We had a post planned for today but it’s going to have to wait for another time as we just have to share this story with you. A lovely (for us) random act of kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness, whatever you want to call it. It’s made our Monday anyway and has confirmed why we love blogging and Turkey so much.
You may remember a while back that we did a post on Kars Gravyer Peyniri as part of our attempt at sampling the different famous cheeses of Turkey. Kars is in the Northeast of Turkey, many miles from Fethiye, so we had to rely on the local supermarket as our Kars Gravyer cheese source.
After writing the post, we got a few comments about the cheese. One of these comments was from Hülya who is the author of the blog, Turkish Cuisine and, to cut a long story short, she said she was going to send us some Kars Gravyer cheese so we could try the real thing!
A personal delivery of Kars cheese by cargo
We don’t know Hülya and we’ve never met her. All we know about her is the information she has on her personal profile on her blog and that she likes to share Turkish recipes. She comments on our blog and we comment on hers. That’s it. But, she wanted to send us some Kars Gravyer Peyniri so we could sample it.
These things happen in Turkey. Two days ago, she commented on our Fethiye Harbour in Winter post to say the cheese was on its way. This morning, as we were about to set off for a jog, there was a knock on the door and I had to sign for a parcel. How exciting!
We both ripped the plastic kargo bag open and pulled out a blue canvas bag. Then we untied the knot at the top of the canvas bag. This was one big, heavy wedge of cheese! I reached inside the bag and revealed the bounty.
Famous Kars gruyere cheese
A huge, horseshoe-shaped wedge of Kars Gravyer Peyniri, all wrapped in cling film. The cling film wasn’t there for long as we ripped it open to reveal the cheese in its full glory. Definitely more holes and harder than the supermarket version. A skin protecting the cheese and darker round the edges – as it is apparently supposed to be.
And for that first taste, we didn’t even bother taking a knife from the drawer. We pulled a little chunk off each to sample the tangy flavours…and then we went for a run and dreamed of lunch as we ran up and down the track.
A bowl of Turkish pickled vegetables, Barry’s tomato salad, some süzme yoghurt, chilli-topped baked eggs and a plateful of sliced Kars Gravyer Peynir. The starring role in our lunch had literally been delivered to our door a couple of hours before and it tasted fabulous.
Kars gravyer peynir is a definite tasty treat
We are fully aware of the Turkish tradition of sharing food and food gifts so we’re going to be very generous and give a little bit to some of our Turkish friends. We have no choice!
We told them there might be some Kars Gravyer Peyniri on its way to us and they jumped straight in there to book their wedge! I hope we see them soon…or they might miss out.
A big thank you again to Hülya Unsal Sakıroğlu.
That’s so super sweet! Sounds like I need to move to Turkey!
@ Belinda: It is isn’t it?! We couldn’t believe it when it arrived this morning. 🙂
Such as heartwarming (and delicious) post. Kindness like this is long remembered 🙂
Bon Apetito Julia! You’re very welcome!
That was very nice of Hulya. That is what I love about Turkish people. They are so kind.
@ Corinne: It certainly is. Don’t think the cheese will last long though! 🙂
@ Hulya: And we did manage to share some with our friends, too.
@ Natalie: A lovely thing to do wasn’t it?!
Lovely act, the cheese looks great!
@ Simcha: The cheese is great – and got the seal of approval from our friends last night, too. They thought it was gorgeous. 🙂
Great story! Kindness can happen in the most unexpected places sometimes….like when my kasabi knocks off a few lira from my purchase for being a regular customer. Enjoy the cheese!
@ Joy: We’re very much enjoying the cheese. Nice to be on the receiving end of kindness isn’t it?
How lovely! Wish I was in Turkey right now 😀
What a wonderful story and how kind of Hülya. The world would be a much better place if everyone had someone to send them cheese.
@ Ping: It is lovely isn’t it?
@ Laurel: Restores your faith in human nature doesn’t it. Maybe we should all start sending cheese to someone! 🙂
Yum! That looks like such delicious cheese…so creamy
@ Andrea: Not much left now. We’ve eaten loads of it and been very kind in sharing some of it – if a little grudgingly. 🙂
Well that look absolutely delicious. How cool that a stranger sent you a giant block of cheese? Yet another reason for us to plan a trip to Turkey.
How sweet! I’m willing to bet that she got more pleasure out of sending it….what a lovely gesture!
@ Adam: Just one of those things that make you feel happy! 🙂
@ Renee: Hopefully. We certainly enjoyed receiving it – as did our friends who’ve benefitted from it being passed on. 🙂
Sending food in the mail is always an awesome gesture of kindness! That block of cheese looks superb!
@ migrationology: It was superb. Never recived food in the post before – it was great when the courier knocked on the door.
Awesome! I love random acts of kindness and cheese!
@ Rease: Us too. Nice that they arrived together then. 🙂
Love this post – there is something wonderful about someone’s enthusiasm for something when it is transformed into generosity because they want to share. Well done Hülya and lucky you, Julia and Barry!
i’ll be right over! 😉 such a sweet story- such a great testament to how fantastic the online travel community is and how we can develop real friendships! everything looks delicious and you dears deserve it 🙂
@ Robin: Yes, very lucky for us! 🙂 It was a wonderful act of generosity and one we certainly were not expecting.
@ Lorna: You’re welcome whenever you like. 🙂