when you take artists to dinner...

Be warned! The waitress will know at least one of you by name, there will be wine, and tablecloths will be transformed! In the absence of watercolours, fingerpainting with wine and coffee will ensue...



That's my contribution above— portraits of Ekaterina, Santi, Swasky and his charming father. It's highly possible that our table was the rowdiest (I point my finger at the Spaniards). Miguel, Luis, Santi, Ferran, Swasky, Ekaterina, Dimitri, Fabian, and my dear Pedro— I had such a wonderful time with you!

Lucky indeed.

the great momo divide

I love my momos steamed, while Pedro prefers his kothey—lightly fried.
How do you like your momos?

salt dough and tacky daggers

It sounds like a great idea: a clay pot is filled with meat and veggies, then sealed with a lump of salt dough and thrown into a fire where everything simmers in its own juices. The pot is dramatically hacked open sometime later to reveal a steamy stew which you can then enjoy with some buttery pilaf. Naturally, the unusual Testi Kebabı is one of the touristy must-haves when visiting Cappadocia, and typical of dishes marketed to tourists, the kebabs we ate in Göreme left much to be desired. I did however, delight in the ridiculously tacky dagger that our waiter produced for cracking open our pots.



It wasn't bad, mind you, just overpriced and bland. While waiting for our coffee, Pedro felt the need to express the horrors of having to share a small sofa with me— I assure you he is not being truthful:



Ah, married life!