Strange sights

My office is in a the business area of town. Many businesses such as Petrol Ofisi, HSBC, Deloitte and Akbank have their headquarters located here. It is busy and chaotic to say the least.

When you think of business area you think of a downtown area like Manhattan, or like in Melbourne the CBD (central business district). My office is situated in one of the highest towers in this area with all the mod cons you could imagine from retina eye scan automated entry to automated lifts where there are no buttons inside the lift.

But when you look from above, the 14th floor I mean, things take on a different perspective. To the back side of the building you can see one of the hundreds of military zones in Istanbul with soldiers patrolling and training. You can see the fresh new construction of 'Mashattan', and directly below you can see where the endless trash from the construction zone has been buried in some kind of makeshift landfill which reeks and houses endless mosquito's which enter in through any open window even 14 floors up, but lets not get me started on that.

From another window you can see the remains of what used to be here. About three or four gecekondu style houses made of up of things picked up from the roadside or left over PVC sheeting, old tiles and plastic crates stacked up by the hundreds strewn all over the place. Yes, people do live here. In the middle of a business area. They own a couple of cows too which are kept in a flimsy backyard which faces one of the three roads that lead in and out of the area. And to walk by there is no pleasant trip, believe you me, there is a stench that lingers and in summer time is a challenge to anyone's lunch meal.

Today I went to visit someone in their office and from the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something moving slowly along the road that runs in front of the military zone. It was a group of nine cows, one after the other, following each other down a road. There was no shepherd (or whatever the correct name is for a cow hearder) or any person for that matter in sight leading this pack. In between the pack were three young calf. They didn't seem bothered by the cars swerving around them or tooting at them and moseyed on their merry way. I couldn't believe the sight I was seeing. Cows in a downtown area. I just could not imagine seeing such a sight in Melbourne. I was truly astonished. I wish I had my camera with me to take a snap shot.

It's just another day in Istanbul......

Merry Christmas!

To all my family and friends here and at home, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and joy filled New Year!

It finally started to snow here and the temperature has dropped significantly. It feels a little like Christmas, but not quite like home where my dad is firing up the barbie and my sister is preparing a seafood spread.

Take care everyone and enjoy your holidays!!

Things I love...

Yesterday I wrote about what I missed the most about home. Today, I want to share what I love most about Istanbul.

1. Food glorious food!!

2. Warm, friendly, hospitable Turks.

3. Excellent metro system - frequent and rarely any problems (so far!)

4. The Bosphorus.

5. Çay!

6. The sights and sounds of Sultanahmet.

7. Credit card 'taksit' - if you pay by credit card, you can spread the payment over however many months you like!

8. Discount for cash! And not just in Sultanahmet. I bought shoes in Nine West recently and they gave me a 10% discount for cash!

9. Cheaper labour = more affordable services. From 10YTL blow waves to car washing/vac for less than 10YTL, tailoring pants for a fiver, or even for free. Yes, the tailor fixed something up for me for free!

10. Para Puan. Points accumulated on credit card can be spent like cash. We paid for 50YTL of supermarket shopping with points!

11. Dolmuş. Small version of a bus, but operated privately. One any route, it will stop where ever you want. Great service!

12. Akbil. An electronic key that you load money onto to pay for trips on transport like bus, metro, tram, funicular, sea bus and ferry, but not the dolmuş. The fare is 10% lower than using the standard token. Australia should get onto this!!

13. Cheaper public transport. On all of the above forms of transport-regardless of distance- is 1.20YTL. Love it!

14. Taxi's. Easy to find and cheap to use!

15. Fish and fish restaurants. You can eat a great meal of fresh fish caught from the Black Sea of Bosphorus for less than 15YTL.

16. Open hours. Most malls and shops are open for longer hours. Malls usually from 10am to 10pm, 7 days.

17. Buy now, pay later. Sometimes if you don't have the right change and the local shop, bakkal, doesn't have any either, they tell you to pay next time, no problems at all. Even in a taxi twice, the drive had no change, so it was a free ride. This would never happen at home!

18. Diverse areas of town from Bebek to Balat.

19. Never ending list of things to see, do and learn about.

20. Snow! The first country I have lived in where it truly snows in winter. An amazing sight for someone from Australia!

Things I miss.....

Being far away from the Motherland makes me realise all the things we take for granted in what is described as the lucky country. It goes without saying that I miss family and friends the most, but I wanted to list those small things that I miss most on a day to day level that we don't really think about until we don't have them, and of course, some of my favourites things that I long for.

So here is my top 20 list of things I miss.

1. Silence. Melbourne, or it's suburbs, is far more quiet than Istanbul.

2. Lack of traffic. There is no such thing as a traffic jam in Melbourne. If you think there is, you haven't been here yet.

3. Easy to find organic produce and health food and a huge range of organic/free range foods and products. I could create a list within this list.

4. Proper coffee. Italian lattes, with soy milk.

5. Cruising in my own wheels with the music up.

6. Being able to park your car in your own driveway and not have to drive around in the late hours to find a space next to a bus shelter 50 metres from your front door.

7. The ease at which you can move around the city; by car, tram, train, bus, by bike in a specified bicycle lane, or on foot without risking braking your ankle on the poorly constructed footpath.

8. Minimal overcrowding in most places.

9. People know how to form a queue and stay in it. Here, people don't hesitate to jump a line no matter who or where you are and think nothing of it.

10. Lack of red tape/bureaucracy/corruption in day to day living.

11. The air.

12. The cost of a membership to a gym being so affordable and not considered a luxury.

13. Political stability and a fairly stable dollar (ok, maybe not right now).

14. Multiculturalism and diversity.

15. Respect for the environment.

16. The Tofu shop.

17. Little Collins Street.

18. The price of petrol.

19. Recycling everything.

20. BBQ's in your own backyard.

Sacrifices: big and small

Just back from a week of holiday for the Muslim holiday of Kurban Bayram, translated directly as the Feast of the Sacrifice, as it is known in Turkey, or Eid al-Adha, in other parts of the Muslim world.

I know there are many of you reading who know all about Bayram and what is represents, but for those who don't I'll give you some info and my impressions.

Basically, the sacrifice of an animal demonstrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience of God, although God provided an animal (a ram) in Ishmael's place once Abraham had demonstrated his willingness to obey God's commands.

Throughout Turkey you will find animals on the back of trucks being lead to slaughter and in bigger cities you can find abattoir style places where animals can be purchased and sacrificed from as opposed to front gardens and parks which was the case in years past!

The meat from the slaughter is then shared between families, themselves and people in need who cannot otherwise afford to buy meat. It is said that this is to remind Muslims that all things (wealth, animals, food, etc) are from God and must be shared among his people.

It was an interesting week for me, to say the least. I kind of expected to rest and laze about reading books, playing sudoku and eating too much. Although I managed to do all three, I also played housewife and host, tea and coffee maker, butcher, dishwasher and farm hand.

My husband and his brother attended the sacrifice early on the first day of Bayram with the butcher. Afterwards, they returned to the house with half the meat, the other half was given to my husband's aunt and uncle who had shared the cost of the animal. There I helped cut, separate and package the meat and then helped cook 'kavurma' which is a tasty, but cholesterol filled, meal of stewed meat, usually cooked in its own fat.

After the meat was dealt with, guests started to arrive to give Bayram greetings. My husband's father is not well and cannot get about easily, so people he would usually visit, came to visit him. I served the endless guests cups of tea and traditional Bayram desserts of 'ev baklava' (homemade baklava) and 'kadayfi' (shredded pastry with nuts and sugar syrup) and offered rounds of chocolates and plates of fruit. I was up and down from the kitchen to the living room so many times it was like my old waitressing days.

Turkish hospitality is a serious business. There is proper order in which things should take place; like who is served first- usually the oldest person in the group is served tea and dessert first followed by those other senior people. There are certain people who you greet with a handshake and other who you greet with the more formal kiss of the back of the hand which is then touched to your forehead before kissing each cheek from right to left. In many homes in Anatolia, there are no big couches and people sit on the floor on pillows. If there is a couch, it should be given up for others.

I found it quite stressful to remember who to serve first, who's hand I should or should not kiss and so on. We don't practice these kinds of cultural customs back home and usually tend to greet people with a handshake, hug and or kiss. Individuals, regardless of age, are generally considered equals and there is no 'pecking' order as such. Children, teenagers and young adults are generally free to do what they want and not have to hang around the adults, but 'n Turkey I find that they tend to sit around and listen intently to the older folks speaking. Not being present when guests have come can be considered rude and disrespectful.

Now that my husband's sister is not in Turkey anymore, I feel like I have filled her space as the 'Gelin' (translated as bride or daughter-in-law) and now have to step up which is quite difficult given she was a typical Turkish daughter who lived at home until she was married and did everything that her parents asked of her and she was content with being a great Turkish host. My idea of hospitality is slightly less stressful, but now I find myself 'checking' my relaxed style and wondering if I need to learn a thing or two from these people.

My husband's mother is a very hard working woman. She worked in the garden for many hours, even though it had snowed for the first night and day we were there and the temperatures were below zero. She barbecued, baked and cooked the whole week and served everyone without complaint. She cleaned and vacuumed the house and never asked for help. She carried fire wood and loaded the two fire heaters the whole week, early in the morning and late at night. I'm not sure I am much of a match to her!

On the morning of the sacrifice, once my husband had returned to the house, we all offered our Bayram blessings and greetings to the parents. I took Baba's hand and kissed it and put it to my head and then hugged him. As I hugged him, he cried. I looked at my husband and asked why he was crying and he said "it's because you are here, you're here with him, you're here with us".

I guess I could call this is my sacrifice.

Bizarrely normal

Recently I was thinking about the weird, strange and dangerous aspects of life here. Everyday day I notice new and weird stuff that goes. So, I thought I would share my list so far of things that make my head turn.

1. Drivers reversing up the shoulder of a highway because they missed the turn off.
2. Drivers driving up the wrong side of the road because the other side is blocked with traffic. (Then, when the taxi driver of the taxi I am riding in signals to the other driver of his disapproval at him doing the wrong thing, the driver swears at the taxi driver like it was he who did something wrong. Go figure).
3. The sign on the back of the toilet at the airport that says "Flush twice to save water" or something along those lines.
4. Reversing down a one way street.
5. Non use of seat belts. Or finding the seat belt wrapped around the back of the seat and connected to the buckle to prevent it "annoying" the driver.
6. Pedestrians walking on the side of the highway.
7. Buses collecting passengers from the side of highways, even though there is no "bus stop".
8. Walking against the red man.
9. Excessive speeding.
10. Overtaking without signal.
11. Overtaking with signal, but signalling in the opposite direction.
12. Running red lights. Inability to stop due to number 8.
13. The highest road fatality rate in Europe possibly due to numbers 1-12, except 3.
14. Mass construction of large scale office buildings and apartment blocks in heavily built up areas.
15. The lack of any kind of town planning. i.e Lets not worry about where the roads will go, lets just build, build, build!
16. The construction of gece kondu (literal meaning: built overnight). One day there's a bit of vacant land, the next, BAM- there is house. About 6 million in Istanbul.
17. Littering- people freely, without care littering.
18. Feeding of stray dogs and cats. (apologies to cat and dog lovers).
19. The large amount of stray dogs and cats.
20. Over crowding of every form of public transport.
21. Prohibition of smoking in taxis when drivers continue to do it.
22. The price of petrol. Equivalent of AUD$3.00 something....per litre that is. Luckily our car uses gas at AUD$2.50 per litre. Great savings!

There are many more strange and wonderful things that I haven't listed here. I just really wanted to give you all an idea of the funny things that life has to offer! And, those of you in Australia, don't whine again about the price of petrol! I can say however, that the good out ways the bad by far. I will soon post about the fun, wonderful and beautiful things.

Banana cake

My friend Katie from home bought me this great cookbook as a wedding gift when she was here in April. I love it. Katie is a country girl and the book is suitably titled "Country Classics" and it's from the country women's association of Australia. It is a collection of 500 classic recipes and you can find whatever your heart desires in this book.

When I was younger and bananas started to show any tinge of brown, I would not eat them. I remember my mum storing them in the freezer and later using them for banana cake or muffins. I now find myself doing the same thing. I always buy fresh bananas and never end up eating them, so I store the brown ones in the fridge to use, yes those are the brown things in my freezer below.

I really enjoy baking. I think it's because of my sweet tooth. Some nights the urge to bake something suddenly comes over me and I head for the cupboard to see what I can put together. Usually, I must admit, whatever I bake contains bananas- banana cake, banana bread, banana muffins etc.

Tonight I found the easiest recipe from the Country Classics book for a butter free banana cake.

3 bananas

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup plain flour

3/4 cup of castor sugar

1 tsp bicarb soda

1 x 125 gram packet slivered almonds

I didn't have any almonds on hand, so I just sprinkled some choc chips down on top of the cake after I popped it in the loaf tin. They suggest a loaf tin, but I'm sure any will do and bake on 180 degrees for 1 hour or until cooked. It took 50 minutes for me. Tasty and great with a cuppa!

Green beans

Last week when we did crazy shopping in anticipation of the out law arrival, we bought a kilo of beans, in the hope that Kenan's mum might cook them.

She didn't get the chance to unfortunately, so I thought I would give it a go making string beans in olive oil or zeytinyağlı Çalı fasulye. I was surprised and pleased. They turned out great! So very easy.

1 kilo beans, cleaned and cut in half length ways
2 tomatoes, diced

1 onion, grated

1 tbsp sugar

5 garlic cloves

1 cup of warm water

Basically, throw everything in the pot and boil on medium for 1 hour. What I learnt was that the sugar is the key to having it taste like it tastes in restaurants. I wondered if 1 cup of water would be enough, and it was. The beans will release their water as well and it helps to cook it all through. You can eat cold or hot.

Cooking inspiration

After my last post, I began to consider all that was in my fridge, which was a lot of food. So today I decided to whip up a vegetable sauce, similar to a ratatouille. My mum used to make lots of yummy ones back in the day so I thought I could cook that in order to reduce what was in the fridge in order not to waste. I hate to waste.

I diced up some eggplant's, zucchini's, onion, garlic, mushrooms, green peppers-sweet and mild, and used fresh tomatoes as the base- peeled the skins off them and roughly cut them up. I then added some salça, tomato paste, salt and pepper, a dash of sugar and some dry mixed herbs and let it reduce for about 20 minutes.

But then, what to do once that cooked? A post from a blog I read a while ago reminded me of the open lasagna whereby you boil the pasta sheets separately and then on the plate build your own lasagna. I put one sheet on the base of the plate then added some cheese then sauce and repeated this with 3 lasagna sheets. On top, I added some more sauce, fresh chopped parsley and cheese and presto! You have an open lasagna. It was very tasty and easy and you can make loads of sauce and then freeze.

Fridge stuffed full

I haven't had much to blog about these past weeks, which I guess you can tell.

My out-laws are here for the week. Although it's a bit cramped at home, it's nice to come home to a warm house with the smell of delicious home cooked food floating in the air, not the mention the three large boxes or food, including meat, dry ingredients and fruit and veggies they bought with them. My fridge, needless to say, is busting at the sides due to the fact that we stocked the near empty thing prior to their arrival in order to avoid the embarrassment that would follow when his mother inspected the fridge!

Cooking is a chore for me, especially since I work full-time and dinner is never on the table before 8pm, unless we called out for it! It's hard to be inspired about food when you have slaved over your job all day and then need to muster up some energy to do it all again at home. I wish I didn't feel this way about cooking as I love food and love all that Turkish food has to offer. I find it hard to think on the spot about something to cook and feel that cooking a meal is a great effort.

Recently though I have been thinking about taking a cooking class. I'm not totally hopeless in the kitchen, don't get me wrong, but living in Turkey requires some know how in the basics of Turkish cuisine in order to whip up meals any night of the week without sending myself into a panicked frenzy.

I've made an inquiry about a cooking class and hope to be able to take some casual classes in the coming months. It's not easy to find the time for that also with Turkish classes on Saturday and Sunday. But it might be a nice break away from the languages classes maybe once or twice a month in order to give me some time for something that I want to be good at, ah, not that I don't want to be good at Turkish, but, you know, something else. And also something that I can impress my husband with. He always says how good my lasagna/pasta/roast lamb is, but I can't keep cooking those same things all the time.

For you Turkish cooks out there, what are some easy Turkish meals that you whip up in no time? I'd be interested to hear.

My freedom to speech

Access to blogspot and blogger were temporarily blocked/shut down from last Friday. This is not the first time something like this has happened here. Since May, youtube has been blocked and not to mention the other 1,000 sites that have been blocked. I have my ways around such blockings but it makes things a bit difficult. The reason behind the block came about through a complaint by Lig TV, the founding broadcaster of the Turkcell Super League. Apparetnly, the two blog-hosting services (blogger and blogspot) were enabling their users to watch soccer matches without any subscription to the TV station. Really? Well, it certainly was not me so why did my blog become blocked for the last couple of days? Madness really.

Turkey is trying to overcome the problems it has with blocking information as opposed to whole websites but I sense it could take some time to overcome the problem....

Moleskine Istanbul City Guide is here!

They have arrived! The Moleskine City Notebook series now has an Istanbul City Guide. It contains key maps and metro routes, large scale city centre maps, blank pages for jotting, archives pages with tabs so you can personalise your guide and many, many more great features!

image from amazon.com

Can't wait to get my hands on one and check it out. These would make great gifts for those visiting your city and there are City Notebooks for most major cities around the world.

Tea time!

Since moving to Turkey not only has my love for Turkish tea grown, but I have also developed an interest in tea pots. In every Turkish home you will find tea pots of all different shapes and sizes and most likely you will never see the same one twice.


I was excited to find some gorgeous tea pot pictures on Etsy and purchased this one from FlowerPress from Sydney.




I also have my eye on this original giclee art print from mizudesigns from Melbourne.

And this stunning one from studiolyon which I think is so beautiful with in blue.

To France and back

We headed to France for a quick weekend away to attend Kenan's sister, Ayşe's, wedding.

They live in Saint Claude which is about 60kms from Switzerland. The landscape as we flew over Switzerland towards Lyon was stunning with snow capped mountains which looked like fluffy milk floating between blocks of Swiss chocolate. And then flying over France where everything became green and lush. Saint Claude is beautiful and picturesque, surrounded by mountains which are covered in trees with autumn leaves.

The weather was beautiful and mild and the town was very green and lush. What is interesting about Saint Claude is that there are about 2,000 Turks living in this town of about 13,000. We were told that about 35 years ago one or two people from Yozgat in Turkey went there to work and since then many others from Yozgat have followed. Most of them are there for work and there are many Turkish restaurants and cafes. The groom's father told us that he lived there for 15 years without his family while he tried to establish a business and a life for the family there before bringing his wife and three children across about six years ago.

Saint Claude is really beautiful. In summer Europeans go there for walking and hiking in the surrounding mountains. I'd love to again and visit and see more of the town. I learnt that the town is famous for pipes and diamonds (yes, big ones!), not that I came across any myself, but apparently there are diamond factories there. In the town centre there is a large pipe and diamond, see the pic below.

I spent most of Saturday helping the bride prepare with her new sister-in-laws helping out. They helped her prepare her turban and makeup and then one of the sisters husbands came with his car all decked out in flowers and ribbon (and Turkish flag!) and drove the bride, groom, Kenan and myself around town for some pictures. From there it was back to the house to greet the visitors and family.

The wedding took place at the Turkish-France cultural centre that the Turks had built. The area contains some small Turkish shops, cafes, hall and mosque. The wedding reception was basic in order to cater for the 600+ people. It seemed more like a relaxed gathering than a wedding with kids of all ages running around the place and the three Turkish MC's talking too much and no one understanding a word of what they were saying. During the recent Bayram, one of the groom's uncles' passed away which meant that the plan for the wedding had to chang in that there was no dancing and not much music. There were some more low key songs that were sang, but certainly no dancing. The reception started from 4pm, which is apparently common in France and ended around 8.30pm. After the gift giving ceremony took place, where people come to the front of the room and present the bridge and groom with their gift of gold or money, we headed back to the sisters house and prepared supper for the guests. Turkish hospitality requires a lot preparation, food, tea and stamina in order to prepare all the food and eat lots of it too (even when you are full).

There were loads of great photo opportunities in Saint Claude which is why I would love to visit again and take photos in a different season. Below are just some of the lovely buildings with gorgeous flower boxes and shutters. There were also some interesting bridges around the town.

Parlez vous Francais?

Or Türkçe biliyor musun?

These are the two questions I know I will hear many times over the next few days.

Tomorrow we are heading to France for my husband's sisters wedding. Her husband-to-be is a Turk, living in France. He speaks French and Turkish, my sister-in-law speaks Turkish and a little French mixed with a little English. My husband speaks English and Turkish and I speak English and some Turkish and a touch of French (all that I can remember from year 9 high school). The rest of his family speaks French and Turkish, so I could be having some nice conversations with myself over the next couple of days. Hmmmm...

They live in Saint-Claude, which is about 1.5 hours east of Lyon. Saint-Claude is located closed to the border with Switzerland. It would have been nice to have some more time to visit Paris so I could show Ken, but time is not on our side as usual as I have to get back for work on Monday.

We are lucky in fact that we could go. I don't require a visa but Ken had to apply for one and wait. 200 euros later, he got it. We are the only ones going from the bride's family as Ken's parents could not go. His mother was not granted a visa (after two applications) and his father is not fit to travel due to an operation he had recently. So, amongst the 'French', we will be the only two from her side of an expected 500+ people they are expecting. It should be interesting. I'll take lots of pics and post here next week. Hopefully we can see their little town and check out the sights too.

Bon voyage to me!!

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Siobhan from her blog realmotherhood and so I should answer the questions from the Aging meme that appeared on the blog of nobel savage, who originally tagged Siobhan. So, here goes.


At a certain age women should accept their age and appearance and age gracefully.


At a certain age men should stop driving like lunatics.


When I was a kid I thought I would travel the world.


Now that I am older I wish to see more.


You know you are too old to stay out all night when you are wishing you could take off your stiletto heels and are dreaming of your bed at 11pm.


You know you are too young to go nightclubbing when you have to use your older sisters id to get in.


When I was in high school I listened to the music of Backstreet Boys, Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, JLo, New Kids on the Block, Britney (Baby one more time!), Bon Jovi, R.E.M, Snoop Doggy Dogg, anything rap, hip hop or R&B.


Nowadays I find I like the music of Madonna, Kylie, Hills, Turkish acoustic music, French/Turkish hip hop (nothing much changes) and whatever is on the radio.


On my last birthday I turned 30. I was more focused on celebrating my birthday back home four days later in Melbourne with my family and friends. On the day, I worked all day and went to dinner with my husband and sister-in-law.

On my next birthday I will do something for myself.


The best birthday present I ever got was a surprise birthday party thrown by my friend Kate when I was living in London. All my work friends were there as well as my other London based friends. It was the best surprise to see a big group of my friends in the one place to celebrate my birthday. I even cried.


The first time I felt grown up was when I told a Family Law client that it was 'OK' to leave her husband in order to protect herself and her child.


The last time I felt like a kid was when I went to Disneyland in Anaheim and spun around in a tea cup.


When I read A Purpose Driven Life it changed my life.


Last year was a challenge, but also exciting. It was also the beginning of a new chapter in my life here.


Next year I hope to see my family and maybe start my own.


I tag my sister and verity.

I heart Marimekko

Image from marimekko "Unikko"

I am loving Marimekko fabrics. I would love to get my hands on these pillows featured on Etsy by ihamai. Simply stunning!

Out of Istanbul

We spent the week holiday of Bayram in Ankara and Konya. Most of Kenan's family (grandparents, Aunties, Uncles and counsins) still live in the village his mother was born, Sarayönü.

Village life is great. Fresh everything straight from the garden including eggs and chickens, mulberries, mint, granny smith apples, fresh ripe juicy tomatoes, massive pumpkins, long skinny eggplants, parsley, leek, cucumbers, deep purple shining plums, long green string beans, huge bright green quince, apricots and more. Inside the house there was more treats. Dried eggplants and peppers ready to be softened and stuffed (for dolma), sun dried tomatoes, bulgar, rice and lentils and dried beans from the fields, home dried mint for cooking, handmade makarna (macaroni), homemade salça (tomato paste) and pickled cucumbers, peppers and cherry tomatoes and apricot jam.

My cupboards are now neatly stocked with much of the dry ingredients and the fridge with loads of apples, salça, homemade butter, jam and a farm yard turkey.

Life in the village is much more slower than city life. But, the air is clean and so is the food and it's a nice escape from the real world hussle and bussle of Istanbul. It was nice to see the smiles on everyones faces when we arrived and the enjoyment we all shared together for those few days.