The Dust Settles
It’s hard to relax following this massive software development and organization rush I’ve put on in the last few weeks.
The Cluster/Python platform was rolled out, with the actual Cluster update following. Efendi is at 1.0.1 after a discovery and fix for the next/previous buttons at the bottom of the page (pesky non-root URLs!), a single TrueCrypt volume contains all my relevant personal/business files, I’m using Google Docs for less critical things, I have a Dropbox account that seems to be working well, my music all has album art embedded in a format finally acceptable to my Sony media player, and many other things have gotten done along the way.
Work is in a summer lull right now (Europe takes really big vacations), pending the ramp-up of the planning process. This has made it easier to manage the tasks that come but still retain some focus and energy for things at home.
I even perfected (or at least stabilized) my ability to make Turkish tea last night, which isn’t as touchy as it seems but has a fairly strict time schedule to follow. I’m still using too much dry tea, which turns out to not ruin the tea, but it makes cleanup hard and consumes quite a bit of your water puffing up the tea leaves (think rice).
Turkish tea is an institution here (higher per capita consumption than Great Britain), and it is made quite differently than the Western tea bag method. You use a stacked pot (big kettle on the bottom, small tea pot/pitcher on the top). Boil water in the kettle with the dry tea getting a little dry steam-heat from the base of the top pot. Pour boiling water onto the top pot’s dry tea leaves and boil lightly for 15 minutes.
What ends up in the small tea pot is a virtually undrinkable ultra-strong tea solution, which you pour into little tulip-shaped glasses and dilute 1⁄2 to 2⁄3 with the hot water in the bottom kettle.
This ends up not really tasting like conventional tea. It’s very strong, takes two cubes of sugar to calm it into a nice sweet treat, and really is the motor oil for conversation here. The apple variety takes no additional sugar (unless you’re Kristin) and is basically a liquid dessert.
Interestingly enough, the Turkish “fire-water” rakı (don’t you love those undotted i’s?) is also virtually undrinkable in raw form and is actually diluted with cool water. It turns from a clear, water-like liquor into a cloudy white solution. It’s licorice-flavored and can (while not too pleasant to sip on) be a virtual truth serum for the otherwise quite tactful Turks. Another interesting cultural institution.
Anyway, I’m going to try to enjoy the quiet for a while.