I like my man in the kitchen

One thing I adore about my man is that he can cook. He can cook lots of things. Actually, sometimes he puts me to shame. I feel like a bit of a 'culinary failure' because of the different style of food that we consume here as opposed to back home and I have found that I don't cook as much as I would like or feel I should. I am adventurous though and am willing to try anything once, some things not a second time though, like işkembe or kokoreç, but I like various other Turkish foods that I am sure lots of people would turn their noses up at; chicken dessert and raw spicy meat ball...

Ken makes great köfte. Tonight we defrosted some of the mince meat 'dana kiyma' from the bull that was sacrificed during Kurban Bayram. We stopped in at Migros and bought some fresh juicy strawberries and veggies including crunchy spicy radishes, juicy tomatoes, crispy fresh greens including 'tere' and cos lettuce and also some köfte mix. Tere is a cross between rocket and another green leafy salad veg with a slightly bitter flavour and hard-to-describe taste. As we looked at the köfte mix at the supermarket to my disgrace the packet read 'Flavouring E621'. Now, I although I wasn't quite sure what that meant in terms of food additives I knew that those numbers meant something artificial and bad and I soon worked out it was MSG. For an asthmatic, MSG is no treat. Actually, as I read the 'health concerns' of MSG, I wondered how it could be included in so many food and food products when it can cause things like chest pain, nausea, headache and tingling and numbness. Nice eh? So, we have decided it's time to make our own köfte mix from now on and refrain from buying things with additives. Always read the label first, I say!

When it comes to buying the ingredients too, Ken is great at that. He whizzes around Carrefour or Migros and picks up fresh fruit and veg and finds the best deals on fish and meat. I have noticed more so here than at home that the man of the house plays a role in the household food selection for the family. It is very common to see families shopping at the local supermarket together. I rarely remember a time my Dad went to Coles with Mum and selected fresh fruit and vegetables and told her what he thought they should stock the pantry with.

DAY Birger et Mikkelsen

I came across this gorgeous Danish label 'DAY Birger et Mikkelsen' on net-a-porter.com The label belongs to Danish businessman Keld Mikkelsen who started the label 10 years ago.

There are some gorgeous pieces that I would love to splash onto the credit card but with a wedding around the corner I really shouldn't.

For those that know me, I know, you are thinking "how restrained of her".

Here are some of the lovely pieces I would like to get my hands on.

How much is a wedding planner?

For goodness sake. Organising a wedding is so hard. And to make matters more complex I am an Australian, I live in Istanbul, I will marry a Turk who lives in Istanbul, but who's family is from Ankara-where the wedding will take place, all my family and friends are in Aus, the UK and the US so people are coming from all parts of the world and I am trying to organise every aspect of their attendance in a country who's language I do not speak. Gooood.

Not the mention the extreme amount of thick, sticky Turkish red tape that wraps itself around our impending marriage which requires me to submit to various medical tests; visits to the Australian Embassy to see the Consul General and to no less, pay them some money; a visit to the Istanbul Governor-for his signature; registration with my local area/council; a visit to the Ankara Municipality to ask their permission to marry in their town and find some 'official' person who will marry us and of course, it wouldn't be a wedding without various legal documents, of course, translated into Turkish and notarised at the notary office. All in my spare time. I think I need a holiday.

On top of this I wake up in the night worrying about how people will cope dealing with the lack of English speaking Turks, their anxiety of getting ripped off by taxi drivers, shop keepers and carpet sellers (and the actual reality of it). Now Turkey is a developed country by many peoples standards, but when you are a tourist and look like a tourist, you can sometimes be taken advantage of. It has even happened to me and I look like the next Turk on the street. So, no doubt I will have tales from folks about their experience at 'this shop' or 'in the taxi' and so on.

It's all part of the experience, isn't it?

Taking in the sites

Beautiful winter's day....

The other day while I sat at my desk the sun beamed through the office from all the windows that surround me. For a moment I was tricked into thinking that it was a warm spring or autumn day, not the middle of winter. As the sun warmed away my goose bumps, I thought I would take some shots from inside the office.

Above is a shot of my little office space. And above that is my boss' beautiful office with wooden floors and views of the surrounds of Istanbul. Our office was designed by Turkish architect Rifat Ergör. He has created a modern minimalist office with clean lines and gorgeous mordern stylish furniture.

To Melbourne and back

I arrived back in Istanbul last Saturday after spending two weeks back home in Melbourne. I love going home. It is amazing the appreciation you have for somewhere when you are so far away from it.

I spent my time with family and catching up with friends. It is a nice time of year to be there with Christmas, New Year and the summer. Christmas Day was spent eating amazing food: prawns, roast lamb, turkey and delicous salads followed by yummy desserts of traditional Christmas cake and home made tiramisu.

Since moving to London I always loved the thought of holidays at home and seeing everyone and cramming as much as I could into a short time. My little nephews M and L have grown up lots. I have especaially noticed M's development with his words and fine motor skills. He is attending Montessori and it seems like his is benefitting from it. He is a sweet boy with a lovely manner. I especially love it when he says "love you Auntie". When we talk on the phone he always says that as he passes the phone back to mum. He likes to talk on the phone. He likes to tell me about things that have happened and things he feels are important. Like the car with the driver's side mirror and how it is not attached to the door so when the door opens, it doesnt move. He is very smart.

Little L is a busy little man. He doesnt like to sleep much and he likes to eat choc, as he calls it. He likes to take dvd's from the dvd player and slide them along the floor until they are too scratched to work again. He likes the dvd 'Cars' and also the Wiggles. I learnt that his favourite word (particularly towards me) is "no". He is a climber and you will find him on the step ladder, dinner table, couch, or back of dad's 4x4 truck.

Wedding dress hunting

So, I managed to get organised during my whirlwind trip home and found my wedding dress, shoes, veil and some accessories which I am very excited about. My dress is from Mariana Hardwick and I must say that I dreamed of a Mariana dress but never thought I would have it.

Without giving away too much info, the dress is an ivory deluxe silk a-line style with straps that sit on the edge of the shoulder. The neck falls into a V and is rouched accross the bust and waist. I love it and it looks great and it's the first time I have seen my waist since I was about age 10!

Just a sneak peek at the dress and shoes!

And in other news....

Ken and I announced our engagement on the weekend. Well, he hasn't actually formally asked me, but after many weeks of discussing telling my parents, we finally got around to calling them and Ken asked both Mum and Dad if he could marry their daughter.

Mum and Dad were both very happy and excited, which was somewhat of a relief as I didn't know what to expect from their reaction. So the last few days I have spent emailing and letting friends know the news.

With a cross-cultural, cross-country situation, we are planning to have 2 separate wedding celebrations, one here in April and another one in Aus in December or January. We are planning something for 5 April 2008 in Ankara- so watch this space for news.

It is a very exciting time and I wish I could be around my family and mates to celebrate with them, BUT, I will be home in less than 16 days so I can celebrate with them then!!

Already, we have managed to have our first wedding fight which caused us both a headache. I was panicking about wedding venue because the pressure is on from Dad to find something, ahh, 2 days ago! We have decided that whatever it is, we will have it on 5 April- regardless!!

I am so excited and can't wait to share that day with our families and friends!! Lots of planning and I'm sure I will experience some 'issues' given the foreigner doesn't speak Turkish so can't organise a damn thing!! All part of the fun isn't it.....

Weird but wonderful

I am slowly learning about all the strange and wonderful things that Turkey has to offer by way of food and beverages. In my time spent in my new surroundings, I have realised the huge passion and love for food and beverages that the Turks have. For example the weird and peculiar things I have tried and tasted include a raw meat dish, which looks much like some kind of meat ball. Çiğ Köfte is it's formal name and it is served with lettuce leaves and lemon. You wrap the lettuce around the raw meat ball and add lemon. Çiğ Köfte comes with spice, without spice, with potato and with or without bulgar. The best one is with bulgar wheat, bit of spice and lots of lemon and fresh crunchy lettuce and some crunchy radish on the side. It is common for it to be made at home in a large round shallow tray and it is mixed and kneaded by hand. On my first visit to Ankara to meet Ken's family, Yasin (Ken's brother) made it for us for supper and I haven't looked back!

Last night I encountered a strange beverage known as 'Boza'. Although I had never heard of it, Ken was insistent that it was a very popular drink in Turkey. I thought only Ayran and Turkish çay were the only popular drinks in Turkey? We ventured through the backstreets to our old neighbourhood of Fatih to a very famous establishment known as Vefa Bozacısı which was established in 1876. The drink (much to my guts' disapproval) is made from fermented wheat. It is served with cinnamon on top and to my surprise I watched as people dropped chickpeas into their glasses and used a spoon to fish them out. Apparently, this goes very well with Boza. Eeh? Given my chronic IBS symptoms of late, I thought I would be best to only consume half the glass and leave the rest for Kenny to gulp down. I was amazed to see people streaming through the door as the man behind the counter poured glasses of the fermented thick stuff from a ladle like pot from a significant height directly into the glass. No spillage, of course. Although I somewhat enjoyed this new and strange taste, the fermentation gives it a strange flavour. In Ken's words "if you drink again in two, three days, you become addict". Think I might find something else to become addict to or I could spend much time in the bathroom...

The thought never crossed my mind that you could make desserts using meat. Early on when I first arrived I was introduced to 'kazandibi' known also as tavuk göğsü (ta-vook ger-soo), a white custardy looking dessert that is that is burnt brown on the outside, similar to being caramelised. It's consistency is think and solid, but once in your mouth has the same texture as custard which I am a fan of. The first time I ate Kazandibi, Ken didn't tell me that it was made from chicken!! After tasting it, he told me that it is made from sugar, cream, milk and chicken, of course, without the bones or skin. Although it seemed the strangest thing to me, it was very tasty and if you searched your mouth enough you could feel some slight shreds of chicken inside. If you ever get the chance, you should definitely try it! Just don't think about the chicken!

Settling in...

Well, the last few weeks have certainly flown by and I think I have achieved quite a lot in a small amount of time.

I finally today worked out how to get into this site in a language I could understand. I have attempted many times to post news in English only to not understand how to log in in Turkish.

Work
Firstly, I am doing well. Besides some homesickness and sore back and the usual stomach issues I seem to be travelling ok. I had 2 interviews in the first week and was made an offer by one of the firms the following week. The firm is Paksoy and they are a local Turkish law firm. They have done quite a lot of work internationally and with London based companies, Goldman being one of them. So my cv stood me in good stead which I was relieved about. First interview, I met the Managing Partner and one of the other partners. They asked me back for a second interview the following week at which time I met another of the 4 partners. The MP is male and the other three are female. All seem friendly and approachable and the MP has a good name in the business from what my research showed. So they have offered me a role as assistant to the four of them as well as providing assistance to the other lawyers of which there are 20 something.

The havent offered to sponsor me but are happy for me to work on my tourist visa and they understand that I need to get out of the country every 3 months. So at least I can plan to have 'visa run' trips everyone 3 months. The money is ok for me, but excellent for Turkish standards so I guess I just need to eliminate those weekly shopping trips that I planned to Zara. When Ken's friends ask where I am going to work and how much I am going to earn (very normal question to ask apparently!) they all say I am so lucky and that it is great money and I should be really happy, so I guess I should be greatful that I am earning more than the average Turk who apparently only earns 1500 Turkish Lira per month- about 1500 AUD. Lunch is covered every day which is good and I can go and eat pretty much anywhere I want.

House hunting
Kenny and I have started flat hunting so we can move closer to where I will work. Given there are about 17 million people in this city and about the same in cars! I will need to live relatively close to work- like Richmond is to the CBD kind of..

So we headed out last weekend to look in Maslak which is the are my job is in. There is a nice housing estate area not far that we like so we checked out a few places there. Not much available for rent but we found one that we liked. We are waiting to see if I can start work earlier as Paksoy said they want me to start on 1 June which means we cant really move until just before then so we will see....

Roads and 'trafik'
Besides the relentless traffic at all hours of the day and night- no exaggeration, life is fairly fast paced here. The other night we headed to the Asian side for tea and water pipe smoking and there was horrendous traffic on a Sunday night at 10.00pm! No matter what time of the day you never know what to expect on these roads. Hundreds of buses, cars and even the occassional horse or donkey are all commonplace on the roads here. Even I have noticed, people enjoy a rest and relax by the side of a bustling highway where you see people 'parked' up having a nap or hosting a bbq with family and friends all of 5 metres from the side of a four lane highway. Given most people reside in flats/apartments I can understand the use of the outdoors but inhaling not only bbq smoke but also bus fumes is enough to bring on an asthma attack just driving by!

Bread, bread, bread
Each morning as I rise to the honking of horns and call to prayer, I wonder if I will suddently appear in the mirror as a loaf of bread or even a massive flat bread fresh from the oven.....
Bread is the staple of every Turkish persons daily meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert- bread always makes an appearance at the table. I dont mind the old fresh bread now and then but now its like an addiction I have no power over! So, the time has come to enter rehab and detox from this new but weighty addiction. My middle has become more like a loaf of bead then ever before and its getting scary Ladies. No more bread for me.

İngilizce biliyormusun?
Which translates to 'do you know English?' Or 'Üzgünüm, Turkçe bilmiyorum' is more like it 'Sorry, I dont know Turkish'. All in all my Turkish is not great. As soon as someone says anything to me in Turkish I panic. At the moment I am trying to just learn street Turkish so that I can get by on the street and in a shop. Ken is helping me learn 5 words a day and we practise whenever we can. People also just unfortunately assume that I am a Turk so when I give them the blank look they dont really get it- I guess they just think that Im a rude so and so.

Istanbul life
So far the life here that I see people have is rich in culture and endless hospitality especially if your foreign- 'yabancı' (thats me!) There are endless pleasantries and endless cups of tea or çay which I can say with ease and even ask 'çay var mı?' Meaning 'is there any tea?' People are polite and once they have seen you in their shop once or twice, they remeber you and say hi the next time. Its rude not to accept that cup of çay or coffee your host and of course they plate is always half empty here so it requires endless filling up. Maybe food is just more than food to them. Maybe its a way of life and sign of love.

I was watching the BBC the other day about an Australian reporter who has been working in Iraq during the war. He had compiled a series of stories that he has reported on from the Iraq war. I watched a clip of one where he was riding with the US troops through a suburban area of a war torn Iraqi city. He went with troops while they entered peoples home to seach for weapons. I watched as he sat in these peoples living rooms with local Iraqi people alongside US troops in full army outfit, weapons, masks and all. He was talking about the hospitality of these people and that even though the Americans have knocked on their door in search of weapons in their home, they offer tea and serve it without malice or hostility. He talked about how tea was such a part of everyday life and how it was at the forefront of middle eastern hospitality.