Kids and all

Last weekend marked the first birthdays of Berahan and Aaliyah. They are the twins of our friends Murat and Esra. Murat and Esra threw a party for them at their house and invited the usual suspects + kids. It was really nice to catch up with everyone again and meet some new faces.

As usual we ate great food; mantı, kısır, mercimek köfte, dolma and loads of pasta ('cake' in Turkish) all washed down with loads of tea! Ayşegül made a dairy free, wheat free cake, as, like me, her son is allergic; it tasted so great!

After we ate the guys headed off to play basketball at the courts opposite the house and the ladies sat around, ate some more and talked and moaned a little about our other halves. It was then that I learned that two of the other wives had no idea that our wedding was only a couple of weeks away as their husbands had not cared to share the info with them and also partly because my husband-to-be had not bothered to hand out the invitations. It's so typical isn't it? Uf ya!!

Diets and weddings

Maybe it's because we are dieting that I can't find anything to blog about as lots of my blogs seem to consist of stories about food or me referring to or cooking food.

Tonight I cooked a simple but yummy dinner of pan fried salmon steaks and salata. Salmon is so oily after it is cooked so I was conscious of the oil intake by adding a minimal amount to the salad with lots of lemon juice. We seem to go through lemons like nothing else in this house. We add lemon juice to everything; tea; soup; salad; soda water; fish; there isn't much that doesn't have it added in one way or another.

I'm a bit bored of being good with eating. I like to eat some cream biscuits on the couch as I watch T.V and Ken is missing eating nuts big time. Oh well, if we hadn't eaten so much before we wouldn't be trying to lose it in time for our wedding.

Ken's dad called him today to ask about the numbers of people from my side. While my side will be about 15 tops his dad was saying to him that his side may extend from the cool 350 they already have accounted for to 400. My goodness. I am not going to know anyone other than my side and Ken's immediate family. It seems so unreal to imagine 400 people rocking up at your wedding, most whom you have never met.

Anyway, Ken sees it as a great opportunity to be gifted with gold and money. Apparentely close family, particularly 'Taze' (Aunties, there are 6!) will buy gold bracelets to put on my arms and others will buy gold coins which can be traded later. And then there is cold hard cash that they give or pin to the bride and groom. The customs are quite different from Australia where the bride and groom have a registry and guests purchase gifts from it. Compare that to giving money and it's almost considered rude just to hand over some notes in an envelope. Whereas here, it's no big deal and not common place to arrive with a wrapped gift.

Not long now to go really with the wedding only a few weeks away. I'm in the throws of organising flights to Ankara, transfers from home to the airport in Istanbul and a driver and mini bus to transport our guests around Ankara, all while trying to do some work in my real job! It's all going to be worth it though. I am starting to get excited now!

It's been a while....

I haven't posted anything for a while. To be honest, I feel like nothing too interesting has been going on other than work and usual life norms. We have caught up with friends and I have been hanging with my friend B quite a bit of late which has been nice to have female company.

We are really just on the countdown to the wedding and the arrival of family and friends. Work has been busy with work on some big deals. Ken is busy with work trying to make business here as well as in China.

I am looking forward to seeing my sister in a few weeks who will have my wedding dress in hand. I just can't believe how fast it is all coming around. I'm really excited. Ken and I got our rings a few weeks back and I am so happy with the way they turned out as two of them were made and one was altered.
Ken and I are 'dieting', by watching what we are putting in our mouths for once. No more midnight snacks of pastirma and salt pistachio nuts!!

I found a comment on a recent post from a Canadian woman who took some photos of a young Istanbul shoe shine boy. She returned to Istanbul in search of him and made a lovely poem and website about the journey. Check it out here. It was lovely to read.