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.

Evlerinin Önü Boyalı Direk

On NTV and many other channels this week, twins Öykü and Berk Gürman have been headline features and have become well known through their falmenco take on a Turkish folk song entitled 'Evlerinin Önu Boyalı Direk'. The video has been posted on YouTube and millions have watched the video. Check it our here. This song is so great and I love the flamenco feel.

It's snowing!!

I could not believe my eyes this week as snow finally fell in Istanbul. Coming from Melbourne, I have never witnessed snow falling in the city. Even while I lived in the UK for 15 months, I never saw it snow properly. So the snow arrived early in the week but really came down fast yesterday morning and continued through most of today. And I was glad that I managed to get some shots of it to show those in the southern hemisphere who experienced 34 degrees in Melbourne today.

Hamsi time

From November to April, Hamsi fish comes into season. Hamsi is also described as European anchovy. I first tasted Hamsi probably during one of my visits to Ken while I still lived in London. Hamsi is usually coated in corn flour and shallow fried or cooked in the oven. We shallow fry it at home and look forward to pulling the little flesh off the main bone of the fish which leaves behind its skeletal frame- see below. Hamsi is very tasty and so cheap too. We often pick it up from the fish sellers on the road side in Istinye, sometimes for 2 Lira a kilo. Istinye is right by the Bosphorous, so the fish is always fresh and tasty.

Wedding Invites are out

This week saw the final invites go out, and Ken finally get onto the Turkish invites. He had 200 made and sent most of them to his parents in Ankara to distribute to family and friends. Things work a little bit differently, as I am learning. Ken told me that even though 300 people are expected, there could be more as some people may just come along and not bother to r.s.v.p and others may decide to bring their cousin's uncle'a neighbour (who we may never have met!) along for the evening. Anyway, things are much more relaxed here in the world of guest lists and r.s.v.p-ing. I like the attitude, but am trying to adjust my set ways about these things....

Here are what both invites look like. Ken did well, given I had no imput whatsoever!

Sunny winter days

Even though it is winter, the sun has been shining and the days have been quite glorious. It was very nice to stroll Nişantaşı shopping in the sun on today. I took these snaps this morning before I headed out to go shopping, as I lay on the couch relaxing. I am also trying to lean how to be more creative/artistic with my camera...

G.R.Y.B at home

My sister is the creator and brains behind her own gift card range which is distributed and sold in Melbourne and throughout Victoria. She uses stunning vintage kimono fabrics she sources from Japan and other corners of the world.

As an at-home-mum she master's her craft in her studio built by none other than, Mr. G.R.Y.B himself. There in her studio she measures, cuts and iron's fabric to use as the centrepiece of her cards. Each new season has a new range of cards carefully chosen from a beautiful and unique batch of fabrics. Cards are sold at various hip Melbourne stores such as Zetta Florence, Made in Japan, Moss Melbourne and Thomas Gannon and are distributed through Aero Images.

More recently, through online marketplace Etsy, she has put some packs of fabric remnants and off-cuts for sale. They are great for scrapbooking, card making or art and craft projects and come and at great price for a bit of your own Japanese vintage. You can view them here.

Should I trust the post?

I just had a thought. Very few people use the Turkish postal system, PTT, and I often wondered why? I am in the process of finalising the wedding invitiations for my Australian guests and I have had to ask myself the question, should I trust the post?

What if they don't make it there in time? Here in Turkey, but particularly Istanbul, if people want to send something they will send it by messenger/courier. I guess given the service is so cheap it seems silly to wait for the standard post when your letter can go same day for only a few Lira...

I was thinking to express send them to Australia and have one of my family members post them on my behalf. I have sent a package to Australia by Fed-Ex before and that costs around $100 USD, so not sure if it's worth it. I guess that in Australia, Aus Post is considered a reliable service and things seem to get where they need to get in reasonable time. Well, all my Ebay purchases always arrived!

What to do? I think I will take the risk and send them PTT. I have only ever used the system in years gone by for sending post cards from outside Topkapı Palace and the like so it could be interesting to see how they go and how long they take.

Goodness. I might regret this.

Weekend fun

On the weekend I pushed Ken from the couch and made him drive me to the forest. Kilyos is a northern suburb of Istanbul that meets the Black Sea. It is a popular summer place where people venture to and spend time in holiday homes.

As we set out from our house on Sunday afternoon, Ayhan, one of Ken's close friend's, called to say that he and his wife, Mücdem, would come to our house for dinner. Just the day before we had been talking to Ayhan about a place on the Asian side he visited once with Mücdem that he thought we should all visit together. So, as we headed off in the car for Kilyos, we decided the trip would be short as we would pick up Mücdem, Ayhan and another friend Gökhan and head to Anadolu Kavağı, meaning 'Anatolian Oak' for dinner on the other side of town.

Kilyos was seen from the car as it was too cold to get out really but we will venture back once the weather improves. It has a beautiful beach and quaint surroundings. There are many camping grounds and holiddays homes so it is definitely worth a visit in summer.

So once we had clapped eyes on Kilyos, we turned around and headed for Ayhan's house in Beylikdüzü which is more than 25 kms from our house. Once there we picked up Gökhan and then Mücdem and Ayhan and headed right back to near our house so we could get on the Fatih Sultan Mehmet köprusu (F.S.M bridge) which connects Europe to Asia. The traffic was hideous and by that time we had been driving for about 3 hours. We waited on the road before the bridge for nearly one hour because of the line for the cash tolls. Once we worked out that it was not due to bridge traffic we made a run for the 'KGS' line (pre-paid toll lane) where we swiped our card and we were through and onto the bidge. Then we hot footed it to Anadolu Kavağı where we stopped and ate dinner at one of the seaside fish restaurants. We all had starters of octopus salad, börek, stuffed mussels, homemade french fries and çoban salata (shepherd's salad). Main was grilled 'Levrek' which I believe is the same as 'sea bass' in English. Unfortunately, I was far too wrapped up in tasting and eating that I failed to take photos...oopss..but here are a couple of all of us.