Christmas Eve. Beautiful sunny, warm day so we’re off to the strip to get the missing bits for tomorrow. Dolmuş down to the Russian shop for salted herring and German garlic pork sausage. Surprised to meet John there also collecting sausage for Christmas.
Then down to Besmar for veg. Potatoes on sale for 40 lira ($1.63 CAD, £0.91) a kilo, which is noticeably better than our local, though a fairly unimpressive commentary on the government’s effort to lower the price. Always nice produce here. Then Şokmar. Peanuts and - happy discovery - cigars. Dominican Republic. Not Cuba, but close. Could have custard powder here but expensive - and, more importantly, 800 grams is more than we’d use in two winters. So now committed to making my own without benefit of Bird’s. And last stop Ileli. Vanilla and J, bless him, has discovered Branston pickle. Still haven’t forgotten accidentally leaving a large jar of same on a bus in Türkiye in 2001, though the regret has faded somewhat.
So, errands accomplished. Walk up to Ankara Caddesi to take a dolmuş home. Well timed too. Dark clouds have formed and we’re no sooner back than it rains. But we have everything.
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