Nanny's last day with us

In the morning we went down to the beach--big surprise. It was pretty quiet down there. Amishay was sleeping in after his big party we heard. Kate had been invited the night before to visit with a girl/woman who just graduated from university in Ankara and wants to practice her Turkish. She went up to their house where they did each other's nails and ate stuffed grape leaves and watermelon. Later they went down to the beach. We took her email in case we run into someone who is looking for an au pair.

By the sea, just before dinner

During the afternoon we worked on a puzzle and I started teaching the kids how to play bridge. I knew there was a reason I had 3 kids-- it was so I would have a foursome for bridge! We got through the basics of play yesterday. Josh is eager to learn bidding, but we might save that for another day or two down the road, we'll see.

Our restaurant

We headed to Yalikavak for dinner and a sunset. We stayed closer into town this time and it was surprising. Yalikavak is a pretty happening place at night. It's not cramped and crowded like Bodrum, but very lively just the same. We rolled the metaphorical dice and picked a place. Kids had spaghetti and cheeseburgers. We also ordered a cold octopus salad, a plate of Turkish mezzes (appetizers), a mixed grill and a mussel dish. It was an adventure in eating. The mezze plate included seaweed, something like broccoli rabbe, a spicy eggplant dish, something like coleslaw and two other dishes that had eggplant as a key ingredient. There was also a herring-type fish salad on there and some grilled red peppers. We (Nanny and I) tried it all. My favorite was the seaweed. Nanny liked the spicy one which had mint in it. Mostly they were things that we didn't feel like we would need to order again, but they were interesting. A nearby cat who looked like Kenny got a fair amount of octopus for dinner.

Fishing at sunset

The waiter must have forgotten to put in the mixed grill order because it didn't come for a long time and we had to aske for it twice after the original order. The second time they comped us some teas and I sent the kids down the street to buy themselves some ice cream. Nanny was ready to bag it and leave, but I talked her into staying. We were glad that we did because a few minutes later, the flaming fish arrived. Waiters pulled a cart up to a table two away from us that had a giant fish that was heavily crusted in salt and shooting flames high into the sky. It was magnificent to watch; just breathtaking. I got out the camera a little late, but you can see a picture of it. One of the waiters brushed bits off onto the ground to slowly put out the flame. When it was out he used a hammer and chisel to get the crust off and then they served pieces of the fish to everyone at the table with a baked potato that had cheese on it.

Sunset from our table

We decided that the experience of the flaming fish was emblematic of our trip. You just have to relax and try and take everything as it comes because you never know when a flaming fish will arrive. The flaming fish makes it all worthwhile.

After dinner we had to walk a block away to pay our bill because the restaurant shares its credit card machine with another shop. We thought that was funny. Then we walked around for a bit to find Nanny some ice cream. We saw a barber using a blue flame to remove ear hair from a guy getting his shave--clearly fire was a theme of the evening. We checked Alex and Josh, but they didn't need the blue flame treatment. We found a lokma vendor and decided to give that a try for dessert. Lokma are Greek I think. They are almost like doughnut holes, but crispier and tossed with a glaze of honey. We had the choice of having them sprinkled with cinnamon or chocolate and we went with cinnamon. Nanny bought two nazar bonjuk to use as Christmas tree ornaments and we headed for home.

A toast for Nanny's last night

Our mezzes

Flaming fish!

Back by the trash heap

Lokma on the street in Yalikavak