Wait, do you even know HOW to cook fish???

As you might have guessed, tonight's entry will be dedicated to fish, and the adventures associated with this evening.

To begin, some context. Lately, we (the exchange kids) have been taking turns cooking dinner for one another. Sometimes this takes the form of traditional cuisine from our respective homelands, and sometimes it is just what is quick, fast, and feeds lots of people. Since my American culinary background is far from exciting, I had yet to offer my services until tonight. I decided that it was time to branch out of the norm, and so I offered to prepare fish for a group of 10 people. Simple, right? Read on...

To begin the journey, Micol (Italy) and I headed to Sariyer (the small town below the university) to purchase the necessary ingredients. After 3 different produce stands, I finally had all the onions, garlic, ginger, spicy peppers, spinach and lemons I would need. Now time for fish, or in Turkish, balik.

Having walked by the fish marker at least 2 times before, I set out determined to find it. After a couple wrong turns, and with Micol's help, we finally located a small shop showcasing aprox. 20 different varieties of fish. Realizing that all the fish names on the menu were in Turkish, I started flipping through Micol's Turkish-Italian dictionary. (Her hands were full) Seeing as my Italian is about as good as my Turkish, I would look for the word in Turkish, then try and pronounce it in Italian for Micol to translate into English. This continued for several minutes, which Micol found hysterical.

Finally, we decided to give up, and just point to the most attractive option. A wonderful older Turkish man came over, and let me pick out my 5 favorite fish. Then as he turned to package them, I realized that they were not yet gutted or clean. So, of course, I asked Micol if she knew how to do that. She laughed, saying that she was Italian, and that they didn't do such things. So, not knowing how to either, I began the extensive process of trying to ask the man to prepare them for me. Since I have NO idea how to say "gut", "clean", "cut" or "slice" in Turkish, I proceeded to do a little dance. Starting at my head, with a slicing motion across my neck, I tried to explain that I wanted the fish de-headed. Then, moving to my ankles, that I wanted the tails taken off. Then, by cutting vertically down my body and making a squishing noise, that I wanted the fish gutted and cleaned. My performance garnered heavy laughter by both the "fish man" and Micol. The good news? He knew exactly what I wanted...

So, I followed him to the back, and watched the process... Meanwhile, he asked if I was American, and we had the following conversation.

Fish Man (FM): American?
Me (in Turkish): Yes, I am an American exchange student at Koc University
FM: Ohhh! Koc!
Me: Yes Koc!

Pause...

FM: American... Bush? Bush Bad! Bush No! *thumbs down sign*
Me (in English): Yes, Bush bad... *Thumbs down*
Me (in Turkish): Bush is going *swift hand gesture outward* (I choose to say this mainly because we have only learned the continuous tense of the verb "to go" so far....)
FM: Yes.
Me (in Turkish): Obama? Obama very good!
FM: Yeah??? OBAAAAMMAAA! *Thumbs up*

I've decided that my cleverness, and ability to rally the international community behind Obama should grant me the title of Turkish Campaign Manger for Obama '08. Anyways, that is another story.

After all my purchases, we headed back to campus to begin prep work. Micol nearly had a heart attack when I started washing the rice, and then prepared it in the traditional Iranian fashion. But, she was a good sport, and helped me chop, dice, slice and wash endlessly.

The end result was really impressive... Steamed fresh fish cooked with ginger, peppers, garlic and onions, served with garlic sauteed spinach, and rice. Dinner was a hit, and everyone seemed to enjoy the story of the "Fish Man".

After cleaning up, I sat around for a little while with a new Turkish friend of mine. She and her two close guy friends taught me how to play batak, a traditional Turkish card game with striking similarities to Uno. This took a while, as the game is complex, and they would frequently break out into a fight in Turkish about the best way to explain the rules in English. As we were playing, the Turkish version of "Deal or No Deal" came on. NO JOKE! I almost died laughing, thinking of my family. My friends asked what the American version was like, and I said that it was very similar, but it has 50 scandalously dressed woman, who parade the cases around. They laughed, and then said that the Turkish version was simply censored... You know, that religious thing...

Overall, tonight was a great evening with lots of good memories.

Now, I'm going to go do my Turkish homework. Perhaps I will write my story about the Fish Man... You never know when I will need the verb "to gut" again....