How To Drink Raki Like A Turk

”The best accompaniment to Raki is good conversation.”

-Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Raki, the unofficial national drink of Turkey is more than a glass of alcohol, it’s an experience in itself. There is an entire culture around this strong, anise-flavored liqueur that is very popular throughout Turkey. Visitors to Turkey often wonder what that milky stuff in narrow glasses is and leave without a taste.

If you’re heading to Turkey any time soon, savor the food, conversation, and drink raki like a Turk.

Ordering a ‘Kadeh’

Raki is served in a small narrow glass that is specifically used for the drink. The glass is half filled with raki and ice or water completes the rest. At restaurants you can let the waiter know how much for a stronger or weaker drink. The addition of water turns the drink a cloudy white, which is where the nickname “lion’s milk” comes from.

Melon and Feta Cheese

Raki is traditionally served as an aperitif, to be slowly enjoyed with several appetizers. The traditional raki meal varies and can include anything from kebabs to salads. The two essentials however are yellow melon and feta cheese.

Ice and Water

Don’t be surprised to see a bowl of ice on the table. You can plop a fresh one into your drink as needed and the water will help take the edge off of your stomach. It’s also common to see a raki glass filled with water sitting next to everyone’s raki – also to be sipped on.

Sip, Don’t Chug

Raki is a drink that is best savored and you want to sip and drink it slowly. Be prepared to eat for hours, if you’re eating out you’ll be served food and drink all night until you’re done. Don’t worry, you’ll still get drunk in time (it’s 90 proof) but you won’t get the most important thing out of the drink.

A Good Conversation

That’s what drinking raki is all about -  not so much the drink but the ambiance that is created around it. Have some raki with friends and spend hours of talking, laughing, reminiscing, and of course eating.

Raki is a has a strong anise flavor (much like Greek ouzo or French pastis) and you might be put off on your first taste, which will be easily forgotten as you finish up your first glass and get to a second.

Turkey Travel Planner has a good guide to ordering raki and more about the traditional ‘raki sofrasi‘. So, if you’ve got 48 hours in Istanbul spend an evening out and have a kadeh, some melon, more food, and of course, good conversation.

Written as part of Lifecruiser and Travel Experta’s drinks around the world series.

[photos by: colm.mcmullen, arteunporro, karstenkneese, stevendepolo, meg and rahul, Shutter Pea]

How To Make Your Meals Last On The Road

We often associate traveling with high calorie airplane food, but when it comes down to it, traveling makes it harder to come by a meal. Instead of stuffing yourself after starving yourself for hours while touring around a city, make your meals last longer by adding a few small ingredients to them.

Peanut Butter

Include a teaspoon of peanut butter with your breakfast to slow down the digestion of carbohydrates by an average of two hours. Most sugars, like bread and orange juice, break down in around 20 minutes and give you a short energy boost. The oils in peanut butter slow down this process so these foods will slowly power you until your next meal.

Additional Tips:

• Select commercial, non-organic brands of peanut butter to carry with you, since they don’t require refrigeration and will last up to 6 months.
• Peanut butter can be used to shift your body clock to avoid jet lag.
• Almond, cashew, and hazelnut butter also have a similar effect but are runnier and generally require refrigeration after opening.

Water

Dieters know the benefits (outside of hydration) that come with drinking lots of water. When you find a source of clean water (in many countries bottled is the only way) drink twice as much as you think you’ll need to quench your thirst. Water not only acts as a digestion buffer, causing other foods in your stomach to break down slower and last longer, but staying hydrated dilutes your blood sending less signals to the region of your brain (hypothalamus) that controls hunger.

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Wine Tasting At J. Lohr – San Jose, California

Located in downtown San Jose in a quiet residential area is the J.Lohr tasting room. Approximately the 15th largest wine seller in the United States they offer free weekday tastings. The daily event, from 10am to 5pm, is a great quick stop for any trip in the San Jose area. Up on my way from the beaches of Santa Cruz recently, I decided to pay J. Lohr for my first ever wine tasting.

Despite the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, there were only about 15 people in the tasting room, a nice sized crowd for the space. I walked right in to a small shop at the entrance of the tasting room and made my way up to the bar. One of the J. Lohr employees came up to me promptly with a wine list and explained to me that anyone who visits during a regular weekday tasting is entitled to 6 complimentary tastes of either red or white wine, or a combination of the two.

The glasses are filled generously, a little less than half full, and I drank 6 of them – an assortment of their red wine selection. Most of the J. Lohr wines are grown in Paso Robles, although there is a small vineyard right behind the tasting room in San Jose. The best red wine I had at J. Lohr, the Cypress Hills Shiraz, is also their best value. ($4 a bottle but you have to get a minimum of 6. They can wrap it in an airline approved packaging or ship it within the US.)

You are not obligated to buy a bottle once you’re done tasting so once you’re done you can simply walk out the door. This felt weird to me personally so I picked up a bottle of the Cypress Hills Merlot, my second favorite (that I could afford.) In all, the entire experience will take you at most an hour, cost you nothing, and keep you close to public transportation and the rest of San Jose.

You can find more about J. Lohr and their daily tastings at their website, JLohr.com. I’ve also posted some of my pictures from inside below.

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Pazzo Ristorante in Springfield, Massachussets

Although I missed the Basketball Hall of Fame, I was able to eat at Pazzo’s Ristorante, right outside. This photo is about as fuzzy as my quick tour through Massachusetts.

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The Price of A Pint Around The World

Find the price of a pint of beer in bars around the world with Pint Price. The free website lists the average price of the (almost) half-liter glass of beer in over 207 countries, determining the cost by averaging reports from local users.

Travelers and residents in various countries add the currency, pint price, and specific city Pint Price uses to compile the results . The simple drop down menu on the Pint Price homepage lets you find out that an average pint is $2.18 in Nigeria and convert the results into British Pounds and Euros as well.

Pint Price does lack differentiation for different brands, like Guinness or Heineken, and you can’t search for the cost of your favorite brew. Also, the prices reported in many countries are based on a small number of users (only 44 from Denmark, for example) so the accuracy is varied.

Pint Price is a nice start to your beer travel plans but keep in mind that beer costs vary widely especially in tourist hot spots.

[via Jaunted]

Flakowitz Bagel Inn – Boca Raton, Florida

I took a short trip to Boca Raton, Florida last week and stopped by the Flakowitz Bagel Inn. The service is excellent and you’ll get a lot of food for a fairly low price.

I began with the obvious, a multi-grain bagel with a side of cream cheese.

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How Airline Meals are Made

A short but interesting summary of the process behind creating airline meals. I’m can’t imagine this being such a manual process.

The video also claims that the low humidity and pressurized environment of an airplane cabin may dull taste buds, but not mine. I enjoy and tolerate airplane food from first to economy class – it’s a luxury just to get it anymore these days.

To liven up your weakened taste buds, bring your own spices, see what your next meal will look like, or find out the Zagat rating for your airline.

[via: Upgrade: Travel Better]

Shift Your Body Clock With Peanuts To Avoid Jet Lag

Gradually shifting your body clock, largely regulated by the liver, by slowing digestion with nuts can help reduce jet lag after a long flight overseas.

Most nuts (and peanuts, which aren’t nuts) slow the digestion of carbohydrates by an average of two hours. For a 2-hour shift ahead, for example, simply eat 8 peanuts prior to eating at your regular mealtimes.

A 3-hour shift ahead requires eating an hour later than you normally would, with a small handful of nuts. For greater time differences or if you’re just bad at math, a short fast will engage your “feed clock”.

“If, for example, you are travelling from the US to Japan, you are forced to adjust to an 11-hour time difference.

“Because the body’s biological clock can only shift a small amount each day, it takes the average person about a week to adjust to the new time zone.

“A period of fasting with no food at all for about 16 hours is enough to engage this new clock.

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Do You Visit The Shabbiest Looking Restaurants For The Best Food When Traveling?

I recently submitted some traveling smarter tips for Darren of Travel Rants, including “eat at the shabbiest looking restaurant you run across, they tend to have the best food.”

I received some responses in the comments from readers who disagreed.

Erica from Blissful Travel responded,

I probably wouldn’t eat at the shabbiest looking restaurant, but I’d much rather go to a place where there are more locals than tourists.

and Diane from In2Town added,

…you would never go to the cheapest eating places. You would speak to the locals and find out the best places to eat and my moto is, try everything while on holiday.

and both Mark H and Jack noted that it won’t be a long walk to find a unique places off the regular tourist path.

All valid and insightful points, but my question to you readers is – do you visit the shabbiest looking restaurants for the best food when you travel? I’d like to hear from you all in the comments – I know that many of you are visiting to vote for the sexiest story contest and this is a perfect time to add your first comment!

[photo by: dbz885]

The Hermitage Inn Restaurant, Petersburg West Virginia

One night during my recent trip to Harman’s North Folk Cottages I decided to take the advice I had read in the cabin journal and head over to Hermitage Inn Restaurant. The previous visitors to the cabin wrote that the steak was the best in town and wanted to see if it was.

The Hermitage, open since 1840, offers a wide variety of selections in its menu, which is a good thing since most else in town is fast food. There restaurant serves fish, chicken, and meats as well as several type of salad and soup. Make sure to ask for the specials, since there are interesting offerings there – the waitress forgot to mention it until after we had ordered.

The Steak: The filet (about $16) was tasteful, but over cooked – granted the servers ask everyone to cut in and check their meat first. Overcooking means that you’d have to send the steak back to the kitchen for a new one and wasting food isn’t very eco-friendly.

The Appetizer To Get: Mushroom caps. Broiled mushrooms stuffed with crab cakes, not very big (about $9).

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