Turkish lunch on a Sydney Sunday

Darlings!

On a beautiful Sunday morn in Ol' Sydneytown, La Diva and galpal Lady Fifi headed off with excitement to the Everleigh Artisan's Market in the old Carriageworks in Redfern, near the city's center.  La Diva had a wedding present to buy and could think of nothing more perfect than a hand-crafted gift from Australia for her friends back in Miami!

The market place was outdoors but undercover and crammed with local artisans flogging their wares and hopping with punters ready to part with their cash!

Unfortunately, the Shopping Gods were not with La Diva that morning because after investigating every booth in the entire marketplace, La Diva came up empty handed.  Oh, there were beautiful things.  Many, many beautiful things.  Like jewelry.  And gorgeous hand-knit scarves.  And hats.  But, sadly, La Diva had to restrain herself (AND remind herself!) that I was shopping for my friend's wedding, NOT me!  And unfortunately, gifts for the home at the marketplace that were practical and reasonably priced were sorely lacking.

 I did find a few vendors selling hand silk screened tea towels and place mats.  But they wanted $25 for one tea towel.  $25 for a tea towel?  I'd be afraid to use it and would prefer to hang it on the wall for that price.  And $36 for two placemats!  I just thought to myself, for that kind of dough, I could get the happy couple Marimekko and it would have been much cooler.  Somehow I couldn't imagine my friends opening up a package of placemats and napkins for $100 and exclaiming:  wow!

The fact is, while many of the goods were certainly beautiful, the prices were exorbitant.  Now, now, you artsy types out there, don't get your knickers in a knot.  La Diva is all about paying people for their work fairly and as a jeweler that has sold at myriad art fairs myself, I know all about the time and love and labor put into items.  But, these were just not worth the very high price tags.

This abomination is what the Aussies call a tea pot cosy.  It is used to keep your tea pot warm as it brews.  As this was hand-knitted and adorned with a rosette, La Diva can only imagine that it's price was at least $50. To me, that's about as practical as a S'mores maker from Bed Bath and Beyond and  butt-ugly.  Pass.

As I wistfully gazed at yet another gorgeous piece from an artisan,  Lady Fifi says to me:  "Darling, do you REALLY need that little wisp of a silk scarf in that beautiful  turquoise that so suits your skin tone for $60?  When would you wear it?   You only wear a scarf once or twice in winter and you are coming into summer."

DRAT.  She's right, as usual.  Besides, La Diva already bought a nice little "remind-myself-of-my-fabulous-time-in-Sydney" gift for herself, a Rockpool Restaurant cookbook for $130.  Boo.

So, after a few hours of self-restraint and listening to my voice of reason (aka Fifi) La Diva resigned herself to the fact that I would leave empty handed, the task of securing a groovy wedding present would remain incomplete.  Boo.  What to do?

Let's have lunch!

Yes, Lady Fifi knows if there is one thing that will cheer a Diva up (besides shoes and cocktails!) it is a nice lunch.  She suggested we try the Turkish gozleme.  I was in.

Wikipedia describes gozleme as this:  "Gozleme is a savory traditional Turkish hand made and hand rolled pastry.  Fresh pastry is rolled out, filled and sealed, then cooked over a griddle.  The name derives from the Turkish word 'goz,' meaning 'eye.' "

All La Diva knows is that they smelled DAMN GOOD.  We'll take one, thanks.

The nice Turkish mama smiles for La Diva and the camera as she rolls up the dough.

Fillings of spinach, feta cheese and beef are added before folding the dough over.

Onto the hot grill they go...

This actually isn't a photo of our gozleme.  In my greed, La Diva ate it up in a flash before remembering to take a photo! Thank you Internet.

Our gosleme lunch was Dee-lightful!  The beef filling was steamy hot and delicious with a lovely, zesty spice.  A quick squeeze of lemon over the top added a bright note to the savory flavors.    Oh how I do miss my Turkish pide and gozleme here in Miami!  Perhaps La Diva will find a recipe online to recreate a favorite and very "more-ish" dish and sincerely thanks Lady Fifi for once again  helping Diva show restraint in her pocketbook but not in her stomach! 

Ciao, for now, darlings!

If you are looking for Miami cooking classes, then why not go "Around the World" with La Diva Cucina?  Every Thursday for the month of June at Epicure Gourmet Market, I'll be teaching fabulous foodies and friends how to make exciting, easy and tasty dishes from around the globe (all paired with matching cocktails, natch!)  Need more info, darling?  CLICK HERE!