COOKINGALATURKA

My last blog was August 3rd which is something I feel guilty but could not do much about due to my retirement schedules.  There was just no time!  I also meant to blog our 2-week Danube Cruise from Prague to Budapest but that did not happen due to poor internet connection at almost every stop.  Here I am back into the ring, blogging from Istanbul.  

My search for 10 cooking experience between age 60-70 continues.  2012 is my 4th .... after LCB, Wandee, The Atlantic .... and it will be Turkish Meze.  I have joined a very local establishment, Cookingalaturka, arguably the first English media cooking school in the middle of the Old City.  It is the brainchild of a Dutch lady Eveline Zoutendijk who has taught cooking in Istanbul for 11 years.  Holder of a Grand Diploma from Le Cordon Bleu and fascinatingly fluent in Turkish this school has a definite following.  Eveline has worked and lived in Paris, New York, Geneva before settling here.  The cooking sessions are geared to daily 5-course lunches and dinners at an intimate 25-cover restaurant.  In other words we, the students, cook for paying guests while we also sit down for the meals.  It is a brilliant approach, pragmatic, commercial and it is not just for fun, but for real.  I have committed to a full week of lunch and dinner sessions which should give me first hand exposure to the rudiments of Turkish cooking.

Istanbul is close to the top of our favorite cities list.  It is magic to be able to spend 10-days here, doing what I love the most at my current state .... damn right, life cannot be any better!

Do visit www.cookingalaturka.com to find out more!