Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
About Me
- John Sakkis
- Mirror Magic (Roof Books) Psychopomp (Both Both Books) RAVE ON! (Both Both Books) The Islands (Nightboat Books) "now, 1/3" and thepoem (BlazeVOX Books) Chinese Notebook (Ugly Duckling Presse) Maribor (The Post-Apollo Press) Rude Girl (BlazeVOX Books) Rave On! (Lew Gallery) Gary Gygax (Cy Gist Press) Rude Girl (Duration Press) The Moveable Ones (Transmission Press) Benthos (Silas Press)
Books By Me
Book Reviews
Some Online Work
Books Read
Blog Archive
- April (2)
- February (1)
- June (1)
- January (3)
- February (1)
- January (1)
- May (1)
- July (1)
- April (2)
- January (6)
- September (1)
- August (1)
- July (1)
- May (3)
- April (11)
- March (7)
- February (11)
- January (6)
- December (15)
- November (25)
- October (15)
- September (12)
- August (23)
- July (8)
- June (30)
- May (18)
- April (22)
- March (27)
- February (14)
- January (10)
- December (17)
- November (21)
- October (17)
- September (14)
- August (42)
- July (5)
- June (3)
- May (9)
- April (9)
- March (11)
- February (7)
- December (1)
- November (3)
- October (4)
- September (2)
- August (8)
- July (11)
- June (10)
- May (13)
- April (13)
- March (11)
- February (13)
- January (19)
- December (19)
- November (9)
- October (8)
- September (14)
- August (8)
- July (5)
- June (14)
- May (10)
- April (14)
- March (14)
- February (15)
- January (27)
- December (21)
- November (20)
- October (13)
- September (15)
- August (18)
- July (22)
- June (16)
- May (8)
- April (2)
- March (6)
- February (6)
- January (17)
- December (16)
- November (13)
- October (11)
- September (15)
- August (16)
- July (22)
- June (25)
- May (22)
- April (35)
- March (23)
- February (21)
- January (18)
- December (35)
- November (22)
- October (47)
- September (43)
- August (31)
- July (31)
- June (13)
- May (29)
- April (26)
- March (25)
- February (45)
- January (44)
- December (38)
- November (44)
- October (57)
- September (34)
- August (45)
- July (47)
- June (37)
- May (55)
- April (32)
- March (53)
- February (58)
- January (47)
- December (56)
- November (40)
- October (55)
- September (55)
- August (41)
- July (32)
- June (87)
- May (48)
- April (77)
- March (60)
- February (55)
- January (76)
- December (56)
- November (19)
7 comments:
There are no places in Buffalo that make decent gyro, which is driving me crazy. On the plus side, an old greek lady taught me how to make great coffee, bubbles and all. It's not Aegean coffee without the bubbles.
you're being VERY political...i respect that, but it's okay, we can call it turkish coffee (unless "aegean coffee" is another variety of coffee my palete isn't familiar with)...greeks who get hung up on that kind of stuff are fooling themselves...
so, are you in contact with murat? if you aren't you definitly should be (forgive me for assuming you guys aren't already pals)... we're thinking of doing a greek poetry turkish poetry split chapbook...
murat's in turkey right now on the island of Cunda...from murat:
"Yes I am still in Turkey, on this beautiful island on the Aegean with a
profound Greek influence, Greek music, fantastic Greek architecture and
slightly olive skinned faces which belong to this area. Of course the
island was Greek until the population exchange at the end of the war
which established the Turkish Republic."
oh and don't even get me started about finding a decent gyro in boulder...none to be had!
and then they put tahini (sp?) on them instead of tsatsiki...the tahini ain't bad, it's just not a proper gyro...but then again no one makes tsatsiki like my mom...
yamas!
"My mom, being a food historian of sorts, is all about that, talking about how 'you guys' are stealing this, etc. I don't really care- I would assume the coffee, as opposed to a number of other things, is Turkish as the Sultan had fourty cooks who refined everything they got their hands on. Considering that Greek/Turkish coffee is a lighter version of Mirra (arabic coffee), I assumed it was Turkish. I might be wrong, I don't know, I don't really care. As long as there are bubbles. Agree with the whole 'hung up' on it thing, on both sides. There was a recent 'baklava' scandal too. At one, point, I feel like saying, "Who cares?! We're all mutts!!", but I don't really want to be a relativist either."
haha! i love it..."baklava scandal," so so true...how about "Dolmathas" (greek) vs. "Dolmas" (Turkish)...pshhh...whatever...greek food has been profoundly influenced by turkish foods (and then imbued with its own indigenous flair), that's not going to change (how could it!)..."we're all mutts" dude...totally!
"I'm reading a great book right now called 'Osman's Dream' which is the first history of the Ottoman empire for a 'layman' in English. Really fun stuff- completely lays to waste the ethnic antagonism that our national myths would like us to believe. Various Turkish tribes helping out the Byzantines, bunch of Greeks helping out the Turks, etc. It's pretty critical from what I can tell AKA wouldn't be very popular with the Nationalist crowd."
what's great about the younger generation of greeks i'm friends with in Athens is that the antagonism seems to be waning...they dislike English tourists more than Turks...sadly the the hate is still very present with their parents generation (with MY parents/ with my theos and theas, though really, who am i to judge them? i have no idea what they experienced with regards)...my sister and i were very surprised when my dad took us to Turkey about 10 years back...to tell you the truth i'm not sure how my dad feels about greek/ turkish politics, not something we discuss...)
"I don't even know Murat! Love to meet him."
ooh ooh, Murat Nemet-Nejat is the best! one of our finest poets...he's a Turk from Turkey who's been living in the states for i don't know how long, anyway, i think he would consider himself Turkish-American...he edited an amazing anthology of Turkish poetry called "Eda: An Anthology Of Contemporary Turkish Poetry" put out by Talisman House...you REALLY REALLY should get a hold of him (email me at merkoneus@yahoo.com for his email, i know he'd love to hear from you)...though he's at that translator's symposium on Cunda at the moment (funny, i got invited to a translator's symposium on the Greek isle of Paros the same week, that is, this week, i just got a phone call from one of the organizers, Siarita Kouka (who i translate), saying she hopes i can make it next year...my fingers are crossed!))
"Tsatsiki is also weird- even the Indians have it! We never put it on our gyro (doner is the Turkish for gyro- it means to spin as well). Unless it's an 'Alexander' dish, but then its only yogurt. Thick slices of pita under the thinly sliced meat, yogurt on the side, tomato sauce on top, a guy carrying freshly melted butter asks if you want some, just sizzles it on top... arrrghhh!!"
though really tsatsiki is just a yogurt sauce with cucumbers...greek gyro= thick slice of pita under thinly sliced meat, lathered with tsatsiki sauce, topped with fresh tomato slices, thick onion slices and stuffed with greek frenchfries...yeah yeah, ARRRGGHHH!!!
"What does Yamas mean?"
yamas means 'cheers' in greek...
YAMAS!
john
You know Murat Nemet-Nejat?!?! His translations of Ece Ayhan are superb!!! He's like one of five people whose translations have been published in English!! Emailin you right now!
Serefe! (to honor!)
Ekrem!
ha! i thought it was strange that you wouldn't know murat's work...okay then!
serefe,
j
Post a Comment