cost 300 Lira per person. This included the instructions, rental, lifejacket loan, and shepherding by the staff. It was late by the time we all got there, so our time was cut short. I recommend going earlier. There were changing rooms, bathrooms, and water available (for purchase).

That said, it was pleasant to see the sun set and listen to the music thumping across the water from the restaurants.

The club house.

In the middle of the lake is a small island called Love Island. I don’t know why and we were told not to go ashore.

The two young men who helped us spoke no English but we communicated via Google translate, sort of. They helped us get in the kayaks of which there were a few singles, a few doubles, and a few old school slim ones — or as they said, “you will fall” ones… our most experienced kayakers took those. They did not tip over.

Getting into the kayaks was interesting as they two young men (one was 16 and the other 18) helped people get in by stepping in sideways from the dock… then sitting down into the wet bottomed boat… I guess that the bank of the shore was too sludgy to get in from there.

The dock area.

Over all, an enjoyable activity.

It’s So Hot My Sherbet Melted!

M's Adventures

No, not true. Well, yes, it’s that hot, but not all sherbet/sorbet is iced. Sometimes it is a drink. The original word derives from the Arabic term “to drink” (shariba) and in modern Turkiye, you can still find it as a drink.

Sherbet of rosehip? With Turkish coffee and cookies.

Sherbet can be had in many flavors deriving from herbs, fruits, and other plants. Some specific flavors are famous in certain locations, such as Bursa’s peach flavor (Bursa is the old capital of Ottoman Empire) or ingredients such as musk.

I had the one in the photo at the Women’s Cooperative in Adana. We didn’t ask for it. It was offered with the coffee. I think of the sherbet drink as being similar to Ribena in Germany or fruit punch in the USA. It’s a version of electrolytes.

If you want to read more about this, check out this article from the Slow Food Movement.

“Say Jacques” It’s Hot!

M's Adventures
20 degrees above average?

When I told people I was moving to Adana, Turkiye, everyone told me that it’s hot in Adana. It was a 109 F (43 C) the other day. That is “sicak” in Turkish. Because the “c” in Turkish is a “je” sound like in “John” saying “it’s hot” sounds like “Say Jacques” (no es sound like in Jacques Pepin). So now I’ve learned that Turkish phrase.

My Turkish colleagues tell me that Adana is so hot that sometimes the locals will shoot at the sun… and in 2023 (when it was even hotter), some shopkeepers celebrated the inventor of the air conditioner. See the YouTube video here. Luckily, there is lots of air conditioning. But it makes exploring the city something that has to be done really early in the morning, or later in the year.

Chasing watermelons.

It is melon season so it is easy to keep up one’s electrolytes. Here they like to eat watermelon with white cheese, “beyaz peynir” (like feta but they don’t call it that here).

I had planned not to go outside for four months during the hot season, but with my linen scarf and sun hat, I actually do venture out. From air conditioning to air conditioning. After all, I lived in Dhaka, Rome, and Washington, DC, three other cities that get very hot. The difference is that Dhaka is hot for about ten months and it is humid.

Adana’s hot months are June-September. I arrived in the middle of the hellishly hot weather. It can only get cooler, right?

Urban Parks in Northern Virginia

M's Adventures

One of the things I like about living in the Washington area are all the parks and greenery. Having lived in Rome where there are lots of streets with no plants or trees, it is nice to live somewhere where there are plants everywhere, and lots of free parks.

Many of the parks have picnic areas and bathrooms. Many have parking lots. Plus the parks are free. Some are educational including signage about the history that took place along that road or about with information about the plants that grow along that path. Other parks are nature preserves and can be a bit “wilder” with hills, boulders, and forests.

Depending on what time you go and which park you choose, the traffic can get busy. On the paths that are split down the middle, you have to walk on the side with the traffic going in your direction (counter to when you walk toward oncoming traffic) and you will hear the “on your left” or “passing” as the cyclists whizz past you.

The Capital Cookbook Club

M's Adventures
A concoction from the book.

Apparently a cookbook club is the thing to do. I am part of one that was recently started by one of my social friends.

Cover of the cookbook we cooked from this month.
Cornbread.

Luckily the rules are not too strict (some clubs require evaluating the recipes and other rules. Read about how to set up here or if you don’t live in that area or want to find one to join, look at this site) at the Capital Cookbook Club. We get one cookbook to choose from, tell what recipe we are making, and then bring it to the meal on the agreed upon date.

The spread of bean salad, crab salad, peach glaze chicken, cornbread, potato salad, beans, and drinks. There were two desserts.

I do not like cooking anymore so I found a simple way to make a chicken dish. Others had made more effort. It was a lovely evening socializing while eating dinner. In honor of Juneteenth, we made recipes from Watermelon & Red Birds by Nicole A. Taylor, a James Beard winner.

10 Walks in Washington, DC

M's Adventures

So you have done all the touristy things… now what?

Clamber the rocks and walk on the Billy Goat trail. My favorite in this area because it is rocky and yet you are so close to the city.

Walk on Theodore Roosevelt Island. Find the trail at Key bridge.

Walk along the canal in Georgetown.

Watch the mighty Potomac crash through Great Falls. It is magnificent without being strenuous. Great Falls is on both sides of the river but the better walk is on the Maryland side.

View the monuments by night with friends. The monuments are lit up at night and it is completely different than visiting during the day. And cooler (if it is summer).

Walk in Arlington National Cemetery. Available by Metro. It is quiet and hilly. Great view of DC.

Walk in Rock Creek Park.

Walk in the Arboretum. See pretty plants and Greek columns.

Explore a local trail. There are many that one rarely notices. One example is the Arlington Loop, map here.

Walk along the George Washington Parkway, or along the river on the Virginia side. Take the trail from Memorial bridge. Walk all the way to Mount Vernon if you… bike! It is 18 miles from Theodore Roosevelt Island (see above) to Mount Vernon.

A view from the car of the Washington Memorial across the river.

Join a walking group. Or find other walks in this list from Town and Tourist.

Authentic Home Cooked Bangladeshi Food in the Northern Virginia

M's Adventures
Chicken in a coconut curry.

It has been ten years since I left Bangladesh, but luckily I can once again taste the taste of home cooked authentic Bangladeshi food. Mahmuda is an excellent cook and she sells food from her home. You can also go to her place to experience a home cooked meal and learn about Bangladeshi culture. Mahmuda has a huge personality and speaks English with a feisty animated volume.

Bangladeshi food is spiced but not spicy as in hot on the Scoville scale. There is a lot of clove, cardamom, cinnamon, and mustard seed. There is regional food in Bangladesh and a whole type of cuisine, bhorta, that is sort of like “small plates, mezze, tapas, dim sum…” as in you get many small dishes and pay for what you eat. I hope that Mahmuda will make some of these in the future.

Shrimp in a coconut curry.

In Bangladesh, one eats with one’s right hand. I am not so good at that so I eat with a knife and fork. But you can try eating with your right hand if you want to. A meal at Mahmuda’s includes a starter, main, and dessert even though Bangladeshi food does not follow this concept.

The rice being cooked.

The curries in Bangladesh are not as soupy as they are in Britain or the US. Many of the Indian restaurants in the UK and the US are actually run by Bangladeshis. The Brits list curry —chicken tikka masala as their national dish. The first Indian cooks in the UK were from Sylhet in Bangladesh, in what was India. British curry with the heavy use of tomato puree and cream is an invention, probably in Glasgow, that helped adapt to the British love of gravy.

Dal, lentils.

I am not sure what the prices are but with a group, a meal was around $50 per person. One can also order food for pickup.

Oshwya Ghor translates to “home kitchen” in the local dialect of Barishal.

There was also dessert. The Bangladeshis love sweets but these were not too sweet. One was a rice pudding and the other a sort of blondie.

A rice pudding.
A fudge type of dessert.

Best Accupressure Massage in Rome

M's Adventures

The best massage in Rome! He is professionally trained and brings the table to you. Hidekazu Terie is a professional trainer and certified remedial massage therapist. He will make you walk again, heal you, and some say, “hurts so good.” He uses acupressure along the ancient Chinese meridian lines and he will explain the anatomy of where he is working to make you better. Very professional. He bikes (with the table on his back!!) all over the city so if you are in Rome and need — want— a massage, contact him via WhatsApp, +39 345 688 7969. He works most days but not Sundays. The massage is 60 or 90 minutes and costs 60 or 90 euro depending on how long the massage is. He can send you a receipt if you need to claim for the massage. He is very chill. Speaks English and Italian. Make him part of your weekly routine!!!!

His company (of him and his bicycle) is Massage 4 Rome. Send him a Whatsapp +39 345 688 7969, and your back, hips, neck, etc. will feel much better.

I miss him.

Roman Baths Still Exist

M's Adventures
Ruins of Baths of Diocletian, near the main train station in Rome.

Two thousand years ago, in Roman empire times, you would have gone to the baths for your daily toilette. It was a necessity but also a social venue. In Bath, England, the Roman bath still exists but one cannot swim in it. In Algeria, there is a Roman bath that is still in use today.

When I moved to Rome, I did not realize how much of a spa culture Italy had. It is a normal thing to retreat to a spa town to take the waters. Ischia is an island famous for its waters.

Modern day spa baths on Ischia.

The modern spa and retreat are all modern day equivalents of the Roman bath system.

Clearly the Romans took their bathing culture to Germania.

Even today, one can get massages, treatments, food, drink, and socializing. All at the spa.

The Digestivo Will Cure You

M's Adventures
An digestif made from arugula. I can’t recall what the other one was made from.

As they say, what does not kill you, will make you better. I am always suspicious of things that are supposedly really good for you or things that will increase my sexual stamina. Usually these things are things that are terrible tasting.

Often, you are offered a limoncello at the end of the meal.

Italians have an obsession with their intestinal and gut health. Drinking a little digestif, digestivo, is something many of them are accustomed to.

“Amaro” is bitter. No kidding.

Digestifs are usually an alcoholic beverage that you enjoy at the end of meal. It is not meant to be downed like a shot. As with many things in Italy, most of the Italian digestifs are bitter. Oh how they love bitter here!

I have tried a few. Some made from walnuts and some made from arugula. The one made from arugula is a specialty of Ischia, an island near Capri.

If they are not too bitter, then they are often too sweet. When I tried the Ratafia, I was delighted because while sweet, it at least tasted good.

The “elixir from Abruzzo” was quite good.

Gluten-Free Eating in Rome

M's Adventures

Can a celiac eat pasta, pizza, and gelato? Is a trip to Rome even possible?

First, learn the basic phrase for without gluten — “senza glutine” (sen-za glue-tea-neh) in Italian. While there are many dishes that do not include gluten, such as rice dishes, cross contamination can be a problem so it’s a good idea to explain that you have an allergy. Celiacs is “celiachia” in Italian and the “ce” at the start of the word is pronounced as a “chay” so it’s “chay-lee-ah-chee” but you can show the restaurant this phrase from Celiac Travel which explains that you have celiacs and that you cannot eat food made with wheat or wheat products.

Sono affetto da celiachia (intolleranza al glutine), devo seguire una dieta assolutamente priva di glutine.

Qualsiasi cibo contenente farina/amido di grano (frumento), segale, orzo, avena, farro, spelta, kamut e triticale può causarmi gravi malori.

Luckily, the Italians are obsessed with gut health, so they will feel the tragedy for you, and they will understand. Now, on to the places in Rome where you can eat!

Restaurants:

Mama Eat Lab (100 percent gluten free) – They also have another restaurant called Mama Eat but it is not 100 percent gluten-free.

New Food Gluten Free – Ponte Sisto (100 percent gluten free)

Pantha Rei

La Soffitta Renovatio

Ristorante Il Tulipano Nero

Voglia Di Pizza

Ristorante Pizzeria Il Veliero

Lievito72

Sans de blé

Risotteria Melotti — it is a rice based restaurant

La Scaletta

Pub Cuccagna

Ristorante II Viaggio – gluten and dairy free.

Millennium 

Mangiafuoco Pizza & Grill

Taverna Barberini 

Bakeries:

Le Altre Farine Del Mulino

La Pasticciera

Pandalì

Celiachiamo Lab (also a shop)

Gelato:

Fatamorgana Trastevere

Grom

Fiocco di neve

Gelato G Italiano

Frigidarium

Icecream Shop La Strega Nocciola

The Italian chocolate brand even makes gluten-free chocolate

Read a really good article here. Much of this list is from that site (which includes information about AIC — gluten-free accreditation). This site also rates the places. I also looked at this site which gave a good roundup of gluten-free eats in Rome but more importantly, a list of gluten-free eateries at the airport!

Spontaneous Edibles

M's Adventures

Whenever I see a leafy green vegetable being sold at the market, I ask what it is. The answer is always “cicoria” (chicory greens in English). I am beginning to suspect that this word is a catchall.

Chicory greens for sale.

Wild greens are quite fashionable these days with trendy restaurants basing their menu around what is brought to them by their forager. Foragers are like superheroes, able to identify edible things in the wild. Ordinary people would class most of the wild greens as weeds, like the dandelion. Dandelion translate to several names in Italian, including dente di leone, tarassaco, and la soffione. Once, one vendor told me that what he was selling was “tarassaco” so I began to suspect that the other vendors were all using a generic world, cicoria, for “greens” or lettuce.

In English, we call these wild greens, “foraged greens” or “wild edibles” but in Italian, they call them “spontaneous” edibles. How lovely is that?

Arugula for sale.

Many of the wild greens look like cultivated greens. Arugula (rocket in British) is also popular here and looks similar to dandelion leaves. A famous Roman salad is puntarelle salad, in which the stems of the leaves are used in a salad. Puntarelle is a type of chicory. As I said, always chicory.

But, maybe in English, we should call weeds, spontaneous plants? Or opportunists? Optimistic plants?