Star Restaurant  across the second bridge and down from the Import Shop.

I’m jumping the gun a bit here; but to eat hamsi is why we went out to dinner so you should see what I’m talking about.   These are definitely not your tinned anchovies.  They’re grilled and you eat everything except the head.  They are somewhat of an acquired taste.  I like them.  They remind me of the smoked mullet I ate in Florida and tasted for the next 3 days.   So how did we happen to eat hamsi New Year’s Eve?

New Year’s Eve morning Rick, Mary, Sue and Randal and I had gone out walking and then stopped for lunch at Acıktım.  On the way back to the marina we passed a restaurant that offered hamsi and salad for 7 TL. Rick asked Mary if she wanted to have that for dinner.  As I had nothing much planned for dinner,  I asked if we could go too.  I wanted to try hamsi as I have eaten voppa in Izmir (grilled sardines) and liked it.    Also, if Randal and I left the boat at 6 pm maybe we’d still be awake and able to join folks for a New Year’s drink at Pineapple later in the evening.  That was my thinking anyway.  Mary and Rick mentioned the dinner plan to Jane and Collin and I mentioned it to Sue and Ed so it was 8 of us who went off for hamsi. 

Now where exactly was that restaurant?  Rick was the leader of our group, but managed to misplace the restaurant.  Some places in town you only find on your way back from town, not on your way from the marina.  That’s because we come and go so many ways that we’re never absolutely sure where everything really is.  We know the general vicinity, but sometimes you have to circle around until you actually find where you’re going.  Luckily I’d remembered where Rick had pointed out the sign that morning;  and remembered it was the restaurant across from where we’d eaten lunch with Michael and Linda 2 years ago and also across from where I’d bought some bananas 2 days ago. Totally makes sense to me.  Of course by then it was absolutely “pouring  down rain” so, leaving everyone else under an awning, Rick and I walked ahead to make sure I was correct about the location.  Actually, it was just down the street and around a corner.  By the time we all got there we were glad to be inside! 

It was a bedraggled group that entered the Star Restaurant.  We looked like just-arrived,  dazed tourists which brought a sparkle to the eye of the head guy.   By the time he was done with us we had ordered enough food for a dozen people. 

Rain, rain and more rain!  I’d worn my big rain boots and rain jacket and had an umbrella as well as lots of warm clothes and a hat so I was pretty warm and dry despite the rain.  Rubber boots are the bomb!

Rick, Mary, Jane, Collin, Ed, Sue, and  Randal still sporting the bow from the Netsel gift swap!

All smiles and then…..

The arm twisting began.  I don’t know why Collin was the guy who got picked for the upsell, maybe he was nearest.  In truth, only Rick, Mary, Randal and I had come for the sole purpose of eating cheap hamsi!  The others were open to some arm twisting and other options.  All of us have left restaurants wondering how we’d  so wrongly ordered  twice as much food as we’d thought we’d ordered.  But Rick put his foot down and Mary, Randal and I took his cue and we 4 had a dinner of just plain hamsi. 

The owner and his mom…she loved having her photo taken.

St. Nicholas was born and died in Turkey so the fact that he’s still here shouldn’t be such a surprise.

Somehow Jane, Collin, Sue and Ed had been talked into two platters…and that was after two orders of meze.  Most of the food went home for Jane and Collins’s dog Buttons and the cat that has adopted Sue and Ed. Walking through the restaurant back from the WC I’d noticed tables of 4 locals sharing only one platter. It really was unkind of the waiter to allow our group to order so much food.  Not sure any of us will be returning to The Star any time soon. But I must say, when we left, the place was full of locals which does say one good thing for it.  You just have to know what to order and how much.  And among Turks, big meals are meant to be eaten slowly over a long period of time.  In her book Blue Arabesque Patricia Hampl writes about Anais Nin’s visit to Turkey and notes a reference Nin made about spending time with some Turkish women.  “She {Nin} was invited here, invited there, visiting the lovely shadowy homes of elegant people for whom “it is a mortal insult…to seem hurried.”  Randal and I tend to eat; Turks dine!  If you eat slowly and intend to spend hours; you can eat a huge platter of food.  A long drawn out meal that takes hours is not my idea of a good time…except maybe for Thanksgiving or on very special occassions.  I’d rather go for a walk or read!   I guess Yankee ingenuity doesn’t match well with relaxing hour long meals.  Actually Yankee ingenuity doesn’t mix with relaxing period. 

We left the restaurant and walked back to the marina in the rain.  Everyone came aboard DoraMac for some tea, coffee and to spend a bit of time before moving along to Pineapple for the start of the New Year’s Eve celebrating.  It was really nice to have everyone aboard and when they left , Randal and I decided to call it a night  Everyone else did continue on to the celebrations…Mary and Rick until

2 AM.  They all had lots of fun but I was happy to spend the evening on DoraMac with Randal watching episodes of Murdoch Mysteries.  About 11PM all the lights in the Netsel Plaza went dark and then came on and, voila! We had power again.

January 1^st we got up early…unlike most folks we know and about 10:30 Rick, Mary, Irina, Randal and I went for a long walk. In the afternoon Kevin and Mai stopped by for tea and then I made some banana bread for the marinaros as a Happy New Year gift.   Apparantely how you spend your time January 1 sets the tone for your whole year.   Or so they say around here.  We had a nice long walk and spent the day with friends.  I could spend a year that way.