Food Porn: İstanbul.

It's true. The street corn came in printer test paper. It looked better than it tasted, but a Wisconsin lad and a Jersey girl are tough customers when it comes to this vegetable. However, lackluster is not a word that often came to mind while indulging in as much of the cuisine as possible in Istanbul.

Eating gluten-free here was not difficult, but it did strike up some fleeting moments of jealousy. Most every meal is accompanied by a delicious looking, wheat flour based, baked creation - it is a staple in the experience and Eli was more than happy to test everything.

OVERVIEW: For breakfast there is simit (think wider, thinner bagel) sandwich with cucumber, tomato and cheese, or bürek (super-thin pastry, like steamed filo, layered with cheese, spinach or other options). We tended towards making eggs, yogurt on the side and slicing up the best peaches or figs we've ever had.

For lunch there is simit once more, but more often pida served with something to dip it in, with something on top of it, or with it rolled around a kebap. The pida is versatile, clearly. Dinner can be mezze (with rakı, see below) or more complete dishes, all accompanied by pida or a variant thereof. Thankfully, there is also the choice of getting most things as "porsiyon" (read: portion) with rice or making a meal out of mezze dishes alone. My point is, there is a solution for everyone. Like below - there is adana kebab (spicy lamb) hiding in that bread and I stealthily saved the exterior for Eli while piling together more than my share of pickles, grilled peppers, parsley and dried spices and eating it all with one hand. Voila! FRESHNESS : By far the best looking and tasting produce we have enjoyed seeing and tasting thus far. Each market has piles of the biggest cabbage you'll ever see (we are talking good carving pumpkin size), snappy green peppers (the skinny kind), spices (fresh or dried) wafting all around, and so on. Meandering through means navigating the crush of people, but once you find your comfort within in it, you can stop to sample anything and not get mauled by the stampede. DAIRY: Yogurt is practically coursing through veins here. Ayran, a salty lasso type drink is refreshing and cuts through spice. Plain or savory yogurt accompanies many dishes, balancing the olive oil or heaviness nicely. The supermarket aisle drives this point home. Not pints, buckets: Additionally, the ice cream here is a bizarre textural adventure. It is thick, gum-like, and doesn't seem to melt like other ice cream. The better kinds are bought in a log form, with pistachio on top, and sliced like cake...but still different than Carvel by a longshot.

STUFFED POTATO: You have not seen one until you have seen Kumpir. Baked, or jacket, potato with cheese mixed thoroughly into the potato as a base. Add in your choice of anything at all from chopped pickle to sausage to potato salad (no kidding) to olives. Top it all off with ketchup and mayonnaise. We sided with our friends who recommended that less is more; our favorite combo being eggplant ratatouille, extra parsley, roasted red peppers, olive paste, pickle, spicy pepper paste and greens. No topping, much to the dismay of the young men prepping them.

IMBIBING: Şerefe (cheers) to Herman for teaching us the proper way to consume and fully enjoy this unsweetened anise-based spirit. A rakı equation: rakı (+) mezze (x) conversation (=) relaxation/time. There is a proper glass, which gets a dose of rakı, topped with cold water and two ice cubes. No more, no less! Eli and I had our juvenile attempt with it on Herman and Özge's balcony. Wrong glasses, and Efe brand is better than Yeni, but you get the idea:

Lastly, some of our favorite sweets: • baklava - naturally, the best we've had. • walnut jam with clove in syrup - just wow. • tahini with grape molasses - comes in a paired cup at the supermarket. • clove lokum - we imagine craving this in winter.

And other favorite things: • as always, homemade meals shared with friends can't be beat and our wonderful experiences here were no exception to the rule. • minted carrots - a surprise win at a lokantasi near Şişhane. • a dried fig, stuffed with a walnut, shoved in Eli's mouth by a random woman at a market in Balat.

We left with our bellies full, our hearts warm and a long list of recipes and ingredients to attempt and rely on in the future. İs it too obvious to say that I sense a trend building?

Location:Istanbul, Turkey