Under the Plane Tree - Tea

In many towns in the Mediterranean it's common to see signs outside restaurants advertising that their bread and pizzas are cooked in a wood-fired oven, but I've never seen a sign for wood-fired tea before.

It didn't taste any different to 'normal' Turkish tea but the apparatus brewing it was impressive and the setting picturesque. Today I was at an annual faire/village market organised by the Bodrum Rotary Club in the neighbouring village of Etrim. It's a tiny affair held under an impressive plane tree, selling mostly food but also some homemade jewellery, clothes and baskets. I wouldn't travel far to visit but there seemed to be many more cars parked around than people and I'm wondering if there was something going on elsewhere that I missed.

The clouds parted, the sun came out, the band started to play and a few folk danced in the dappled shade. I was happy to sit and watch while I drank my wood-fired tea and ate an apple turnover, a nod towards Apple Day which is 21st October. The Archers are celebrating Apple Day today and I did my bit too.

BacktoBodrum Back Again

 

I wrote a blog about returning to Bodrum after 12 years away. I stopped blogging and now 12 years after I created BacktoBodrum, I'm going to start again.   I've missed writing about Bodrum and have got a bit upset reading articles about my hometown which bear no relation to the place I live. A recent Times article claimed that everyone who lives here has a boat, (I wish) and the rest imply that you can't holiday here without spending 1,000 Euros a day.  Time to resurrect the tale of everyday folk in Bodrum.  

Etrim - photo by Kath Davis

This photo gives you an idea what's been going on in the past few years. I squatted down to take a photo and my subject asked me if I needed her stick to get up - my hips aren't as supple as they used to be, but when we compared birthdays, she was impressed that I'd got down there at all.   My phone is full of pictures of lovely village ladies to use as inspiration for my art work. When I gave up this blog, I was painting pictures of fruit and veg, inspired by my day job as a travelling cook. Covid put pay to that occupation but gave me lots of time to practice brushwork, and a photo of my neighbour by the pond started me on a series of working-women images. 

So here's to BacktoBodrum mark 2 - a general mishmash of what life is like living  in a busy holiday resort some days and a quiet village on the edge of a forest other days.  I hope you'll join me. 

Annie's art work can be viewed at Bodrum Art Collective

February Brunch

When Spring has Sprung, as it does in mid February, it is best to head out to the countryside to enjoy the almond blossom, anemones and the acid green of newly sprouting nature. The photography group drove out to Etrim Village on Wednesday to take photos - at least the intention was to take photos but mostly we just ate.  Two hours spent over a village breakfast lulled me into a satisfied stupor that would have best been served by a nap under an olive tree. Consequently I have very few snaps to show for my trip. 

I do however remember what we ate:

Village flat bread

Fried eggs

Strawberry, raspberry, orange, pear, quince and walnut jam

Honey

Clotted cream

Herb pastries

Sigara börek/deep fried cheese pastries

3 types of olives

2 types of cheese

Tomato, cucumber and rocket (arugula)

Sweet buns

Deep fried dough with syrup

Chips

Fresh tomato sauce

Oranges

Now I know why a true artist should be a least a little bit hungry. A full stomach does nothing for creativity.