Istanbul Diary: Gul Receli

I'm back in Manhattan after a full week in Istanbul. Although it feels good to be home, I miss waking up and eating a big breakfast in the mornings before embracing a beautiful vacation day.

I stayed at the Anemon Galata Hotel located in the Beyoglu area of Istanbul. It is near the famous Galata Tower which you may have heard of if you've read any of Orhan Pamuk's books. Orhan Pamuk is a wonderful authour, by the way. You should check him out if you haven't heard of him already. His most famous books are "Snow," "My name is Red," and "Istanbul."

I ate breafast every day at the rooftop terrace restaurant of the hotel. From 7:30 am to 10:30 am, they served a wonderful spread of breads, olives (interesting choice for breakfast, I thought, but the Turks are Mediterranean after all!), meats, cheeses, cereals, fruits and eggs. And then there were the jams and the honeys. Many delicious and unusual varities of them. I fell totally in love with gul receli or rose jam. I added generous spoonfuls of this wonderfully aromatic and intensely flavourful jam on my croissant every morning. With every bite, I imagined floating on a bed of light pink rose petals, ignorant to the world around me.

I liked it so much that I even brought a few bottles home. I'm hoping that Kalustyans carries gul receli so I won't ever run out. Even though I have the bottles at home now, I am scared to open it and try the jam. I feel that the commercial version won't be half as good as the one seen in the picture. Wish me luck!