Food...

I'm having some random food thoughts today. Part of that is because I tried a new recipe, a local dish of green beans and rice. Check it out here. It didn't work, but it had promise! I think it needed more water and more time. Rice and I are kind of at war. Around here you can get -- and they use -- pasta. But it seems like it's a second class citizen to rice and bulgur, which are what all the favorite dishes are made of. I figured out how to steam rice till it's good and dead, but that gets old quick. They do lots of neat stuff with pilav. But so far, everything I've tried has either been crunchy, sticky, or burnt.

But I have found a neat recipe idea that does work--although there's nothing local about except that I can make it here. You dip chicken breast slices in honey mustard dressing, and then roll them in crushed cornflakes and bake 425F for 15 minutes. We like it with/on salad. I make my own honeymustard dressing with 1 cup mayo, 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 cup mustard, and I line the pan with foil if I want easy clean up.

Today I discovered a new food at the pazar. There were these things that looked like a small, pale canteloupe. I figured they were probably some type of melons, something like honeydew, but in the interesting of being a life-long learner, I asked the seller "what's this?" He responded almost automatically with the fruit's name, but my favorite part was the look on his face when I asked him to repeat it and he realized I didn't know what it was. He found it quite amusing when I told him I had never seen one before, and he told me it was sweet like honey and really good. I bought one for a little over 2 dollars, which I doubt was a good deal since he knew I was pretty clueless. I came home and cut it open, and it's basically just like honeydew. The word he gave me just means generic "melon."