Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Mystery Man (not) at Cody’s
We began the day in San Francisco looking for Fillmore Street’s Turkish population, which turned out to be an easy task... Our first stop was O & Co. Mediterranean Food Merchant where we met Eser Özkay, originally from Malatya who has lived in USA for 25 years. Next door was Cafe L’Mediterranee, whose owner Levon was also happy to hear about EH.
We stopped by Browser Books to sign some EH bookplates before heading down to Union Street in Pacific Heights where we met Meltem, who owns a small jewelry store—we knew she was Turkish as soon as we saw the nazar boncuğu necklaces she was selling! We met others along Union, like Joanie Giannini who loves traveling to Mediterranean countries and has Turkey next on her list!
At Cody’s Books on Stockton Street (the Union Square branch of the reknowned Bay Area independent bookseller) we were pleased to be joined by two EH contributors: Ana “The Language of Family” Fletes and Catherine Salter Bayar. Also in the crowd of 19 was professor John Levy, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley and his Turkish wife Lale; Judith Sender, sister of John Levy and organizer of the speaker series at Noe Valley Ministry ; architect Bobbie Sue Hood, the 11th Bryn Mawr alum to support the tour; Hayal Koç of JPMorgan Chase; Denise Wilkerson who saw a mention of EH on Moorish Girl, the literary blog of author Laila Lalami-- after our event says she’s inspired to pen her own account of living in Cairo!
Conspicuously absent was the blonde gent in the suit who stopped by Cody’s 30 minutes beforehand telling the events coordinator Rachel that he had gone to school with one of the EH writers.Though he said he’d come back later for the event, he never did! Who are you, mystery man?
With a group of friends from the reading we dropped in at the ultrahot 111 Minna Gallery South of Market, and dined at Osha Thai Restaurant with EH contributors and friends. Jennifer recommends the coconut soup Tom Yum Ka.
Thank you to our kind hostess Alicia DeVilla, Jennifer's friend from the Expat in Turkey forum, who sacrificed her comfort for days while putting us up!
