Tag: brunch

Souvenir Shopping in Adana

M's Adventures
Adana’s area code is 01.

Since you can’t take an Adana kebab as a souvenir, one has to (has to) find a magnet or mug as a souvenir. Recently, I was at the women’s cooperative, Adana Kadın kooperatifleri Birliği, for brunch and it turns out that they also have a shop (one is sitting surrounded by things to buy) so that is my recommendation for where to buy souvenirs.

Adana is famous for its clock tower, orange festival, Roman bridge, and the kebab. This shop, located conveniently in old Adana (just down from the clock tower, on the side of a park, Ziyapaşa Parkı), is a nice reprieve from the heat and bustle. Or cold and wet.

The orange festival is the biggest event of the year in Adana.

Aside from souvenirs like magnets, they also have handmade items and food for sale. And as I mentioned, you can eat there. The staff are very nice. It is hard to not buy a basket or hammer pants (which is the baggy style that many people wear here).

The other place I would recommend for souvenirs is Starbucks. Sounds odd? The Adana mug is adorable.

There are also other places to find souvenirs but one has to search. Or stick to the main touristy street.

Khavalti

M's Adventures

Khavalti, khavalit, they always have khavalti! When I had just arrived in Adana, I was planning something and a colleague kept saying this word, “khavalti” and I did not understand at all. I found it hard to figure out. She kept saying the word like I should understand her, but I didn’t.

Then, finally, I got it. Khavalti is the Turkish word for the famous Turkish breakfast. After all, I had read about this famous breakfast, and I had had it before in Istanbul many years ago.

But, now I live in Adana. And breakfast is everywhere. Some are very basic with a few olives, cucumber, tomato, plain yogurt, and cheese. Always bread and tea. It is served like brunch on Sundays. There are some places that have it any day, but the weekend seems to be big for khavalti. If you are up because you were out drinking, then you go eat liver and drink a shot of liquor. Later, at 11 or noon, you eat khavalti.

Others are more elaborate with honey, tahini on top of pomegranate syrup, jams, and eggs fried with sausage meat. Most places will have a la carte items that you can order like omelet (a fried flat piece of egg, not folded or French style), and “menemen” which is the “shakshouka” style eggs of Turkiye.

Prices range from 340 Turkish Lira on up. All the items in these photos (except for the last one which shows another style of khavalti for one person) were from one khavalti for four people (two people per khavalti) plus menemen. The total per person was 340 Lira per person. We added a tip so it was a bit more. More on tipping in another blog posting.

Most restaurants serve khavalti on Sunday mornings. The places can be fancy and they can be casual. Later, I’ll write about the best in Adana.

This was khavalti for one person at a fancier place. Cost about 600 Turkish Lira.

Brunch in Lima – “Bronche”

M's Adventures

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From Homemade

An aside: I’m contributing a word to Peruvian Spanish: Bronche — to rhyme with Lonche. Brunch is a new entry in the Peruvian daily food schedule so the Peruvians call brunch “bruench” based on the gringo term. I think it would be cuter if they called it “bron-chay”to rhyme with their term for tea time. Just my suggestion… **** July 28, 2018**** I heard a waiter say this word today! And I have a witness!

IMG_3369
From Las Vecinas

For a late night culture, it’s a little odd that the Limenos haven’t embraced brunch yet. Most of the places that serve “Gringo style brunch” — eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, and so on, stop serving breakfast food items before noon (this is utterly wrong because the essence of brunch is that breakfast items can be had until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Here are a few places (not hotel restaurants or American chain restaurants) that serve brunch… okay, the two places.

Homemade, Revett 259, Miraflores. Closed on Sundays. All food is homemade.

Las Vecinas, Domeyer 219, Barranco. All the food is homemade including the pasta on the lunch menu (which is available at noon during the same time as the brunch menu). Most of the food is healthy and organic. I’d like more grease.

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Eggs on potatoes from Homemade

I will update this posting if I find any more places. Or a place that serves American style breakfast sausages.

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Potatoes with fresh cheese from Las Vecinas

Oh to Breakfast

M's Adventures

yck49Lt6OkC5oorMFnaWCNYyCA9y3E4Totccbetqk-C41t3TAwsLHW9mmK2VhaGUD71Y07nBEI1FHwIgR0Bw6G3H9RDiR0F4ZCW_JKyxSjJSaIm60aCQlHYC2KQ9ppMHqCBRhhSO0PYj9sSRQM6FNid-Q1sgiZsgqrc1JHF6_e_egEffGRIMf7lIXBreakfast is one of my favorite meals (well, so are: brunch, elevenses, lunch, sobremesa, linner, high tea, supper, dinner, natmad “nightmeal”, and stumble-home-greasy-and-spicy-mouthful…). Some people consider eggs to be a vital part of a “breakfast” and others consider a piece of bread dipped in coffee to be the start to the day. In some countries, soup is it. In Vietnam, it’s pho (as in my photo from New Mexico, USA) and in Colombia, it’s a broth with rib meat and potatoes. In China and Thailand, the breakfast “oatmeal” is a rice porridge soup… I hereby advocate for more soup for breakfast!

And palta avocado! (It’s delicious in soup too!). Photo from El Pan de la Chola in Lima.

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Canadian Caesar Cocktail

M's Adventures

Down “south of the border” as the Canadians say about the USA, the Bloody Mary is a brunch standard. Up “north” it’s the Caesar or “Bloody Caesar” a drink created in 1969 which is similar to a Bloody Mary but is spicier and includes clam juice. It’s sort of a homage to “pasta a la vongole” or spaghetti with clams (which is one of my favorite dishes).  Supposedly the cocktail is similar to a caesar salad… whatever, it’s delicious. The best so far has been at Edible Canada where they add maple covered bacon — it’s not just decoration because the bacon adds extra contrast to the Caesar. Other places add pickles, cheese, etc.

According to Wikipedia, Canadians consume 350 million annually. Make that 350,000,006… and counting.

Dim Sum in Caracas

M's Adventures

14642356_10154595409009618_7761823639592039314_nYup, that’s a thing here. The dim sum places serve “brunch” and it’s best to go fairly early in the morning — like at 7 a.m. or no later than 9.

14670721_10154595407759618_8734189639895963433_nThe dim sum restaurants in Caracas have their own ordering system. There are no carts pushed by waiters here. Here you have to go up to a buffet and pick your items. The waiter will still notate it on a chit which you take to the cashier to pay. In addition to the usual items in a dim sum selection, they have a few local varieties of food. The pork is crispy and less red than in other places.

14670790_10154595406654618_7352959441999699665_nNext to the dim sum restaurants (I think there are two or three main ones), there is a Chinese market which only happens on Sundays. This is another reason to go eat dim sum on Sunday morning. The market has everything you could need to make Chinese food, from seafood, bean sprouts, instant noodles, to fresh tofu. The dim sum restaurants are in an area called “country club” near the river.

14642271_10154595327849618_5591894706066765038_nOh, and another thing, there were a lot of chicken feet.