Turkish Delight

Last Saturday, the heat was really unbearable.
We decided to hibernate at home……draw the curtains, switch on the air-conditioning and simply just chill out with lots of icy lemon tea.

And to make this man-made winter more enjoyable, I decided to make it a movie marathon afternoon.
I lined up 4 movies in a row …
First on the list was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.(Been putting off watching this show for the longest time…)

Well, If U have watched this movie, I am sure by now U would have figured out, that this post is specially dedicated to this movie.
Merely by the mention of Turkish Delight for the title!
Remember how Edmund Pevensie gobbled up several pounds of Turkish Delight in one sitting and clamored for more from the The evil White Witch, Jadis.

Looking at the way Edmund gobbled the sweets, to one whom have not tasted them before would think that these delights must have tasted like the best food that was ever invented.

Anyway, I am fortunate to have tasted them many times in Turkey itself.

This movie made me reminisced about those soft, gooey delightful squares, bursting with sugar goodness & nuts that will delight your senses with each bite. They are very addictive U know!

At the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, there are hundreds of stores selling Turkish delight or Lokum. It’s a real feast for the eyes cuz each store will display a lot of colorful candies piled up high trying to catch your attention…U will be spoilt for choice. One can sample them before buying, the store keepers will never fail to pester U to buy some from them…and some are really friendly, U will feel bad turning them down.

These candies tend to be way too sweet for me actually.
Yet, I can’t resist sinking my teeth in to them.
To me they are an acquired taste.
Some of my pals simply hated eating them... saying they taste rubbery, like sweet plaster or even worst stale soap…..*giggles*!
I can’t help but agree that some of the flavors are indeed too
adventurous for our Asian palate and if U are not a fan of aromatic flavors, this may not be your kind of sweet.
Think rose, lavender, mint, lime, orange blossom and exotic herbs.

After watching this movie, I told hub….how nice if I could just have a small cube of this candy for old times sake….and I think I chose the best time to say this, cuz the next day, at the supermarket, hub spotted boxes of Turkish Delight sitting on the shelf….probably due to Ramadan, stores stock more middle-eastern sweets for the occasion.

No prizes for guessing who dropped a box on to the supermart trolley. *WinK*

The moment I got home, I opened the box of sweets with excitement. The sweets are wrapped in wax paper and a coated thickly with flour & icing power of sorts to prevent them from sticking. This box of candy is made with Pistachio nuts…. another favourite.

Sadly, it’s a far cry from the fresh stuff cuz they are not as soft but biting into it, I could immediately taste the suspension of the rose water jelly and pistachios….Ahhh! heavenly! No doubts, this box of candy still gave me a run for the money without travelling the distance to indulge.