Bringing America to Kalkan

A note from Turquoise Collected: I originally intended to post this story right after the 4th of July, but it somehow got lost in the shuffle.  I was worried that posting it now would seem a little funny given that it's six months later and the dead of winter, but then I thought, "what better time than now to share a story about the middle of summer?"  It'll give us something to look forward to - less than six month until 4 July 2012!  Enjoy!




I consider it a bit of a coup that most of the people attending my 4th of July BBQ in Kalkan were British.  What I hadn't anticipated though, was the moment when all assembled guests hummed the US National Anthem for me.  For someone missing her homeland, having such a thoughtful group of friends around me on such an important day (did I mention that the 4th of July is also my half-birthday?) was a treat.  So, how does one hold an American 4th of July barbecue in Kalkan for a bunch of Brits and Turks?  Like so.


First, a little food shopping:

For some special ingredients:

Clockwise from top left, mini croissants, mini hotdogs, blue cheese, AVOCADOS.

Then, visit this guy, for your meat:

Bulent of Bulent's "Et Ve Tavuk Galerisi"

Run around Kalkan, sufficiently convincing people that you are crazy by asking where you can find something red, white, and blue to wear:

Found the dress at Vasila & Brako and the necklace at a jewelry shop just down the street from V&B.

Next, install yourself in your kitchen and chop, cook, mix, add mayo, strain, chop again, cover, refrigerate, rinse, and repeat until you end up with this:

Salads!  Including:

Watermelon, Tomato, and Blue Cheese Salad; Potato Salad; Bean Salad (brought by a lovely guest)

And:

Pasta Salad; and the winner of the evening, Corn and Avocado Salad

Then, fire up the grill, grill up the meat, and try to convince people that they should be eating the kofte (mini lamb burgers) and mini hot dogs like this:

Like mini burgers and mini hot dogs!

Check to make sure that glasses are refilled and move on to.....dessert:

Fruit Salad; Baklava; and HOMEMADE CARROT CAKE (which, luckily, wasn't finished on the night so we got leftovers!).

And, finally, score some of these:

So you can do this:




Hope everyone had a Happy 4th!