Let them eat cake

I love cake. Especially home made cakes.

I hadn't done much baking here as I find the ingredients harder to understand in the supermarket and it's just easier to get my fix from a few bits of bhaklava.

An expat posted a great site with pics of cakes and she had made the carrot cake ("havuç kek"). I bought my first cake tin on the weekend and decided to give it a go. I was most worried about the philly cream cheese substitution but thanks to handy tips from other expats the suggestion was to use 'labne' which is more of a yoghurt based spread but very similar in texture to cream cheese.

I have to admit after labouring in the kitchen it was very much worth it!! The cake was delish and moist after adding some crushed pineapple. The frosting was perfect too!

You can check this recipe and other here at Joy of Baking.

Mid week day off...

Today, 23 April, was a public holiday here in Turkey for National Sovereignty and Children's Day. The founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, dedicated April 23 to the children of the country to emphasize that they are the future of the new nation. It was on April 23, 1920, during the War of Independence, that the Grand National Assembly met in Ankara and laid down the foundations of a new, independent, secular, and modern republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.

So, I decided to go to my first ever expat meet up. I'm glad I went. It was nice to meet new people and put faces to names. I am a member of an expat web portal here called Sublime Portal and a few people at the meet up are members of the site.

One of the members owns and runs her own pizza shop in Sultanahmet and it was decided the meet up would be there. I took along my new Aussie friend Angela and her English teaching Ameican boyfriend, Travis. I had not met him before, so it was nice to catch up with Angela and meet her man and get to know him. He teaches at a high school and is very passionate about his work and students.

I met several other members from the forum, some of which are part of a writers group in Istanbul. One of the writers writes for my fave newspapers Today's Zaman and some of the others were teachers and artists. I think Trav was a bit overwhelmed with all the ladies, but all in all, we had a nice day.

We then headed to Beyazit Mosque as Trav is reading a book set in the 1800's and the current chapter is based around the Beyazit Mosque and the murder of a man. So we took a stroll around the mosque as he read to us from the guide book.

We also checked out Istanbul Univeristy which sits right next door and then headed down the back way from the Grand Bazzar and onto Eminönu where we arrived to the Egyptian Spice Market. We parked up for a few glasses of taze portakal suyu (fresh orange juice) and then said our goodbyes as they headed for the İskelese to take the ferry to Üsküdar and I jumped on a tram to head back my way. I must say the weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold with a lovely breeze. This week has been so weird with the weather, 34 and humid on Tuesday, 26 and perfect today and tomorrow the forecast is 12. Go figure...

Saving the planet

Lately I have been thinking about what I can do to save the planet a bit more. Turks are not very earth friendly with their endless packaging, plastic bags and littering. Recycling is not that popular and I must admit I recently reverted to throwing the bottles in with the rest of the garbage; something I would never dream of doing in Australia. We have a recycling hub (one of those big dome shaped things) in our compound which requires me to walk with a bag full of items and post them into the right slot whether it be paper/cardboard, plastic or glass. I have no problem with this although when the dome is full and remains full for weeks on end, I become reluctant to visit the hub to make my deposit. In Aus people recycle all things; tins, paper, glass and even food scraps which are collected on the same day of each week or recyclable collection can occur on alternating weeks. I feel here we are behind the eight ball a bit maybe by about 10 years or so with the 'westernised' concepts of earth saving habits.

Yesterday, care of http://www.pukkaliving.com/, (a great web site for those living and visiting the Bul) an article about Baggu Reusable Shopping Bags. Designed by mother and daughter team, Joan and Emily, you can do your bit to save the planet and still look cool. They are great bags and what I like about them is is that the length is spot on so you can carry it by had, on your arm or on your shoulder. I like that. I was thinking to pick some up via their website. Not only can you fit 2-3 plastic bags of groceries in one Baggu but 6 bags can hold a whole shopping trolley worth! They are ethically made in China from 100% ripstop nylon.

Long time

It has really been a while since I posted due to the busy time we had in the lead up to the wedding and the wind down afterwards.

All in all we had the most fantastic time; wedding day, week before, week after and all in between. It was fairly hectic with family and friends arriving and me trying to keep track of everyones movements, flights, hotel arrangements, transfers and flights. But it all went off without a hitch and we had such an enjoyable time. We need a rest now.

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.

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.