From Apricots to Elazig

Apricots and nuts.

                            I was not aware of the multidude of uses that have been found for the apricot.  In fact, I have never really thought much about the apricot before- it had never really appeared on my radar- entered my world.  Until Malatya.  Malatya is famous for their apricots.  On Monday, Mustafa called.  After lunch with Habib and Dogan, we went and met him and went for a walk around Malatya.  We went through the market (that Onder had already showed us) and the metal shops and then down into the apricot shops.  He has a friend who owns a shop, and his wife was there and she made us sample one type of dried apricot after another.  It was never ending, and after a filling lunch of lamajan (Turkish pizza) a bit difficult to eat my way through.  There were apricot oils, apricot Turkish delight, apricot kebabs (flavoured with pomegranate, apple and every other fruit you can imagine), apricot soaps, shampoos, lotions ( I did buy some hand cream and it smells delicious) and chocolate covered apricots and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head. 

Apricot kebabs

Joe and Mustafa

                 I would be hard pressed to think of a use for apricots that these people have not come up with.  After our time at the shop, we headed into the poor neighbourhood (Mustafa used to work there and I was pleased he took us- it is important to know all sides of a city if you are going to be a resident) so that he could get some photocopying done and we went and had tea and chatted while it was finishing.  I left them drinking tea a bit early as I had to go to see Buglem and hunt for a winter jacket along the way.  I  found a beautiful yellow winter jacket that was sadly out of my price range (although Joe told he that it was ugly and he was glad it was out of my price range, so I guess one of us is happy) but I found another yellow one later on, so he may still lose in the long run if I decide to buy it.  But I am still mulling over it.

Apricots and Turkish delight.

                The week passed in a blur of uneventfulness until Friday when Joe's students from last week plus their Turkish teacher he shares the class with (Feliz- a lovely woman with a musical laugh) picked us up at 4pm and we headed for Elazig.  It was unfortunately too dark to take pictures out the window although the scenery was beautiful from what I can tell.  We went and had kavarma (which I forgot to take a picture of although I could have sworn I did) which was meat baked with vegetables in a clay dish.  It was better than the fish although still not my favourite.  We didn't get into to ELazig until late, parked, walked around and stopped for a hot beverage before heading to Harput- an old historical castle just outside of Elazig with a spectacular view of the city and a lot of history.  Joe and I have plans to go back in daylight hours at some point and actually do a proper mini tour.  We didn't get home until about midnight which was a bit rough before our long weekend hours but it was nice to get some social outlets.